Industrial Towel Rack

Here's a neat thing I found on Etsy. I call it an Industrial Towel Rack. Everything here takes minimal tools to make and can be made in a couple hours and for around 30 bucks. Like I said in one of my previous Instructables, I remodeled my house and made everything very rustic and modern so I thought this would work out very nicely in my downstairs bathroom. Here's what I used for the build:

TOOLS:

• MITER SAW
• TABLE SAW
• CLAMPS
• ADJUSTABLE PLIERS
• ORBITAL SANDER
• DRILL
• THICKNESS PLANER (OPTIONAL)

MATERIALS

• WOOD GLUE
• SANDPAPER (120 & 220)
• 1 1/4" DRYWALL SCREWS
• BLACK PIPE AND FITTINGS (LISTED ON STEP 3)
• 2 X 4'S

***CHECK OUT MY VIDEO FOR A MORE IN-DEPTH TUTORIAL***

I had a bunch of 2x4's lying around so I used those. They were about 24 inches long and I ripped a bunch down to 1 inch wide on my table saw. When I say a bunch, I believe that it was 6 that I ended up cutting for this project.

After I had 18 or so 1 inch strips I took them to the miter saw and squared up the one end and cut every piece down to random lengths. All the way from 23 inches down to 6 and anywhere in-between.

Before glueing anything I mixed and matched pieces so I could come up with a pattern that I liked. I chose the best side and placed that upwards and proceeded to glue each piece together using interior / exterior glue because it would be in the bathroom.

I was going for around 7 inches or so deep and around 36 inches wide. I used quite a few clamps on it and set it aside to form up the actual towel rack itself.

While the shelf is drying we can start assembling the towel rack. Everything I used was 1/2 inch black pipe. It's relatively cheap and can be found at any hardware store. Here is the material list:

• 4 - 1 1//2" NIPPLES
• 2 - 2" NIPPLES
• 2 - 90 DEGREE ELBOWS
• 2 - TEES
• 4 - FLOOR FLANGES
• 1 - 24" PIPE

So from here I would just look at the pictures I left or watch the video. It's pretty basic but for the first time it can be sort of a puzzle. I didn't crank any of the pipes too tightly. There's no need because it will be secured to the shelf and secured to the wall so nothing should ever move.

I should point out that you want the towel rack to be the same height on both ends so make sure you measure this also.

By the time you get the towel rack is ready to go the shelf should be ready for planing. Now you can skip this step if you just want to use a 2x8. This is what I saw on Etsy. But I wanted to add a little more character. So I figured I'd go with the butcher block look.

I planed both sides making them completely flat. All-the-while making sure I didn't take off too much at a time. I then squared up the one end on my miter saw and measured over 34" and cut the shelf to length.

After planing, I sanded the shelf on every side with 120 and then 220 grit sandpaper. Next I brushed on some wood conditioner being that I am using pine. This will help prevent blotchiness. Then I stained the shelf with a Minwax brand Jacobean stain because I wanted to go for the darker look. I wiped it off and re-applied my stain once more because I felt it wasn't a deep enough color. After that I applied a one coat polyurethane to all sides of the shelf.

After the poly dried it was time to attach the towel rack to the shelf. To do this I centered the floor mounts on the bottom of the shelf and predrilled the shelf using a 3/32 drill bit and attached the rack to the shelf with 8 ,1 1/4" drywall screws.

That's it for this build. I secured the shelf to my bathroom wall using 8 drywall fasteners. I probably only needed 4. 2 on each side, but I wanted to fill all the holes on the floor mounts.

Let me know what you guys think by leaving a comment in the comments section. Thanks for looking!

***FOR OTHER DIY'S LIKE THIS ONE CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL***

AFF DIY