Flippin' Shoe Holders

I was looking around on the internet for ideas for a shoe rack wanting to have something a little bit different. I came across some images on Pinterest that showed a Sketchers show room that had 100's of wooden holders that flipped up against the wall. This enabled the showroom to have any number of configurations to display thier shoes. This concept was designed by Architects Zemberek design and I based my shoe holders on the photos I have seen. Archdaily photo link

My metalwork skills aren't particularly skillful so I first thought about using an epoxy resin designed for metal to fix a flat bar to an angle but having made a few test pieces I realised they weren't going to be strong enough. In the end I used an aluminium angle and a wooden hinge not too dis-similar to my hinge on my ring box.

Materials (per single holder)

Aluminium angle 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/8" approx. 50mm/2" long

Steel bar 1/8" / 3mm diameter approx. 50mm/2" long

Hardwood 50mm x 80mm x 16mm (2" x 3 1/4" x 5/8")

Tools

Table saw

Router table

Sander

Metal cutter / saw

Drill and 3mm / 1/8" bit

I had bought 2m (approx 6') of aluminium angle and needed to cut it in to 50mm (2") sections. I was thinking about doing it with a hack saw but having read on the internet you can cut aluminium with a wood blade on a table saw I thought I'd try that. I used an oldish blade I had as I didn't want to ruin my newly sharpened one and slowly cut in to the angle. I was very pleased when it did cut through the metal so I set up my table saw sled so I could get nice even small cuts.

Once all the sections were cut I marked a couple of holes I was going to use to screw to the wall and drilled out the holes and used a coutersink bit so the screws wouldn't interfere with the mechanism.

I then used a disk sander with a 90 degree fence to make the ends of the sections square to the edge.

I had some off cuts of 1" thick brown oak so I glued to sections together to make a 2" wide section. When it was dry I used a straight router bit to cut a groove in the bottom around 30mm (1.25") deep. I then cut individual 'slices' of the wood on the table saw to make as many identical parts as I could. I then cut the parts of wood that would make the remainder of the hinge which I cut slightly longer than the groove.

I next cut some 3mm (1/8") diameter steel bar in to 50mm (2") long sections.

Once I had all my parts I drilled a hole all the way through the main part first and then marked the position of the hole on the hinge infill to drill separately.

To make the hinge work I needed to add a chamfer to the top of the main wood, which I did on the table saw, and a curve on the smaller part which I did with a belt sander.

I needed to drill an additional hole in the middle of the angle so I could screw the hinge part to the angle though the back. Once that was done I marked this position on the wood and screwed the parts together testing that the mechanism still worked.

I could then sand the wood all around and then sanded the edges of the wood and the angle flush. Then kept on going until I ran out of steel bar.

Due to the way the hinge works I needed to screw to the wall with it taken apart. I first marked the position of the angle holes on the wall and drilled holes for some wall plugs. Once these were in I screwed the angle to the wall making sure that it is nice and level. I then used a spirit level to mark out the adjacent one and fixes that to the wall. Once I put the hinge back together I made some small adjustments to the positions to make them level and vertical when in the upright position.

I then used a spirit level to mark on the wall the positions of the other hinges and screwed some more to the wall.

Once I had screwed 12 to the wall I looked that the overall result and tested them out to make sure that all types of shoe would work on them.

I am very pleased with the result and just need to make loads more to accommodate more shoes. They are a lot of work but I would say very worth it!

Thanks for reading and please vote for me if you found it interesting and useful!