Wine Rack With Cork Holder

In this Instructable I show how I make a Wine Rack with cork storage area. The wine rack holds nine standard bottles of wine but the back can easily be adjusted to accommodate larger or smaller bottles if required.

Materials required:
One 2440mm x 1220mm (8 x 4) sheet of solid pine Lamwood panel.

600mm (24inches) of 50mm x 5 mm steel.

Primer/undercoat.

Ebony wood stain.

Varnish.

Gloss paint.

Glue.

Sandpaper.

Screws.

Glass

Silicone (for glass)

Tools:

Circular saw.

Mitre saw.

Brad nailer (Hammer & Panel pins)

Drill/screwdriver.

Hand saw.

Square

Straight edge.

Clamps

Angle grinder.

Metal cutting discs.

Paint brush.

Paint roller & tray

Silicone gun

Have a look at the short video above to see how I built the Wine rack from start to finish.

To start I cut up the pine sheet. It's not in the video but I ripped some lengths 350mm wide (the width of the wine rack) with the circular saw. I clamped a straight edge as a guide for the circular saw to ensure a straight edge. Make sure to offset the distance from the edge of the saw blade to edge of the saw base. This measurement will differ when 90 degree cuts to 45 degree cuts. The outside dimensions of the frame (excluding legs) are 785mm x 510mm x 350mm.

The plans are located in the photos in this step. I had to go old school when doing them. If you cant follow them or read the sizes let me know and I will help you out.

The corner joints of the frame could be done in a number of different ways for e.g. Butt, dovetail or finger joints to name a few. I decided to go with mitre joints for a few reasons: (1) I knew I was going to paint the outer frame and therefore I did not want any end grain showing as this would have looked odd when it was painted. The mitre gives a nice continuous line all around the piece. (2) Ease of making the joint. Dovetail and finger joint would have taken a lot longer to make and I would have ended up with the end grain issue. While those joints would be a lot stronger I believe this type of furniture would not be going through heavy use like other furniture. On the other hand If you were going tom leave natural or stain the wood dovetail joint could look really well and add to the piece. It's just a matter of preference or taste.

Using the circular set to 45 degrees and using a straight edge clamp as a guide I cut two pieces at 785mm and two pieces at 510 mm. The circular saw left a slightly rough edge on the cut so wrapped a piece of sand paper around a block of wood (to keep the cut square) and sanded off any rough edges.

As I went with the 45 degree miters assembly was quite easy. I applied glue on the edge and then nailed it together with some 38mm brad nails.(you can used a hammer and nails if you do not have a brad nailer). When I had the four corners joined I measured the diagonals to ensure the frame was square and the I tacked a length of wood across the diagonal to hold it in place until the glue dried. While the glue was drying I ripped pieces 75mm in width. This shall we say is to make a frame inside the frame.

There are a few reasons for this:

(1) It will make the whole frame appear thicker which I believe looks better

(2) It acts as a place to hold the glass and the actual bottle holder parts (explained later)

(3) It provides an offset so the bottle necks won't be sticking out past the frame and therefore reduce the risk of someone catching them as they were passing by. Again I mitered the corners and then glued and pined them to the main frame.

To separate the bottles from the cork holder area I had to install an divider. I measured the internal distance between the top and bottom (the width is still 350mm) and cut it again with the circular saw and straight edge.

Along the front edge I had to glue a piece on each side to build up the width to match the rest of the frame and also act as a frame to hold the glass and the wine rack. I clamped the pieces with some spring clamps until the glue cured.

I then had to notch out a piece on the top and bottom of the divider so it would sit over the frame. Once cut I then glued and pined it to the main frame.

With the divider now in place I could now move on to the wine racks. I measured to opening where the rack was going and cut two panels (one to support the bottle at the front and one to support it at the back. In this case they were 450mm x 455mm.

I marked out where the bottles would be going so it looked equal from the front. It worked out that there was 39mm between the holes. I was making it for nine bottles but you could easily scale up or down to suit your needs if you wanted more or less. I placed the two panels on top of each other and put some scrap pieces of wood under them to keep them off my work bench and the clamped them securely to the bench. This makes sure that the holes line up exactly. I used a 92mm hole saw in my drill to cut out all the holes.

The size of the legs are 54mm x 60mm x 200mm with a ten degree angle cut on each end. I got this thickness of timber by gluing some of the off cuts together. I used the miter saw to cut the ten degree angles.

To attach the legs to the frame I did not want to screw down through the frame to hold them so I had to attach them from underneath. I cut 4 pieces of 50mm x 5mm flat steel with an angle grinder. (These were going to be attached firstly to the legs and then finally to the frame.) I drilled 7 holes in each of the 4 pieces (See pics) and countersunk the 4 corner holes on one side (attaching to the frame) and then the 3 center holes on the opposite side (attaching to the leg)

To protect the steel I then finished them with 2 coats of a black spray paint.

Frame:

After allowing the glue to cure, on the frame I filled and sanded any imperfections in the wood. I applied a coat of a grey wood primer/undercoat to the main frame (except the cork holding area which is stained)

I almost forgot to drill out the hole for corks at this stage! I drilled a hole again with a hole saw 45mm in diameter on the cork storage side. I then applied 3 coats of a water based high gloss paint giving the frame a light sanding before the final coat.

Wine rack/Legs:

The wine rack area, legs and the cork holding area are finished firstly with a ebony stain and then 3 coats of a water based varnish. I applied the stain with a brush and gave the varnish a light sanding before the final coat.

I think the contrast between the stain and the paint looks great.

(1) When placing the bottles in the rack, to make sure I don't push them in too far and then fall down I added some slips at the back to prevent this. These were simply some strips which I glued and pined to the back. (see pic)

(2) To attach the steel to the legs I predrilled holes into the wood before screwing in three 50mm size 5 screws.

(3) On the bottom of the frame where the legs were going to be fitted I cut out areas the size and depth of the steel. This so the steel would not be visible under the frame. I did this with a router and a straight cutting bit.

For the final assembly I started with attaching the legs to the frame. I inserted the steel end of the legs into the routed sections on the bottom of the frame and attached them with 16mm size 4 screws.

Next I put the front section of the rack into the frame and screwed it into place with 30mm screws. These also help with strengthening of the whole piece. I placed an empty bottle in the hole to determine to location of the back section of the rack and the screwed into place.

There is enough room at the back that it can be adjusted in or out to accommodate different size bottles.

The Glass.

I went to my local glass supplier where they cut a 6mm laminated piece of glass for me. The size of the glass was 265mm x 456mm. I secured the glass in place using silicone. For the back of the glass section I screwed a panel in just like the back of the rack side just without the holes in it.

And here is the finished wine rack. I need a glass of wine after that! Let me know what you think of it and what if anything you would change or do differently. If I have not covered all the details on the build let me know and I will update them. Thanks for looking. If you would like to see more projects from me you can visit my Youtube channel here: Eamon Walsh DIY

Thanks again.
Eamon