Drying Rack for Shelves

Finishing shelves can be awkward and time consuming, especially if you need a finish on both the top and bottom surfaces of a shelf. For most of us, this means letting one side dry completely before we can start on the other side. To make things go a little quicker, I built this drying rack that lets me hang the shelves vertically so the entire shelf can be finished in one shot. It only takes a few minutes to build.

First create the side rails by drilling a series of 1"-dia. holes down the center of a scrap board. I used a piece of 2x4 stock. Space the holes about four inches apart. Then rip the board, cutting through the center of the holes, to create a left and right rail, see below.

Now join the rails with a cross brace across the top, as shown in the drawing at right. Size the length of your cross brace according to the length of the shelves you will be finishing.

Next, partially drive a small nail or screw into each end of the shelf, somewhere near the back. Now simply hang the shelves from the half circles you created in the rails. With the rack leaning against a wall, you can finish and hang several shelves at the same time without taking up a lot of space.