C&R Storage Rack

[Aragorn243]

My storage is varied but I more or less gave up on vertical racks a long time ago. Both gun cabinets have been converted to shelf display cabinets. I still have one remaining vertical rack in what used to be a window opening. My remaining non-safe, non-hidden case storage is on bicycle hooks on the ceiling. My walls are taken up by either pictures, deer antlers, football jerseys or bookshelves. I do have a large 14 gun cabinet area that is currently stuffed full of other collectibles.

Advantage of the bicycle hooks is they are out of the way, don't take up any wall space, can be easily accessed and I can hang all sort of other things off of them. Each rifle also has at least one, possibly two helmets hanging off them.



They have also slowly been sneaking into the wife's domain of the living room. There are now three hanging on the walls above openings and two sets of deer antlers mysteriously moved down beside the actual mounted deer in the past couple of weeks.







I'm following the frog in the pot of cool water on the stove theory. Temperature is rising very slowly. She did notice the deer antlers and objected to the first set but that was going there no matter what, it was the most recent set from this year which I think I posted somewhere here. The second set took her three days to notice but it was the very first buck I shot when I was 12 so she couldn't object to that, I was a mere child. Besides, gives her more places to hang Christmas ornaments.

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[mrandig]

I'm having biscuits for dinner tonight.

It's just a coincidence, but I'm also using biscuits to assemble the side panels of this C&R rack. Obviously these aren't the same biscuits; these are little wood footballs that work similar to dowels when joining wood together.

Two 5-1/2" boards will give me the 11" I'm looking for. I call the side pieces "wings", as they only go up about 14-18" from the bottom, mostly to provide an attachment for the bottom and to keep the rack from being top heavy. I'll put a biscuit about every 3"-4" inches and then glue everything together.

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It's both a funny and sad true story, but they couldn't figure out what I was asking for when I asked for "biscuits" at the local HD store. It was like going into a bar and asking for a sarsaparilla. Am I that old?

Anyways, here's a pic of the worlds most expensive biscuit maker, both in its natural habitat and in action. It would be better if this thing was about $150 cheaper, but it's a pretty cool tool. Also makes great sawdust, to mix with glue for touchups or epoxy (I have a collection of different woods).

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[mrandig]

It's kind of hard to glue and photograph, so I didn't really get a good photo of this step of the process. Once the glue hits, things begin to swell, and time is critical. It's also important to make sure everything is lined up, top and bottom, left and right, side to side, etc. and things can be a bit fussy. I keep a bowl of water and wet towel close to wipe up any excess.

Lots of glue, lots of clamps. If you're not sure, you're not using enough. Then use lots of more glue, just in case.

I'm using pipe clamps to keep the pieces pressed together. The thin pieces that run across the wood are cauls, and they keep the height of the pieces even. The better these are fit up, the less work has to be done later.

We'll see how this all looks after sitting overnight.

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[mrandig]

While I'm watching the glue dry, I guess it's time for a random unrelated topic.

I accidently purchased a pair of VZ.24 rifles (Romanian contract). It must be Christmas, as the barrels are pretty frosty, but overall they're pretty damn cool. I love the red wood with the white metal. I'll post more on these later. Right now I'm in the process of cleaning, and figuring out what I've gotten myself into.

Some people accidently get into car crashes, hit by meteors falling from the sky, scalded with hot coffee, etc. I accidently buy rifles apparently. I've also got an 1891 Argentine Mauser coming soon, which was also an accident. Not sure when that's supposed to arrive, as I understand that the mail is all tied up.

For this cleaning job, I just picked up this ultrasonic cleaner from Amazon (@$100). With some Simple Green and water, the cleaning is first rate. I would definitely recommend. Everything comes out shiny and like new. Will the ultrasonic cleaner last? Who knows...

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I hate to even ask the question, but is there some reason that these floor plates don't release? I can't get either of the two to come apart, and I've gotten pretty violent with them. They don't appear to be soldered closed, they're just stuck together. Yes, I know that button needs to be depressed...

[mrandig]

Since I'm doing product reviews while the glue dries, why not another.

I've been trying out different ways to clean wood, and came upon the steam cleaner shown below. It's another Amazon purchase ($35.99). It's good for when you have a stock and/or handguard that needs a light cleaning, but you don't want to get too aggressive. Just steam then wipe down, steam then wipe down, steam then wipe down. When the wood becomes matte and you can see the voids in the wood grain, it's done. I'd say it's good for removing around 50 years of oil, dirt and grime; over that amount use something else.

This cleaner does put out a ton of steam, but the tank is small, so it will take a few refills (or more) for a full rifle. It needs to cool down before you can refill, so that's my only negative (only takes a few minutes). If it's not totally cooled down, it's really easy to get burned (ask me how I know).

I used this on the handguard for one of the VZ.24s. I steamed it, and then oiled it again; the cleaner worked out pretty well. I don't think it took an hour total. You're not submerging the wood in a lot of water (or chemicals), so there's not a lot of drying time, and the wood doesn't seem as prone to shrink, swell or crack.

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I didn't realize my dinner was peeking out in the right corner of the rifle pic. Thumbs up on the Hatch Pepper seasoning. That's the real winner here!

[mrandig]

Some people accidently get into car crashes, hit by meteors falling from the sky, scalded with hot coffee, etc. I accidently buy rifles apparently. I've also got an 1891 Argentine Mauser coming soon, which was also an accident. Not sure when that's supposed to arrive, as I understand that the mail is all tied up.

Speaking of accidental gun purchases, I accidently bought a little Mosin today while I was working on this cabinet. Looks like more cleaning supplies are going to be needed. At least it has a "really good bore" per the auction listing. I find that statement suspect.

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[mrandig]

They have also slowly been sneaking into the wife's domain of the living room. There are now three hanging on the walls above openings and two sets of deer antlers mysteriously moved down beside the actual mounted deer in the past couple of weeks.

I really like the bicycle hook idea. I've got an awful lot of empty wall space...

---------- Post added at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 PM ----------

I have one of these also, it's excellent for popping out dents that are present. Some of these dents are NOT small and some have been there for decades I reckon...yet they come out. Just a sideline of removing the crud.

I was really happy how things turned out. It was a little work, but it was filthy. I was watching Tucker on TV at the same time, so I didn't really mind the effort. The little dings and dents cleaned up nicely, but it didn't strip all the way down to bare wood.

Whoever designed it so that the safety valve needs to be removed in order to refill it is an a**h*le.

[mrandig]

I think these side pieces came out pretty well. One side is already sanded, the other side needed a little more wood filler, so it will have to wait. The seam on the left side is a little more pronounced than I'd like; I may try to mix together a slurry of glue and sawdust, and see if I can fill that in a little bit.

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The top piece is pretty mindless work, so I think I'll start that next.

[browningautorifle]

slurry of glue and sawdust,

Standard practice and works well enough.

[mrandig]

Making a slurry and then running it down the seam helped somewhat. It already has a strong, solid glue line, so there's not much of a gap to squeeze anything into. I'll probably work with it a little more, but I think it's close to being good enough. I can scratch that glue line with a dental pick and then fill, but that's a major pain.

The right side is almost invisible.

Also seemed to be a good time to finish up with the wood filler.

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