Measuring Spoon Rack From Recycled Wood

Recently I bought some nice looking measuring spoons. Unfortunately, they get lost easily among my other utensils. Using branches from a tree in my yard (already cut down), I made a rack for my measuring spoons so they're always readily at hand.

You can make this rack just about any size you want. For reference, my base measures almost 3 inches in diameter, 1 inch in height. The vertical part measures 10 inches tall, 1.5 inches in diameter. Since all my available wood was pretty thin, I made the cut for the base at an elbow to get a little extra diameter.

You will need:

saw
2 long nails (mine are 2.5 inches long)
drill with a bit thinner than the nails you're using
7/8 inch cup hooks ($.97 for an 8 pack at Walmart!)
sandpaper
hammer
pencil

Use the sandpaper to smooth the cut surfaces, particularly those that will be nailed together.

Decide which side of the base will be sitting on the surface, then place the vertical part on top of the base and use a pencil to trace the base of the vertical part. Inside the circle, mark two points for holes as evenly spaced as possible.

Don't pick up the hammer and nails just yet! You must drill holes first if you don't want the wood to crack (I learned this the hard way...)

Use the drill and small bit to make holes through the base where you've marked with a pencil. Once you've done that, you can place the nails and hammer them into the holes you've made, but not all the way, just till the tips are visible on the other side.

Now, place the vertical part on top of the base. Flip the two parts over and make a few taps with the hammer so the nails will leave an impression on the base of the vertical part. Now that you know exactly where to drill, you can make the two corresponding holes in the vertical part.

It is now time to hammer the nails all the way through the base and into the vertical part. Really pound away so that the nails are flush with the surface of the wood.

Flip it over. If it's not wobbly, it's time for the next step.

Time to place the hooks! You can use your measuring spoons and a pencil to determine and mark the placement of your hooks. Keep in mind that the spoons will hang almost half an inch lower than the location where the hook is placed in the wood. I was able to place the hooks using only my hands.

Hang the spoons and you're done.


Notes:

- Christmas will be here soon. Home Depot is a great place to find bases for this project (discarded bottoms of Christmas trees).
- Ideally I would have made the base on mine a little bigger, but I had to work with what was available. It seems pretty stable.
- This project would be pretty cool on a larger scale making it big enough to hang kitchen tools with holes in their handles (ladles, scissors, spatulas, etc.)
- If you enjoyed this project, check out my other two using wood from the same tree :)
Incense Burner
Knick Knack Rack