Tuesday, January 22, 2013

MAKING IT : Found Window Frame Into Classic Coat Rack W. Pallet Wood

Welcome to my new series called Making It. After spending much of 2012 making cool things out of stuff I have found or rescued ( read into it : hoarded ), my intent of this is to inspire you to make shit out of anything. Because if this C- student in shop in 1984 can do this, any loser could do it. My art degree never schooled us in tools of any kind and my clumsy nature tends to avoid things like saws, blades and other major injury causing items. So most of this is even painfully constructed with my hands. Since i am down to nine fingers for a few months, let's review : 

Super Cool Classic Looking Coat Rack


I confess I dumpster dive quite a bit. If these is no food involved, I can do it. I live downtown in an area where many print companies or furniture companies use and discard odd shaped wood pallets after very little use. Many other places I go clearly have set aside very nice pieces for me after watching me on security camera haul away their recyclable wood. One such place left out their windows they had torn out and replaced in their factory section. At first I took all the hinges and cool metal hardware. I will bike with a small tool kit in my backpack just to remove cool things I find on discarded stuff. Most of the windows had jagged, deep set glass, but two were different and had no glass. I came back with a car and removed both pieces. I disinfect EVERYTHING and then I polished the wood. It's in great shape and a perfect frame. I took spare wood from a recycled shipping pallet, measured and cut all my board to fit in the frame and glued the pieces into the groove where the glass had been. Here is the side beneath the stained side above. No nails were used, just wood glue and maybe a clamp if one wood slab was warped.

 Here is the side we are going to use for the rack to hang things. I've got enough scarves to make Steven Tyler seethe with envy so I need hooks and hang up opportunity or it's everywhere here. I'm into natural dyes but at the same time I love a good oily stain gleeming in the sun. So I stained the wood over and over with decaf coffee from work. We use Phoenix  coffee and the rich leftover brew creates a wonderful dark stain. Combine it with a bit of black and then a coat of clear linseed oil for a nice deep sheen. Different woods are often used to make shipping pallets so sometimes you get a nice variation of flattened forest here. Recycled, of course.
 Over the years, I have collected odd hardware. When I worked for a property company, they would often upgrade a suite and throw away all the old hardware. Eventually, even as a framer I would save odds and ends people would leave or throw away. A visit to a thrift store or a Habitat for Humanity ReStore can score your many old classic used and worn pieces to adorn anything you need to look urbantastical and authentically hip. Or leave your hardware in vinegar, water or wine. It does some weird stuff to look cool and the liquid is usable stain.
 Before gluing the wood to the frame, I had hammered a few holes into the wood to twist some hooks of all shapes, sizes and colors when completed. I also installed a must larger eyescrew in the back and heavier wire to install it on a concrete brick wall. So far it hasn't ripped out of the wall but we'll see how long that lasts when someone else uses it. 
Crafty moment climax ! So all the scarves, coats, dog leashes, collars, bike lock, umbrellas, all the crap I can't figure out where to go when I have no closet are hung up. HUNG UP. Some glue, hooks and wire makes a nice wooden wall piece functional, recyclable and easy to reuse in the future. ( table top, card holder with bread pans, pot rack, etc ). 

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