Whether displaying everyday china or an heirloom collection, this handsome rack does the job with Arts and Crafts style. This rack is reminiscent of original pieces from that era and features mortise-and tenon joinery, spline joints as well as dowel joints and butt joints using screws. You can easily alter the design to suit your space or skill level. For example, replace the splined back boards with plywood with V-grooves to create individual boards. Or use biscuits, dowels, or even plugged screws in place of mortises or tenons.
Stickley’s name is often associated with quartersawn white oak. However, this tribute to those pieces is made from mahogany. Stickley and his contemporaries also loved mahogany. This plate rack is a great display piece because of its rich tone and attractive shape.
Make The Ends Posts
Photo 1. Cut mortises in the end posts for the rails. Make overlapping holes, then square your cheeks and shoulders with your hands.
End posts can be milled and cut to the final dimension (A, Figure). A and the Cutting List. Then carefully locate, mark and cut the three mortises on each post (Fig. B). If you dont have a mortiser or a mortising attachment for your drill press, install a Forstner bit and rough out each mortise by cutting overlapping, stopped holes along its centerline. Then clean up the shoulders and square the ends with chisels (Photo 1). African mahogany, a soft wood that is almost spongy, requires a sharp chisel.
Photo 2. Rout a stopped rabbet in each end post to house the back slats.
Next, use a router equipped with a rabbeting tool ( Foto 2 ) to cut a 9/41 cm diameter x 3/20cm w rabbet at the back edge of each post.
Tip: If you mark start and end points on the post that align with the base of the router, you wont have to peer underneath while routing to see where the bit is cutting.
Mark the curved top end on each post and locate the hole for hanging. To shape the end, drill the hole using a bandsaw or other jigsaw. Use a disc sander to smoothen the curve or a belt-sander attached to a workbench.
Assemble The Frame
Photo 3. Photo 3. Then use a handsaw to cut the tenons shoulders.
To get the final dimensions, mill the top and bottom rails B, C. African mahogany boards over 30 cm wide are fairly common, but you can also glue up narrower boards to make the top rail. Make tenons at the ends of each rail ( Foto 3). Then set aside the bottom rail while you lay out and cut the arc on the top rail.
Mark the top rails centerpoint and the beginning of the arc at the tenon shoulder on each end (8 cm down from the top). Then use a shop-made bow to draw the arc (Photo 4).
Photo 4. TIP: Place the arch on top of the rail by making an adjustable bow using a string and knots strung between slots in a piece of thin hardwood.
Make a bow by cutting a length of 1/20 cm x 122cm from a 3/10 cm-thick, straight-grained hardwood. Then cut
Find (or tie) a knot that creates a bow that matches the three marks youve laid out on the rail. Then position the bow on the rail and draw the arc. Tip: The bow won’t make a perfect geometric arc so it is best to place it on the rail, draw an arc from one end of the center, and then flip the bow over to complete the drawing.
Cut the arc using a bandsaw or jigsaw and then use a disc sander or a sanding block to fair the curve.
Photo 5. Make sure the frame is square as soon as its glued and clamped by checking the openings diagonal measurements.
Complete the tenons on the top and bottom rails by cutting their shoulders, using a pull saw. To remove any waste between the tenons at each end of the top-rail, use a copingsaw and a chisel. To keep this wide rail from splitting due to seasonal movement, cut the top tenons narrower, so theyre free to move up and down inside their mortises as the wood expands and contracts. (Yellow wood glue has enough elasticity to allow such movement.) Assemble the rails and end posts without glue to test-fit the joints. Then glue the frame together (Photo 5).
Fig A. Exploded view/End view
Fig. B. Post and Rail Joinery
Fig. C. Shelf Details (Top Shelf)
Fig. C. Shelf Details (Bottom Shelf)
Fig. C. Shelf Details (Top Shelf Left, Bottom Shelf Right)
Fig. D. Upper Bracket
Cut List
Add The Shelves And Brackets
Mill and shape the upper and lower brackets (D, E; Fig. C). Then cut the mortises in the upper brackets, using the same method as for the end posts.
Next, mill the lower and upper shelves (F,G) and the platerail (H) to the final dimensions. Then cut the tenons on the upper shelf and plate rail to snugly fit the mortises in the upper brackets. Note: The shelf will now protrude past the brackets’ back edge.
Photo 6. Notch each shelf to fit the opening in the frame, using a miter gauge with a fence and a stop block. The upper shelf has tenons, while the lower one does not.
Cut a 3/41 cm w x 7/41 cm d rabbet in the back edge of each shelf (Fig. C). Rabbet the top edge of the upper shelf and the bottom edge of the lower shelf. Next, notch each shelf to fit flush against the rail when the rabbet is registered against it ( Photo 6).
Photo 7. Photo 7.
Use a Photo7 to plunge-rout 1/10cm deep plate grooves in each shelf. As before, use the routers base to mark the start and stop points.
Photo 8. Install the brackets and plate rail after gluing on the shelves. Gluing these mortise and tenon joints is optional, because both brackets will be securely fastened to the frame.
Finish-sand the frame, shelves, brackets and plate rail. Next, glue each shelf and secure it with the rabbet against the rail of the frame. Install the plate rail by sliding the brackets onto each shelf tenon ( Photo 8,). Attach the brackets to both the shelf and the frame. Be sure that the brackets are square and that the end posts and brackets are parallel. Then drill countersunk pilot holes through the back of the end posts and fasten the brackets with screws. Note: The upper brackets can be glued to the shelf or plate rail.
Simply glue the brackets to your end posts and rails. Make sure you align the brackets vertically.
As necessary, inspect the rack and apply finish-sand if needed. Apply your preferred finish. I wiped on three coats of gel urethane.
Install The Back Slats
Photo 9. Photo 9. Use a featherboard to keep the slat pressed against the fence so the slots are consistently located.
For the back slats, mill long blanks (J), preferable by resawing thick stock and not ripping away more than half a board. Rip the blanks to width and then use a sanding block to lightly chamfer the edges. Next, install a thin kerf blade and cut slots for splines on both edges of each blank (Photo 9). You don’t have to center the slots perfectly. Just keep the same face of your board against the fence for both cuts.
Install a zero clearance insert in your tablesaw and set it. Then, use a sacrificial pushblock to rip the 3/35cm splines (K), from a board you have thickness planed to 9/41cm. The slats should be cut to the desired length. Apply the finish and finish-sanding the slats. After the finish has dried completely, place one spline at each edge of each slat. Dont use glue.
Photo 10. Photo 10. Allow for seasonal movement when you cut the end slats to fit. Install retainer strips to hold the slats in place.
Lay the rack front-face down on your bench to install the slats (Photo 10). Press the slats together, so the splines dont show. Cut the ends of the slats so they fit. Leave gaps for seasonal movement. Secure the slats with retainers (L, M). Use 23 gauge pin nails to fasten the retainers.
Bio
Garrett Glaser is a furniture maker who lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota. To see more of Garretts work, visit garrettglaser.carbonmade.com.
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