Barrel Rack 2                    06-2016

 

 

I wanted a nice finish on them so I used some Polyurethane clear semi-gloss made by Zar. I've used this for a few other projects and it works great. To apply it I used some cheap brushes and give each one two coats. This is an oil base product so I end up using two brushes, one for each coat and throw them away after each one.
 

 

 

I had one end up with what looks like a finger print. Now I wonder who that was from? I sanded the finish off in this area and reapplied more in this area only. It came out fine and you can't see where it was after two more coats.
 

 

 

I cut the heads off some finishing nails and hammered them into some scrap wood (arrows). Once I had the bottom surface coated with the Polyurethane, I placed the rack over the nails and into the screw holes to hold it while I did the other five sides. You might say I made a rack to hold my rack....barrel rack that is!
 

 

 

I let the clear finish dry for a few days and then needed to clean out the magnet pockets. The clear finish had a little build-up in each one but with the aid of the end mill that I used to make the pockets with, I cleaned out each one by hand which worked great.
 

 

 

After a few twists of the 1/2" cutter the pockets were cleaned and ready for the magnets again. I bought these from K & J Magnetics which has a huge selection of magnets. And not just any magnets either, they are incredibly strong neodymium rare earth magnets in all shapes and sizes. I bought a few extra just in case I broke one which I'm glad I did because sure enough that's what happened.

I bought ten and when you receive them they are all stuck together in a row. That's not a problem but when I was taking two of them loose from the others I ended up getting three. But when I was placing the one back it got away from me and smacked the others causing it to break into a few pieces. Note to self: don't let it fly out of your hand while placing two or more together.
 

 

 

Here are the finished barrel racks. You can see at the top left the one made out of maple that is slightly smaller than the others. But it really doesn't matter because they all do the same thing, steady a rifle barrel so the gun doesn't fall over.
 

 

 

Black walnut sure is pretty!
 

 

 

Here is the one made out of oak.
 

 

 

Maple and black walnut with the maple having some very cool looking wood. BTW, I gave these two away: the black walnut went to my son Tony, and the maple to a good friend.
 

 

 

A view from each side.
 

 

 

And here are two of them in use on the side of my safe. These barrel racks make it easy to safely place a firearm out of the way so they don't fall over. And it sure beats laying them on the floor like I have before. They work great!
 

 

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