Rustic Reclaimed Coat Rack

I was recently given a piece of old rough milled lumber a friend found under a house. It gave me an idea to make it into a coat rack with some old antique door knobs I had seen saving. I liked the bark on the edge and the rough state of the wood. I wanted to preserve that look without any sanding or finishing.

I started by marking the length I wanted on the wood. I wanted it to be 40 inches. The board got a bit narrower on one side, so I cut most of that side off to make it look even from side to side.

The wood was a little dirty and had some rough spots on the edges and surface. I used a coarse wire brush on it to even things out and get the debris out of the cracks. I then used some compressed air to blow it off.

The door knobs were a bit of a challenge. Two of them were still attached to the original posts and the mounting screws were stripped out. With a flat-head screwdriver, a strong magnet, and a bit of patience, I was able to remove them.

I wanted to use some of the leftover door knob hardware as 2 mounting points for the coat rack. I made sure to space those points out 16 inches apart so they could be installed directly into my wall studs which are the same distance. After locating those points I mounted the hardware with some screws into the wood. I then drilled a hole through the center of each with a 1/4 inch drill bit to accommodate the 3 inch screws that would eventually mount it into the wall.

I then marked out locations for the knobs to be 4 inches to the left and right of each mounting point. I found that the inside diameter of each knob was about 5/8 inches. I purchased 4 lag bolts that would support the knobs that were also 5/8 inches. I drilled holes through the locations I had marked for the knobs with a bit of the same thickness.

I turned over my piece of wood and used a forstner to drill into the backside of the knob mount holes about 1/4 inch to allow the head of the lag bolts to sit flush with the wood. I hammered my bolts through holes and added some epoxy to the bolt heads to keep them really locked down.

My knobs fit onto the bolts pretty snuggly, but need some extra security.

First, I poked a hole in some pieces of wax paper to protect the wood and slid them over the bolts.

Then I used some epoxy inside the knobs and on the threads of the bolts before attaching them.

I let it sit overnight to allow the epoxy to cure completely and then removed the wax paper by just tearing it off.

I predrilled the holes into my wall studs to accommodate my 3 inch mounting screws. Finally. I used my drill to mount it onto the wall.