Wood Racks

[lateral]

Hi Guys

Currently all of my long lenghts of timber (3 m) that I have collected over the years is lying on the floor of my shed. This is not ideal and I want to purchase some metal wood racks that I can attach to a wall and store the wood off the floor.

I have been doing some research and there is a product called "unistrut" www.unistrut.com.au that looks like it will do the job...does anybody have other suggestions as I do not want to spend too much.

Thanks
Regards
Greg

[Sir Stinkalot]

Dare I say it but why not the Triton Woodrack? It would be much cheaper than the Unistrut and would do the same job.

[lateral]

I have a lot of timber and don't think the Triton will be able to take the load.

[Wild Dingo]

I have a lot of timber and don't think the Triton will be able to take the load.

While steel framed racks would possibly be best why not cut and make your own wooden racks?... these can be fitted to the walls of the shed or slung down from the roof if there is still not enough racks for your timber then make some A frame racks on wheels that you can fill either side and move to abut the wall racks if room is needed for more racks? You could then make and have as many different racks as you would ever need sort the timber into specie specific and rack them by that the centre area of the rack can also be a rack thus increasing the amount of timber per rack... as long as you make the cross member strong enough (this strength can be increased by adding 1/2in to 3/4in ply gussets to the upright and cross member)

The need for steel racks is in my opinion rather pedantic as its not necessarily a better option for stacking raw timber in that the first piece down would be laying on steel which will not be a good thing for the timber itself as it moves and moisture seeps... over time this will cause rust to the steel cross member and stain the timber that lays upon it.

The best use and storage of timber aside from on "sticks" was in a shed in Morawa I came across years ago... the shed was an addition to the blokes workshop where his tools resided the addition was about 40ft x 20ft or so and consisted of rows of A frame racks that were all on wheels in rows with 3ft gaps between every 2 thus he could move a row to get to another row no matter where in the shed it was located... above and between each A frame was an overhead rack that hung down about a foot into this was slotted lengths of timber of up to 30ft... each frame roof and floor had the specie year felled and sizes noted on a sign at eye height facing the walkway... no steel whatever... oh and he also had a storage shed for ply this was by way of a smaller 10ft x 10ft x 12ft area behind the main timber storage shed... his view was that he could store 100 sheets of ply at any time... he had 3 racks made so they were 2ft off the ground at knee height one for 1/4in one for 1/2in and one for 1in plys the reasoning for the 2ft above ground height was that as he wasnt a young bloke anymore (this was back in the early 90s) his back couldnt take much bending down so a small squat was all it took to hoist the ply and walk away with it... The last time I saw him (about 4 years ago) he had made some sort of strapping device that negated even this small amount of back lifting strain his view was he had no need for any other sizes but used a fair bit of these.

A great timber storage area and one I intend to follow

ooh and cost? as much as it costs for a few bolts some ply and your time to cut the timber to length so pretty damned cheep!

And I forgot to mention the bloke had cut and hinged "windows" in the walls so the timber could be slid outside from the rack or walkway... this he reckoned worked a treat and the time I saw him do it it was a bloody good method... it also was a good method of creating air flow for moist timber and therefore an added bonus of a good drying room... of course if your not in a small country town like Morawa then you wouldnt do it due to security issues but then out there it was a fine idea... one Im also considering as its easy to do and saves the costs of doors other than the initial entry door... just get some angle cut out the section cut angle to fit both the cut out and the wall weld hinges to them and away you go... use a stick of timber to hold the "window" open... old timey for sure but the shearing sheds have had these windows for eons and they work well... and can be made lockable by way of sliding bolts if required

[lateral]

Hi GUys

I ended up making some "hanging" racks that are suspended from the ceiling timbers in the workshop. This way the timber is off the ground and out of the way.