I just expanded my workshop, and am dedicating an 8' wall to a lumber rack.
I put in two extra studs, one stud width apart, so I could trap a 2x4 arm in
between them. So, with two of those, and 3 single studs; how much weight
can it hold?

Yeh I know, way too vague for an answer; but 10 board feet, 50 board feet
250 board feet? Those of you with similar racks should have some idea.

I was thinking of nailing arms to the side walls as well, and connecting all
the arms with another 2x4 across the ends, but that might be overkill? Or
not?

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 01:17:31 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

I just expanded my workshop, and am dedicating an 8' wall to a lumber rack.
I put in two extra studs, one stud width apart, so I could trap a 2x4 arm in
between them. So, with two of those, and 3 single studs; how much weight
can it hold?

Yeh I know, way too vague for an answer; but 10 board feet, 50 board feet
250 board feet? Those of you with similar racks should have some idea.

I was thinking of nailing arms to the side walls as well, and connecting all
the arms with another 2x4 across the ends, but that might be overkill? Or
not?


I made mine by not cantilevering the arms, but by including four 2 x 4
uprights with 3 box frames attached to both the uprights and the stud
walls, you can see this by examining one of the pictures on my shop page:
http://mklange.cnc.net/ShopPics.html (back of the eighth "after
modifications" picture). This arrangement currently is holding on the
order of 500 BF of assorted woods. I really need to take a better picture
of the rack and add it to the site.

Upsides of this arrangement:
1. It adds additional storage space that you wouldn't have with
cantilevered beams. Note the saw, jigs, and broom hanging from the
uprights. Underneath the bottom box frame, I have suspended metal brackets
to hold pipe, trim, and other sundry small pieces up from the floor. The
floor is used to store some 4 x 4 beams (for which warp and twist aren't an
issue), a floor jack, and other items not affected by storage on concrete.
2. There is more support for the lumber, I did this on 16" centers
(I think), so rather than a couple of cantilever beams, I have a pretty
good amount of support.

Downside of this arrangement: You make all of your lumber pulls by removing
the lumber from the ends, not by lifting straight off the cantilevers.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

"Toller" wrote in message
...
I just expanded my workshop, and am dedicating an 8' wall to a lumber rack.
I put in two extra studs, one stud width apart, so I could trap a 2x4 arm
in between them. So, with two of those, and 3 single studs; how much
weight can it hold?

Yeh I know, way too vague for an answer; but 10 board feet, 50 board feet
250 board feet? Those of you with similar racks should have some idea.

I was thinking of nailing arms to the side walls as well, and connecting
all the arms with another 2x4 across the ends, but that might be overkill?
Or not?


I have the wood arranged in the vertical position so support doesn't have to
be strong at all. This also has the advantage over horizontal in that you
don't have to remove the wood from the top in order to get at that one piece
laying on the bottom.

"Mark & Juanita" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 01:17:31 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

I just expanded my workshop, and am dedicating an 8' wall to a lumber
rack.
I put in two extra studs, one stud width apart, so I could trap a 2x4 arm
in
between them. So, with two of those, and 3 single studs; how much weight
can it hold?

Yeh I know, way too vague for an answer; but 10 board feet, 50 board feet
250 board feet? Those of you with similar racks should have some idea.

I was thinking of nailing arms to the side walls as well, and connecting
all
the arms with another 2x4 across the ends, but that might be overkill? Or
not?


I made mine by not cantilevering the arms, but by including four 2 x 4
uprights with 3 box frames attached to both the uprights and the stud
walls, you can see this by examining one of the pictures on my shop page:
http://mklange.cnc.net/ShopPics.html (back of the eighth "after
modifications" picture). This arrangement currently is holding on the
order of 500 BF of assorted woods. I really need to take a better picture
of the rack and add it to the site.

Upsides of this arrangement:
1. It adds additional storage space that you wouldn't have with
cantilevered beams. Note the saw, jigs, and broom hanging from the
uprights. Underneath the bottom box frame, I have suspended metal
brackets
to hold pipe, trim, and other sundry small pieces up from the floor. The
floor is used to store some 4 x 4 beams (for which warp and twist aren't
an
issue), a floor jack, and other items not affected by storage on concrete.
2. There is more support for the lumber, I did this on 16" centers
(I think), so rather than a couple of cantilever beams, I have a pretty
good amount of support.

Downside of this arrangement: You make all of your lumber pulls by
removing
the lumber from the ends, not by lifting straight off the cantilevers.

Yeh, I can't do that; I have to take it off the side.
However I will be supporting the ends, so mine ought to be 2/3rds as strong,
and 250 bf is probably enough for me.
Thanks; nice looking shop.

"Jack" wrote in message
...

"Toller" wrote in message
...
I just expanded my workshop, and am dedicating an 8' wall to a lumber
rack.
I put in two extra studs, one stud width apart, so I could trap a 2x4 arm
in between them. So, with two of those, and 3 single studs; how much
weight can it hold?

Yeh I know, way too vague for an answer; but 10 board feet, 50 board feet
250 board feet? Those of you with similar racks should have some idea.

I was thinking of nailing arms to the side walls as well, and connecting
all the arms with another 2x4 across the ends, but that might be
overkill? Or not?


I have the wood arranged in the vertical position so support doesn't have
to be strong at all. This also has the advantage over horizontal in that
you don't have to remove the wood from the top in order to get at that one
piece laying on the bottom.
That's an interesting idea. Have to think about it; thanks.

Mon, Oct 31, 2005, 1:17am (EST+5) (Toller) ponders:
snip that might be overkill? Or not?

Overkill is usually about right.



JOAT
If it ain't broke, don't lend it.
- Red Green

If it's going to be on concrete, be sure to put a piece of plywood or
the like down. Otherwise the wood may wick moisture up from the
concrete and twist/warp.

wrote:
If it's going to be on concrete, be sure to put a piece of plywood or
the like down. Otherwise the wood may wick moisture up from the
concrete and twist/warp.


I know this is a little obvious, but vertical storage limits you to the
height of your ceiling (about 8 or 9 feet in my case), while horizontal
storage can accommodate lumber as long as your longest (unbroken) wall (20+
feet in my case).

-John in NH

Turns out I am overbuilding it horribly. I have 6 supports, two them them
tied to the walls. A single center support can support my weight; so I
figure all six ought to be good for almost a ton. I suppose something would
fail if I tried to load the 5 shelves with 5 tons of wood, but since my
estimated load is about one tenth of that...

Toller wrote:
Turns out I am overbuilding it horribly.

My rack is simply 2x4's ripped in half, and crosscut to about 16-18".

Each "arm" then has a triangular 3/4" C/D plywood stiffener glued and
screwed to each side. The stiffeners are about 4" wide at one end,
tapering to the width of the ripped 2x4, and 3 1/2" longer than the arm.
The stiffener allows the arm to mount to 2x4's (spaced 16" apart) run
from the floor to the ceiling joists of my basement shop.

Since all of the force is down and away from the concrete wall, it's
very easy to attach the stringers to the sides of the joists with bolts
and construction adhesive.

The rack took no more than one evening to construct and is dead stable.

Barry