With the heat being what it is around here and my bees bearding something fierce, I decided to give a slatted rack a try… If you choose to pick up 6 ft boards, you will be able to make 2 of these slatted racks.
Note- after making these, I decided a better flow on the parts, so some of the photos may have steps yet to be done shown... it will make sense I hope!
Materials needed:
1x6 36” minimum.
1x8 32” minimum.
Table saw
Glue
nails or screws : ¾” and 2”
Cut the 1x8 into two 15-¼” pieces.
Cut the 1X6 into one 16-¼ and one 19” piece.
Rip the 1x6 pieces into two 2-¼” pieces respectively. This will be the side of the rack.
Rip one of the 1x8 pieces to 4-1/8”.
The rest of the material (including leftover piece from this cut) can now be ripped to 3/4” x 3/4” slats. There should be enough to make 11, in case one of the slats is bad due to knot, crack or another defect… 10 is all that is needed.
Now that all the ripping is done, it is time to cut the dados.
On the 16-1/4” pieces, dado a groove 3/4” wide, 1/4” deep and 1/4” from the top of each board.
While the saw is set up this way, take the 19” boards and dado a 3/4” wide groove 1/4“ from the top, but only go 4-1/8” long (this will be a blind dado). It is also important to note that the fence will have to be set on the opposite side of the blade for one of the two pieces, and they need to mirror each other, not be exactly the same.
Next rabbit the ends of the 16-1/4” piece 3/4” wide and that 1/4” depth still.
*see above photo for rabbited ends*
Now the fun one… Dado a 3/8” groove in the middle of the edge of the 4-1/8” board (I set my fence between 3/16” and 1/8”) 7/16” deep.
Finally, rabbit both top and bottom of only one side of the slats 7/16" wide and 3/16” deep. You are looking to leave a 3/8” tab in the middle.
Once that is done, it’s time to assemble the pieces.
I started by putting the shelf onto one of the end pieces, then adding the sides, and fastening those together. I then took the slats and put them together in the dado on the other end (square side in) and then lowered the other three into place, letting the tabs enter the slot in the shelf. This is much easier if they are together, you may slide them to their proper spot once all sides have been secured.
Side note – when moving the bars into place, one or two came out if I slid one end too far without the other. This leads me to believe it is possible to assemble all four sides with the shelf, then add the slates after. I however have not tried this, so make no promises as to the possible ease of this method…
Space the slats starting with 1/2” from the end, for the first slat, then space 5/8” between every slat thereafter.
Secure with nails or staples, or whatever you have to keep them from moving on you. I secured from the end on the square side, and through the tongue and groove on the “tabbed” side.
