Let's DIY: A New Pegboard Wine Rack.

Sure, we’ve seen an oversized DIY pegboard, right?  What about as a wine rack!  Yesssss!

I must say, I caught a sh*tload of flak for the previous wine racks I made for the pantry.  I get it.  The bottles didn't lay flat.

Before.  Hm, someone is stocked and uh,  ahem, someone is not, *cough cough.*

But so what?  This was temporary storage, not long term.  The bottles, not that we're slammin' bottle after bottle after bottle, spent minimal time there.

And hey, some bottles have screw tops.  Others have artificial cork.  Many retailers store their wine bottles standing and who knows how long they've been that way too.

Regardless, I'm done defending myself -- the pantry is getting backed up with stuff and junk.  I need to now revisit it much like, eye roll, I have to revisit the garage every six months.  Back onto the list "pantry" goes.

But henceforth and therefore, in the meantime a new wine rack became in order, one that would hold more bottles and yet be more considerate of the space it takes up.

A drawing.  A piece of wood.  A dowel.

Wait, how can that be, Becky? you query, A wine rack that has a smaller footprint yet holds more?  You're nuts, dude.

Lo, I am not.  Ok, maybe I am, but that's beside the point.

It’s not necessarily that I'm attempting to be uber-hip and cool by bandwagon-hopping on the oversized wood pegboard trend though I will admit it is a nice, clean, minimalist look.

And yeah, it’s not far off the wall organizer which is nearby sooo, keeping with a theme?

Whatev’s, I knew the pegboard would hold oodles more bottles and yeah, with a smaller footprint.  It's a problem solver.  Hence, pegboard wine rack.

I now remember what it is about regular pegboards that make me batty, fyi, just an aside:  the damn little hooks/pegs/hang-y things fall out incessantly.  Nonstop.  One lil' glance and *plink,* they're on the ground.  Raaarrggg!

Anywhoooo….I went through several iterations of this,  s e v e r a l on the ol’ AutoCADs because my math sucked.  Sucked.  I then went through one build iteration that didn’t go as planned.  Wasted materials, sucked.

An important goal with the peg layout was to keep the bottles self-contained within the edges of the plywood, not peeping above nor dipping below.  Holy math.

What’s tricky too, extra tricky, is that wine bottles are different sizes and shapes.  Hahahahaaaaaah......Heh, I almost packed it in on this project due to that but I am not one to give up.  I went with the average diameter of a wine bottle, between 3” to 3.2.”

Long story short, I got it and am a' gonna share it with you!  Whoopie!

By the way, if you're not an email subscriber and want a free drawing to build this pegboard wine rack yourself, click here.  

Be sure to check your spam folder for the email as that's where mine went when I tested this.  Technology....

Ok, so given the wall area in the pantry I had available, I planned for two two-foot square panels to replace the old racks.  Until, see above, wasted materials.  

Originally I went with half-inch diameter oak dowels* as the wine bottle-holding pegs.  Mistake.

They were too thin therefore the bottles were either touching or too close together horizontally.  Worse though was that they were all askew and awry and kittywampus.  Nooo thank you.

Yeahhhhhh......that's not gonna work.

I ended up with 5/8" poplar dowels* instead.  Any bigger and it woulda looked misproportioned and goofy.

But wait, when did it become so difficult to find straight dowels, like truly straight and not wonky wavy?!

Oh and I ended up with a portable drill press* too.  Yeah, this was a giant learning curve!  I see why no one has really made this project....

The point of the press is to help steady everything in order to drill as straight as possible.  Very key here.

Mmmk, so yeah, I picked up these two foot square , 3/4" thick precut panels of birch plywood over there at the Menards.  Be sure to measure any precut panel for accuracy as it may not be cut as advertised.  Mine was not.

So after I had blown it with my first attempt, I did some interweb perusing and found this Instructable with some interesting tips.

Next was laying out the grid on the plywood.

Hard to see but the crossing points are the most important points.

Be sure when you do this, lightly drag the pencil to make lightweight lines.  Two reasons: one, they are easier to erase (pick up a white polymer eraser* if you can, they erase the cleanest); two, if you press too hard, the pencil will indent the wood.  At that point, no matter how much you erase, the indentation will remain and sanding it out will be a pain.

Despite a healthy serving of skepticism, I followed the Instructable’s suggestion to drill out small holes at the layout grid crossing points (the center point of each dowel peg).  The idea is they would help guide the Forstner bit straight.

Yes, pick up a 5/8" Forstner bit.*  Not only are they just cool, they bore out the cleanest straightest holes.

Did the small guide hole make a difference?  Iiiiiiii dunno, can’t say for sure.  It was a load of tiring extra work, I will say that, heh.

The small guide holes are drilled out, whew.  I used a bit about the size of the Forstner pointed tip, whatever that was.

I then popped in the Forstner bit next.  Nice thing about the press is that it has a bigger chuck than the drill which was quite handy, and turns out needed.  Not so nice thing about the portable drill press?  Very taxing for stupid, not 100% shoulders.

So all right, next carefully drill out each hole with the drill press and Forstner bit.  Make sure you’ve got a backer behind your good piece so you don’t blow out the backside, not that it really matters. Take your time, you need these holes to be as straight as can be.

Yes, I do wear my slippers* to woodwork, they're awesome.  I set this up on the floor as it was easier to maneuver the drill press with my dumb shoulders.

Ok, sealer time.  Or stain if you prefer.  Trust me, do it now as it’s harder later.  I smeared tung oil* on the uncut dowels and after erasing my pencil lines and sanding, same for the plywood panel.

Lil' erasing, lil' sanding the plywood smooth, good to go.   Woot!

You can put the oil on and lean the dowel on something, you'll likely have a scrap end anyway.  Yes, these are the 1/2" oak ones, not the 5/8" poplar.  Safe diff'.

Time to cut the pegs.  I opted for each peg to be 6.25,” no real rhyme nor reason but kinda based on the average bottle body.  Just don’t forget 3/4" of it is lost in the hole, therefore 5.5” of my pegs are sticking out.

Setting up a stop on your miter saw* is waaaayyyy helpful here to ensure each dowel is the exact same size.

Grab yourself a rubber mallet* and wrap it up in a rag.  I found out the hard way that the black rubber scuffs off just looking at it, so you’re welcome for that tip!

Now the fun:  bang those pegs in.  If any are a little loose, push it out, add a few small dabs of wood glue* from the backside, then bang back in from the front again.  It’s helpful to have a backer behind the panel as you do this so the pegs stop flush.

Ooooh boy, coming together!!  Almost a pegboard wine rack, woot!

You may need to knock the pegs straight vertically here and there.  No biggie.

Once everything was good to go, I dabbed tung oil on the exposed dowel ends and it was done!  Yay!

Ok!  Whew!  Right?!  I'm pooped!  But wait, gotta install!

Now, feel free to hang it any way you like.  I opted for those spiffy keyhole brackets.*

Rawr, let's make some noise!

First, measure on the back where the brackets will go so they’re even, line up, and will result in a level hang job.  Using the swanky palm router* I barely use, I dug out the depth needed for the mounting screw to fit inside then attached the brackets.  You can use a rotary tool* for this too.

Upstairs in the pantry, I held up the wine rack on the wall and quickly traced one corner to generally place it.

With a level, I drew a horizontal for the two foot width and a short vertical.  These guidelines helped me repeat the bracket locations from the back of the wine rack.  Repeat the measurements you made on the plywood to here.

Heh, horrifyingly bad photo but I wanted you to see what I meant with my explanation above.

Using metal screw-in wall anchors,* I was all set.

Whew!  Finally!!

It's a new pegboard wine rack!  Holds forty nine bottles, yes, forty nine!!

And look at that!

Isn't that awesome?!

Mike was seriously dubious of this project but once he saw it...."oooOOoohhh yeah babe, I see.  I get it now.  Yeah, look at that.  Yeah, I like that!  Nice job!"

Win!

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*The half-inch oak dowels, 5/8" poplar dowels, portable drill presses, white polymer erasers, Forstner bits, my Sorel slippers, tung oil, miter saws, rubber mallets, keyhole brackets, palm routers, rotary tools, and metal screw-in anchors are all Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.