The New Wood Rack

For most things I build out of wood, I start with some sort of rough design. Sometimes I just use a pencil and paper and other times where I will need to estimate quantities to purchase material in, I'll use a free online CAD program to get an idea. Above is an incomplete design using SketchUp but enough that I can get everything I need from it.

I could have just built it in place but that would have required lots of trips around the house and up and down the steep ramp to access my lower back yard. It would have required lots of kneeling on uneven concrete to try and get things fastened together. So I designed this to be built in sections where I can comfortably work at waist level on my work bench and just carry the completed sections together and fasten together. Above is the framed out pieces waiting for some siding to be attached to the smaller ones.

The back panel was heavier than I wanted to lift without any siding so I just fastened it in place and attached the siding later.

I went back on forth what to do about the siding. I could have bought some cheaper materials but then would have to paint the pieces, front and back, before putting together which would have taken days of time. I looked at decking, siding, anything that was meant to last for a long time outdoors, but everything was so expensive these days. Finally I found some cedar "nickel gap" siding that was still expensive but more reasonably priced and I used up all my accumulated 11% off rebates that Menards does, to buy the cedar lumber. My thought was that it would go on easy and didn't need any painting or finishing. I would just fasten it to my frame made out of ground contact treated two-by material and let everything gray naturally with time. The cedar turned out to be miserable to work with. It split. It was warped, it was cupped. Despite hand selecting all 25 boards I needed for this project, I still needed ratchet straps (red strap on the left side) to pull things into a somewhat straight line at points of the project.

But I persevered and got everything built. I made a sloping roof to shed moisture though it shouldn't get a lot since the deck above will take much of it. I plan on moving the last of the tarped up firewood to this tomorrow and then perhaps over time this spring, haul up chunks of other trees that I have cut into rounds and piled up and attempt to split enough to fill up the new rack for a couple year's worth of fires.