Since we started making woodworking projects, we built a large range of shelves, stands and racks, but we never tried any wooden wine rack. This was our first wine rack, which can store 5 bottles of wine. It is not very big, so it takes up very little space on the wall. My opinion is that it is a decorative wine rack rather than a useful rack for organizing and storing a lot of bottles of wine.

Our latest video on YouTube channel:

Do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be up to date with our newest videos:

The design is very simple, only the process was a little bit complex. Next, we will show you the main steps so you can learn how to make your own wine rack:

How to get the shape of the wooden wine rack

Getting the shape of the wooden wine rack means, you have to follow 3 steps:

• choosing the type of wood from which to build the rack
• building the template for routing the planks
• gluing the cut boards to get the final shape of the wooden rack

Choosing the type of wood from which to build the rack

We chose to build the wine rack out of pinewood. We already had in our workshop a few 5 cm thick pinewood boards. Planing one side and one edge, they would have in the end a 4 cm thickness. The boards were wide enough so we could get the shape using only one board. The width of the boards would be the depth of the rack. Otherwise, we had to glue panels to get that size. Gluing panels would also make the process time-consuming.

We chose to build the wine rack out of pinewood. We already had in our workshop a few pinewood boards of 5 cm thickness. Planing one side and one edge of the boards would have got them to a thickness of 4 cm. The boards were wide enough so we could get the shape using only one piece. Also, we wanted that the width of the boards to be the depth of the wine rack. Otherwise, we would have had to glue panels to get this size. And gluing the panels would have increased the working time.

We couldn’t use only one piece of 4 cm thick board for this wine rack. We needed four such planks to get a total width of 16 cm. We were sure that the 16 cm width was enough to safely hold 5 bottles of wine.

Gluing those 4 cm thick boards was a very good thing. That way, we could say that the rack was made out of laminated wood, which is more durable over time in moisture conditions.

So, the first step was to get all the four pinewood planks to the same size in section.

Building the template for routing the planks

As we’ve told you in other posts, we use a lot of templates. Every time we need a certain shape (especially when we need more identical cutouts), we use templates.

We create the shape of the needed templates for each project, using various scraps (OSB, plywood, or MDF):

• we choose the right piece of scrap taking into account the size of the template
• we draw the shape of the template on the chosen piece of scrap
• we cut the shape using the band saw or the jigsaw
• then, we sand them very well the edges, to get them smooth and right

Using the router, with a flush-trim bearing router bit, we cut out the boards or the panels needed for a project. As an example, the wooden stand for weights and dumbbells was made using the same method. Only that, in that case, we used ash wood panels instead of pinewood planks.

For the wine rack, we drew the shape on a raw MDF board. Then we cut out the first board using the router. That way, we got the shape you see in the pictures below. After we finished routing the first plank, we tested it to find out if the wine bottle fits its place without any problems.

Because the bottle fitted perfectly, we also cut out the other three planks. Due to the template, in the end, all the routed boards came out almost identical.

The cutting out process of the other boards took a long time. It was made with the routing machine, with repetitive passes to be sure that there wouldn’t be any risk of the wood to chip. We didn’t want to use the jigsaw because there was a risk of not cutting out the shape very well. And we probably would have had to sand more in the end. In addition, with the jigsaw, there was a risk of cutting out more than would have been necessary.

Gluing the cutout boards to get the final shape of the wooden rack

After we got the shape of all the four planks, we glued them and tightened them very well using many clamps. As you can see, we used clamps on both sides of the wooden rack. We made sure that the four cutout boards would stick very well on the edges.

At the same time, we were very careful to arrange the edges of the pinewood plank very well when gluing them, so that the cutouts for the wine bottles to fit very well. That way, the sanding process would have become much easier.

It was quite difficult to glue the four boards with such cutouts at the same time because they slid on top of each other.

If gluing them at the same time is difficult, there is also another method: to glue one layer and then tighten it with screws. So that, you can be sure the rack will be very well glued and it will never damage. This is a method we used when we built our oak wood speakers and some wooden hanging lamps.

After the glue dried, we obtained a wine rack with a nice shape, but with an unpleasant look.

Sanding the wooden wine rack

For the most accessible areas, we used the orbital sander. For the rounded edges, we used the sheet finishing sander. In both cases, we used progressive grit sandpapers, from 80 to 120 to get a smoother surface. Obviously, we started with 80 grit sandpaper because there were some differences and the sanding process would have taken a long time.

The funniest part was sanding the rounded spaces where the wine bottles had to be stored horizontally. Initially, we tried to sand those spaces with a bottle coated with small grain sandpaper, using a cordless drill. After we had a lot of fun with this improvisation (a rounded sandpaper holder), we found in a corner of our workshop a sanding drum. We had forgotten that we had something like that since we haven’t used it for a long time. It took a long time to sand the rounded areas, but we stopped only when the surface became nice and smooth.

We filled the holes, the small cracks and other imperfections of the pinewood with wood putty and then we sanded the excess once more with fine sandpaper. We also manually rounded the sharp edges with 120 grit sandpaper.

In the end, this wine rack was very well finished. Honestly, the wine rack looked very well due to its natural wood appearance. If it had been our choice, we would not have painted it, but we would have applied only a water-based primer and varnish.

Painting the wooden wine rack

We completed the work by applying a layer of water-based primer. After the primer dried, we sanded the surfaces with 280 grit sandpaper. In the end, we applied two coats of water-based wenge paint. In addition to the high protection, applying the primer helped the first layer of paint to come out more evenly.