20″ long magazine rack plans

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw or miter saw
• Jigsaw
• 1 1/4″ spade or Forstner bit
• Countersink bit
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Cut the hand hole in the divider

   Draw a centre line down the divider (C). The hand hole is a slot 4 1/2″ long and 1 1/4″ tall, centred on that line, its top edge 1 1/4″ below the top of the divider.

   Clamp the divider to the bench over a scrap board. With a 1 1/4″ spade or Forstner bit, drill a hole at each end of the slot, the circles just touching the slot's ends.

   Join the tops and the bottoms of the two holes with straight lines and saw them out with a jigsaw. Sand the inside of the slot smooth with sandpaper wrapped round a dowel: hands go in here.

   Round the two top corners: trace around a can or jar lid, saw on the waste side and sand to the line.

   • Tip Drill until the spade bit's point just pokes through, then finish the hole from the other side: no splinters on either face.
   • Tip Clamp the work so the line hangs off the bench, use a fine-tooth wood blade, let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood and push gently: the blade bends if you force it, and the cut wanders.

   ✓ Four fingers slide through the slot without touching a rough edge.

   STOP. Clamp the work; never hold it in one hand while you drill or saw with the other.

4. 4Join the ends and the bottom

   Stand the bottom (B) on edge and glue its ends. Hold an end (A) against each, bottoms and edges flush, and drive 3 screws, 1 5/8″, through each end into the bottom. Predrill and countersink each hole.

   The screws go into the end grain of the bottom, which holds glue poorly: give each end a thin first coat of glue, wait two minutes, then add a second before you join them.

   • Tip Drill a pilot hole for every screw within 2″ of the end of a board, or the board will split. Then countersink so the screw head sits flush.
   • Tip End grain (the cut end of a board) soaks glue up like a straw. Brush on a thin first coat, wait two minutes, then add a second coat before you join the parts.

   ✓ Set it on the bench: it stands without rocking and both ends are square to the bottom (check with a speed square).

5. 5Fit the divider

   Mark the centre of the bottom along its length. The divider (C) stands on that line, splitting the rack into two pockets about 5 1/4″ wide.

   Glue the divider's bottom edge and both side edges and slide it in between the ends.

   Drive 3 screws through each end into the divider's edge and 3 up through the bottom into its lower edge. The plywood is only 11/16″ thick, so drill the pilot holes exactly on its centre line.

   • Tip Clamp a scrap block either side of the divider while you drive the screws to keep it from wandering off the line.

   ✓ Measure each pocket at both ends: they are equal, so the divider is straight and centred.

6. 6Add the side slats

   Three slats (D) go across each open side, screwed into the front and back edges of the ends: one flush with the bottom, one flush with the top, one centred between them.

   Cut two spacer blocks 5 1/4″ long from scrap. Rest the middle slat on them to place it, so both gaps come out the same.

   Glue and drive one 1 5/8″ screw through each slat end into the end's edge, centred on the 3/4″ edge, and one into the bottom's edge for the bottom slats.

   • Tip Drill a pilot hole for every screw within 2″ of the end of a board, or the board will split. Then countersink so the screw head sits flush.

   ✓ The slats are parallel, the gaps are equal and every slat end is flush with the outside of the end.

7. 7Sand and finish

   Sand every face and edge of the magazine rack with 120 grit, then 180 grit, always moving along the grain (the lines in the wood). Sanding across the grain leaves scratches that the finish makes darker.

   Soften every sharp edge and corner with a few strokes of 180-grit paper on a block, so edges don't splinter or chip.

   Vacuum the dust, then wipe with a tack cloth or a barely damp rag and let it dry 10 minutes.

   Brush on a thin coat of water-based polyurethane along the grain. Thin coats dry clear; thick coats drip and stay sticky.

   When it's dry (about 2 hours; read the can), the surface feels a little rough because the water raised the grain. Sand very lightly with 220 grit just until smooth, wipe off the dust and brush on a second coat. Three coats on anything handled every day.

   Let the last coat dry overnight before you handle it much.

   • Tip Pine goes blotchy under stain. If you want colour, brush on a pre-stain conditioner first, or use a gel stain.
   • Tip Finish the back and underside too. Wood that is sealed on one side only can cup as the seasons change.
   • Tip Work in a warm, dry, well-ventilated room. Below about 50°F (10°C) most finishes dry slowly and cloudy.

   ✓ The surface feels smooth and even, with no drips on the edges and no dull, dry patches.