Simple Skateboard Rack
by AroundHome in Outside > Skateboarding
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Simple Skateboard Rack
This simple skateboard rack can be easily customized for up to five skateboards and can be built with a single 8' x 2" x 4" piece of lumber. If you're able to find a nice, surfaced piece of wood you should only need a miter saw or even a handsaw and a drill to build this. I'll be using a piece of cedar from a local reclaimed lumber store that unfortunately needed a little cleaning up.
Preparing the Lumber
This piece of cedar was fairly rough and had some damage to it that needed cutting out. I started cleaning it up by running it through the jointer and planer. After that I ripped the worst of the damage off at the table saw. The final width was roughly 3.5" wide and a little over 1.75" thick.
Cut the Pieces
With the board cleaned up, I started by cutting the back piece to length. I then cut all the 45° angles for the smaller front pieces. Here you could definitely make adjustments depending on how many boards you wish to display.
Trim the Top Edges
Once all the pieces were cut, I trimmed a little off the top lip of each to help prevent them from chipping when skateboards were placed on the rack.
Glue the Pieces
Next I marked a few guidelines for positioning the front pieces with roughly a 3/4" gap between each piece. I then glued each of the front pieces onto the back using Titebond Wood Glue. Setting up the clamps was a little annoying as the pieces wanted to squirm around a bit, but it turned out fine in the end.
Clean the Glue Joints
Once the glue had completely dried, I used a card scraper and some sandpaper to clean the glue joints.
Drill Mounting Holes
Next, I drilled a counter-bore hole in the top and bottom of the rack for two 4.5" Heavy Duty HeadLok screws. I drilled these so that roughly 2.5" of the screw would extend out the rack for mounting to the wall.
Apply the Finish
For the finish, I used a coat of boiled linseed oil followed by several (6-7) thin coats of homemade wipe-on-polyurethane (a 1:1 ratio of Clear Gloss Minwax Polyurethane and Mineral Spirits). I sanded lightly between roughly every other coat.
Attach Screws for Hanging Helmets
Finally, I predrilled and added two cabinet screws (the HeadLok screws would also work) to the bottom of the rack for hanging helmets.
Mount the Rack
To mount the rack I located a stud and predrilled a hole for the top screw. I then hung the rack with only the top screw with it just barely loose (so that it could still be rotated). After leveling the rack on the wall, I marked where the lower screw should go and rotated the rack out of the way in order to predrill the hole. Finally, I added the lower screw and tightened the top screw.
Hang Your Gear
That was pretty much it! This rack was for a friend of mine, and while it was pretty simple to build, I spent a little extra time on the finish which I think turned out pretty nice.
If you have any questions, please leave them below and check out the free plans if you're interested in building one yourself.
Parts List
- 8′ x 2″ x 4″ Cedar
- 2 - 4.5″ Heavy Duty HeadLok Screws
- 2- Cabinet Screws (or 2 - 4.5″ HeadLok Screws)
- Wood Glue
Tools Used
- Magswitch Magnetic Feather Board
- Power Hands Push Stick
- Card Scraper
- 10″ Dewalt Compound MiterSaw
- Grizzly G0691 Table Saw
- Grizzly G0586 Jointer
- Ridgid R4330 13″ Planer
- Craftsman 17″ Drill Press
Plans
Free PDF and SketchUp Plans can be downloaded from our website.