Tools,  Upcycling,  Wood

Shackle jacket rack

It is built to only hang 4 working clothes: a jacket, trousers, a hoodie and a T-shirt. Scrap wood and old but never used shackles were used for this project.

For some reason the original shackle pin was smaller than the M8 bolt, it was 7.3 mm in diameter whereas the bolt was 7.7 mm. Not a big problem, I cut another thread in no time. Once that was done I set my portable drill stand and drilled some holes with a Forstner bit and then with a regular bit.

Each shackle will be held by just one bolt and to stop it from spinning around I had to rout out the grooves.

I then flipped the workpiece over to the backside and with my planer, I turned ~5 mm of the material into dust.

Next, I had to drill holes for the washers and bolt heads, a little bit deeper than the total thickness of these two.

There were only 2 holes left to be drilled from the front. Last but not least I cut the piece to its final length on my table saw using my mini sledge.

I was happy with how all the parts linked together so I started sanding. With my router, I chamfered the outside edges and then applied the finish.

Several coats were applied and once they dried I buffed the timber with steel wool and wax. This trick is absolutely amazing, the finished surface is incredibly nice to the touch, super smooth.

I installed the hardware and drilled pilot holes in the wall. The rack was perfectly levelled with my laser level, a new gadget that is super accurate and makes tasks like these easy.

I started using the rack straight away. The large and rounded shape of the shackle heads is perfect for hanging t-shirts and hoodies and the size of the other two hooks seems to be big enough for a couple of jackets or trousers.

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