DIYbanter - View Single Post - Tenon Strength / Rail strength- Max?

Todd the wood junkie

wrote:
Good evening-

I'm drawing up plans for a wine rack that will involve either 4 or 6
'posts' and a series of wood slats to hold the bottles. Each slat
(front and back) holds 10 bottles for a weight around 20 lbs, so not
very much. Each post will be approximately 6 foot tall which
translates into a 150 bottles, or about 200 lbs carrying (50lbs per
post).

The 'double wide' version would hold 50 lbs per post on the outer
posts, but the center two posts would be double-tenon and therefore
hold 100 lbs.

My concern is, not having built anything like this (I'll be making a
mockup with some with MDF when I get a free moment)- what do I need to
worry about? If I'm cutting into 2" post square stock and putting a 1"
high by 1/2" tenon into the post every 6 inches am I severely
compromising the carrying capacity of the wood? Or is it going to be
"OK" because the tenon (ideally) will fit perfectly and continue to
transmit the load to the floor.

The second question i"ll have later is how to cut multiple in register
partial chord circles over 44" of material, but that's another day's
issue...

Thanks in advance-

Jason

Without seeing exact plans for this, I would say the following
regarding your main concern: I'd personally be less concerned about
the vertical load on the post (assuming your tenons are snug and you
are using a fairly strong wood like oak, ash, or the like), than the
horizontal regidity your design may need to consider. With 200 lbs
going up 6 feet, you will want to make sure the center of gravity is'nt
too high, and that that it offers rigidity (maybe tie the posts
together diagonally every 2 feet vertically)