Wood Inlay Coat Rack

This natural wood coat rack was made using two pieces of cedar and purpleheart for the diagonal inlays. It's a fairly quick and easy build if you have the right tools but could still likely be made without a bandsaw and planer using some ingenuity and elbow grease.

Skill: Medium (routing, planing, ripping thin strips, maths)

Cost: <$50

Tools: Router, miter saw, table saw, planer, bandsaw, pocket hole jig, drill, rafter square

Note: You could probably build this without the bandsaw and planer but you will probably need a jig (and plenty of extra wood due to larger kerf) if cutting on a tale saw. Sanding down the inlays by hand is an option but it will take dramatically more time and elbow grease to finish.

Materials: Below is what I used for this build but feel free to use different hardwoods if you find some boards that look particularly cool:

• 2pc 3/4" x 4" x 48" red cedar boards (note: these were actual 3/4"x4" boards and not dimensionalized lumber which would measure 3/4" x 3 1/2")
• 1pc 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 12" purpleheart (you may want to buy two just in case
• 7x Hooks
• 3/4" long screws for hooks (they usually come with much longer screws)
• Pocket hole screws
• Pin nails and/or wood glue
• Hanging keyholes/hooks/sawtooths/etc.

Rip the 1/4" thick wood you will use for your inlays down to about 1/4" thick using a band saw or other thin kerf blade saw. They should look like squares when looking into the ends. You could use a table saw for this but make sure you are using a thin rip fence/jig and ensure you have enough wood to accommodate the much larger blade kerf. I just used a scrap piece of wood clamped to my bandsaw table as a fence. You will need to make at least 8 inlays but cutting a few extra is recommended.

Before starting anything on the main boards, make sure they are flat and straight. Since my red cedar was made of heartwood right from the pith, I needed to straighten them up using a custom made table saw straightening jig. There are many examples of how to do this on the internet and they will do a better job explaining than I could here. Do not worry if your final board widths are slightly smaller than the 4" wide.

Once your boards are straight and relatively flat, mark off your inlays at 45° angles by measuring the overall final length of your coat rack and dividing by 8. This will give you the overall width of your inlays plus the space between each in the direction of the board.

Start from the middle and work your way outwards to ensure that your center inlays meet at a single point. Note: I did not cut my final board to length just yet in case my inlays were off slightly. By waiting until after the inlays are place, it is easier to cut at the exact ends of the inlays and you also can avoid getting snip on your planer in areas that you care about. My rack is 36" wide so each inlay was spaced 4.5" apart lengthwise across the board. Note that the spacing is from left edge of inlay to left edge of inlay and not just the gap between the inlays. I highly recommend marking both sides of the inlays so that you know exactly what side of the lines to route out.

Using a 1/4" straight bit router set to a depth of just under 1/4", I used a rafter square clamped to the board at the appropriate offset and routed out each slot. Again, work your way from middle outwards to ensure your middle ones meet at a single point.

After routing, collect some of the saw dust in a container in case you need to patch some small gaps in the inlays with glue. This will look a lot better than wood filler if needed.

Without glue, perform a test fit of your inlays IN EACH SLOT to make sure they will fit. Since your inlays are now roughly 1/4" x 1/4", you may find that rotating them makes them fit better in one orientation. My slots were a little tight to start so I used a rasp to open the slots ever so slightly. Once you know you will be able to get the inlays in place using a rubber mallet or by squeezing in with a clamp, you are ready to install using glue. I used two clamps to slowly squeeze the inlays down into place and it worked well. Once done, wipe off any glue squeeze out and make sure the inlays are all seated properly in the slots.

I first used a coping saw to cut off the majority of the excess length and then ran the board through my table saw to trim off the excess lengths on both sides. Make sure you aren't cutting into the main cedar board as this will cut off your peak of the center inlays.

Now for the most satisfying part of the entire build. Run the board through your planer until everything is flush and smooth. Take off a small amount at a time to avoid tearing out any of the inlay wood. If you end up with small gaps or tear out, you can use your sawdust from earlier to mix with a tiny bit of glue and fill in.

If you don't have a planer or access to one, the next best method would be to create a slab flattening jig for a router and using that to get the inlays as close to flush as possible. You can then go back over everything with sandpaper until you get the smoothness you are looking for.

I drilled my hook holes at this point just because it was easier to measure and drill everything without the other pieces in the way. The locations of the holes and spacing will depend on what hooks you choose. I created a story board using a scrap piece of wood, marked off the center of each hook and then drilled holes where the actual mounting holes. Once that was done, I clamped the story board to my coat rack at the appropriate location and drilled through using a very small drill bit. This made it much easier to attach the hooks perfectly in line with each other and at the appropriate spacing in the end.

The shelf is just another straightened/flattened 3/4" x 4" cut to the same length as your main piece. I attached it to the main piece using 4 pocket hole screws on the back. Your shelf piece should be on top of the main back plate (i.e. your shelf edge will butt up against the wall when mounted)

The gussets were rip cut to 1" wide. Both ends were cut to 45° angles on a miter saw and I trimmed them down until they just barely cleared the first inlays without any overlap. I also routed 45° chamfers on all four edges of each gusset to provide a little bit of additional flare. I attached the gussets using a small dab of wood glue and then a pin hole tacked through the shelf and back plate.

Once this was done, I routed off the edges of the shelf using a chamfer router bit to improve aesthetics and then gave everything a few coats of natural danish oil.

You are now ready to attach all of your hooks. Make sure they are straight (your pilot holes from the previous steps should help. Also, make sure the screws you use will not blow through the backside of the rack.

To hang on the wall, I used cheap keyhole hangers from HD. I traced around the edges and holes at three locations (ends and then one in the middle) on the back plate. Your routed slot should be just thick enough for the hanger to sit in. Then route a slightly deeper opening where the screw head goes.

In the picture you can see that my screws were silver. My local HD didn't have black screws in stock in the right size so I bought normal steel ones and painted over the heads with matte black paint after install.

Mount on the wall and enjoy! If i screwed anything up in this Instructable or you have any questions, feel free to comment.