A Great Ball and Bat Rack | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What better place to stow baseball equipment than this simple-to-build ball and bat rack? Any little leaguer can proudly display his or her favorite baseball gear and keep it neatly stored and out of the way. Our rack is designed for two bats and three balls, with pegs for gloves, batting helmets, or caps. It can be expanded to hold enough for a whole team and customized to fit bats ad balls. The rack is cut from 1x4 pine stock, readily available at local lumberyards and home centers. All you have to do is cut wood to length. An inexpensive wooden miter box will help small hands make square cuts, but it's not necessary. Begin construction by laying out the bottom (A), back (B), and top (C) on 1x4 stock (See Cutting List). Then cut each piece. Three holes are drilled in the top piece to hold the baseballs. The centers of these holes are located 1 1/2 inches from the front edge and 2 1/2 inches from each end and in the center of the top. Mark these points, and bore a 2 inch hole through them for the baseballs to sit in. Lay out the two bat slots in the same way. Their center holes are located 1 1/2 inches from the front edge of the bottom and 3 inches from each end. Drill 1 1/2 inch holes through the layout marks for bat slots. An electric drill and hole cutter will make quick work of cutting out these large holes, but this is best left to the older carpenter. If you use a brace and expandable bit, securely clamp parts to the table, and either carpenter can drill. Use a combination square to draw straight lines from the edges of the bat slot holes to the front edge of the bottom. Use a saw, and cut inside these lines to form slots for the bat handles. Sand the pieces with number 120 grit paper. Round off all corners in the bat slots and baseball holes by wrapping sandpaper around a dowel. Assembly is easy. Begin by driving four evenly spaced number 4 finishing nails along the back edges of the top and bottom. Drive them through the pieces until just the tip protrudes from the other side. Next have one team member run a bead of glue down the top edge of the back. Then, while one member holds the back straight to keep edges in alignment, the other nails on the top. Now turn the rack over, glue and nail the bottom to the back. For the glove and hat pegs, drill two 3/8 inch holes in the front edges of the bottom piece 1 1/2 inches from each end. Drill this hole at an upward angle to prevent your hat and glove from slipping off. Use an adjustable bevel set at a slight angle (5 degrees) to act as a guide. If you don't have a bevel, cut a piece of cardboard to a 5 degree angle, and use it as a guide. Turn your rack on its back, and put a drop of glue in the dowel holes and tap in 3/8 inch dowels (D). Set the whole works aside for the glue to dry. When the glue is dry, use a nail set to sink the heads of the finishing nails below the wood surface. Scrape off the excess glue with a chisel, and give the rack a final sanding; it's ready to stain, paint,or varnish. You can attach your rack to a wall with plastic wall anchors. If you have enlarged its capacity, use expansion-type fasteners. We used large picture-hanging brackets and finishing nails driven into the lath of a plaster wall. If your walls are drywall, use plastic wall anchors. Tighten the anchor screws until their heads are 1/8 inches from the wall surface, then hook the picture brackets over the screw heads.
Build It Together by Gene and Katie Hamilton (Stackpole Books) |