Summer Lull

Well, we've hit the dog days of summer here in Central New York.  As is common in the northeastern US, the middle of summer is characterized by high humidity and temperatures in the mid 90s. It would appear that the jewelry box was completed just in time.

When it gets that hot and humid, the only things moving are mosquitoes.  As you might guess, I have been spending most of my days hiding indoors in front of the air conditioner.  Even though I haven't been in the shop, I have still been thinking about woodworking.

While I was working on the jewelry box, my brother-in-law asked me if I would be able to build him a gun rack.  He wants it to be an armory style rack to hold around thirty rifles and shotguns.  For those who are unfamiliar, armories store firearms vertically on racks which sit on the floor.  The biggest challenges to this will be making the rack light and small enough to get it into his basement, and coming up with a locking system for guns which are varying in length and girth.

Well, the first problem is solved already.  Instead of having one large rack, I'll be making several smaller racks.  By using a modular system, we'll be able to more easily move the units into the basement.  An added benefit for my brother-in-law is that he'll be able to have more freedom to move them around the room.  I also think that a narrower width will make it easier to come up with a locking system.

With all of this in mind, I got on the computer and opened Sketchup.  Here's what I came up with.

The slots at the bottom will be angled to accept guns with scopes.  We may or may not be adding a drawer in the base.  These are just preliminary designs.

Some gentle curves will give the pieces some character.  Even though these will be utilitarian, they can still look nice.  The notches for the barrels at the top and the stocks at the bottom will be lined with felt to prevent thing from getting scratched up.

Hopefully I'll be able to get started on these in the next couple of weeks.  Right now we've had a break in the weather.  Sunny skies and cool temperatures without much humidity.  Right now I need to take advantage of the weather to get some outside stuff done.

I'll have more when I get into the shop, but for now the lull will continue.

Thanks for reading.  As always, please feel free to comment.  Look for me on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.  Until next time...