I have wanted to build a wine rack for the last few years and finally got around to it. The plans, from Woodcraft Magazine, were very well done. I made the five shelf version (there is a two shelf version) out of Red Oak. The plans call for some MDF templates and a couple of jigs, but it is not too difficult. It was the usual drill with the cutouts in the cross pieces.
Cut the piece to size, make an MDF template of all the cutouts, rough cut the cutouts, then finish by using a patterning bit in a router or router table. This project was a ton of work, lots of little pieces as you can see from looking at the sides and cross pieces. There was lots of sanding of the cutouts, thank the Lord for a spindle sander! The ends and cross pieces are held together with small dowels and glue. It really is pretty sturdy. It is made out of red oak.
The wine rack is in our basement alongside our wet bar. I stained the wine rack using a rosewood water based stain, same as the wet bar. I finished the project with a wiping poly from General.
It really was quite time consuming dealing with the plethora of parts on this project, but in the end it was very rewarding. Be sure and check out the photo gallery of the production process.
Doug
