knife rack/cabinet

[Electric Comet]

i want to make a knife rack that holds say 20 or 30 knives

have you made one if so did you display them tip down or tip sideways

and what about the sheath
some are nice and should be displayed too

just tossing ideas around right now

i may put some led lights in it too

[Lew Hodgett]

"Electric Comet" wrote:

>i want to make a knife rack that holds say 20 or 30 knives

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Time to get out some graph paper and play with the layout in plan
view unless you are Leon, then you use Sketch Up.

Having the knives hang vertical takes up the least amount
of counter space but is not as user friendly as having the knives
hang 15-20 degrees off vertical, but I found it to be quite usuable.

Hanging the knives vertical uses the least amount of wood and
is simplist to build, just add some rubber button feet at each
bottom corner.

This will insure the rack will rest on the counter top and not wobble.

The steel or maybe a 10" chef knife will be the longest piece, plan
according.

I built a couple of racks using maple, cherry and walnut and white
oak,
alternating for color presentation. Vary the thickness of the boards
from 3/4" to 5/4" for presentation.

Makes for a good router project.

Glue up the boards in groups of two which will insure minimum drift
between boards.

I finished mine with BLO.
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> have you made one if so did you display them tip down or tip
> sideways

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Tip down. Didn't want to screw around fitting rack into a drawer.
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> and what about the sheath
> some are nice and should be displayed too

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What about a sheath? These knives don't get carried on the hip
to be used for field dressing, they are kitchen knives.
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> just tossing ideas around right now
>
> i may put some led lights in it too

---------------------------------------------------------------
Planning on mounting rack on a drone?

Will you be filing a flight plan?

Lew

[Bill]

Electric Comet wrote:
> i want to make a knife rack that holds say 20 or 30 knives
>
> have you made one if so did you display them tip down or tip sideways

Like Lew suggested, that's not exactly the right question. You have the
advantage the you are doing custom work. Why not set the knives before
you and arrange them in a way that you like. Then maybe take a
picture. That would be far faster than Leon's idea (probably) of
drawing each one in SketchUp and moving them around there. But if alot
of them are the same style, creating them in Sketchup won't take any
longer than drawing one. One can be copied and resized in seconds.
Instead of lights, some photographs in the background might be nice.

[Electric Comet]

On Thu, 23 Jul 2015 21:42:36 -0400
Bill <BILL_...@whoknows.net> wrote:

> any longer than drawing one. One can be copied and resized in
> seconds. Instead of lights, some photographs in the background might
> be nice.

think more along the lines of a gun cabinet but for knives
something to display a collection of knives

have you made such a rack/cabinet

[Puckdropper at dot]

Electric Comet <electri...@mail.invalid> wrote in news:morv8p$pn6$2
@dont-email.me:

If I wanted to display knife and sheath, I'd probably do it tip sideways.
This would allow me to rest the knife on pegs (dowels) and maybe put a
nice catch/latch on it. (The catch is not to protect anything, it's to
keep things organized if (when) the box is bumped.)

You could also get a little more fancy with the pattern if so inclined...
Things like spokes, herringbones, etc.

I think if I were designing this I'd put my most attractive half dozen or
so knives out tip-sideways, then my more common knives tip down in a row.

The LED lights will really look nice. Be sure to select them before you
finish the design, so you can keep the LEDs from blinding you. (There
are 12V LEDs that you could use if a point-source is desired instead of
strip lights. They're just as easy to use as strip lights if you know
how to solder.)

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

[Bill]

I used to sell knives, among other things...out of a cabinet in a
sporting goods store. I had to keep them looking presentable. Models
displayed were not mostly-constant like they will be for you.


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[Electric Comet]

On Fri, 24 Jul 2015 00:29:30 -0400
Bill <BILL_...@whoknows.net> wrote:

> I used to sell knives, among other things...out of a cabinet in a
> sporting goods store. I had to keep them looking presentable.

good tip here
i need to visit shops that sell knives and pay closer attention to the displays

[Electric Comet]

On 24 Jul 2015 03:23:55 GMT

Puckdropper <puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com> wrote:

> If I wanted to display knife and sheath, I'd probably do it tip
> sideways. This would allow me to rest the knife on pegs (dowels) and
> maybe put a nice catch/latch on it. (The catch is not to protect
> anything, it's to keep things organized if (when) the box is bumped.)

catch is a good idea
makes it easier to set the proper viewing angle too

> You could also get a little more fancy with the pattern if so
> inclined... Things like spokes, herringbones, etc.

you mean with the layout of the knives

> I think if I were designing this I'd put my most attractive half
> dozen or so knives out tip-sideways, then my more common knives tip
> down in a row.

like this
changing the direction would probably look better

> The LED lights will really look nice. Be sure to select them before
> you finish the design, so you can keep the LEDs from blinding you.
> (There are 12V LEDs that you could use if a point-source is desired
> instead of strip lights. They're just as easy to use as strip lights
> if you know how to solder.)

the lights will be subtle and only highlighting the knives and probably
wired to a switch on the door

was thinking of spotlight type so there are some shadows

> Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

this is ideal but have to say i do do the latter
i have stumbled into new designs by abandoning the initial plan when
trying to make it fit

taking mental note of mistakes of course for next time

[Leon]

Consider also, rare earth magnets... These things can solve a lot of
problems. 8 or so years ago I built a model car display cabinet for my
son. It hangs on the wall and has lots of glass. The stiles on the
cabinet are very thin as are those on the door. Read that as
troublesome adding hinges.

Instead the door simply sets on the bottom ledge of the cabinet and is
held in place with rare earth magnets. You simply slide the door to the
side to go beyond the range of the magnets and the door is released.

Not suggesting their use for this particular purpose but maybe in
helping to stabilize the knives.

Anyway, two of six magnets in the cabinet portion to hold the door in place.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/19976210501/in/dateposted-public/

And with the door in place. I used short countersunk screws on the back
of the door as the target for the magnets. I screwed them in and out to
get just the right amount of attraction. Pulling the door out in the
usual fashion to open the cabinet is almost impossible but sliding the
door to one side or the other is smooth and uneventful and then simply
remove the door.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/19976210501/in/dateposted-public/

[Leon]

Oops! Link corrected.

And with the door in place. I used short countersunk screws on the back
of the door as the target for the magnets. I screwed them in and out to
get just the right amount of attraction. Pulling the door out in the
usual fashion to open the cabinet is almost impossible but sliding the
door to one side or the other is smooth and uneventful and then simply
remove the door.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/19963329762/in/dateposted-public/

[Sonny]

On Thursday, July 23, 2015 at 7:03:04 PM UTC-5, Electric Comet wrote:
> i want to make a knife rack that holds say 20 or 30 knives

Light Bulb!

Carve a hog and a beef model. Cut slots (mortises?) at appropriate spots, for inserting the appropriate knife, for the carving/butchering of that particular cut of meat. Likewise, carve tomato and cuke models, for your vegetable knifes.

*My brilliant ideas amaze even me, sometimes. :-)
Sonny

[Bill]

You haven't make it real clear whether you want to display them for the
sake of displaying them, or display them for the sake of using them.
The latter can probably be done in less space for instance.



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[Bill]

My local Menards home store sells styrofoam (2-6 inches thick?). I
wonder how well you would do using each knife to make an impression and
then painting the result (maybe after applying a primer?) That's in the
spirit of how Case and some other knife makers display their knives for
sale. They don't use styrofoam, but I'm sure you get the idea.



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[Electric Comet]

On Fri, 24 Jul 2015 08:45:04 -0700 (PDT)
Sonny <cedar...@aol.com> wrote:

> Carve a hog and a beef model. Cut slots (mortises?) at appropriate
> spots, for inserting the appropriate knife, for the
> carving/butchering of that particular cut of meat. Likewise, carve
> tomato and cuke models, for your vegetable knifes.

have seen something like this i think
in a butcher shop maybe
it would be a nice idea for a kitchen knife display

this project is just for display a knife collection
some are for show and some are for go

[Electric Comet]

On Fri, 24 Jul 2015 09:57:32 -0500
Leon <lcb11211@swbelldotnet> wrote:

> Consider also, rare earth magnets... These things can solve a lot of
> problems. 8 or so years ago I built a model car display cabinet for
> my son. It hangs on the wall and has lots of glass. The stiles on
> the cabinet are very thin as are those on the door. Read that as
> troublesome adding hinges.

i think that is a novel and elegant solution

> Instead the door simply sets on the bottom ledge of the cabinet and
> is held in place with rare earth magnets. You simply slide the door
> to the side to go beyond the range of the magnets and the door is
> released.

well that is great
plus it adds a bit of mystery
what
no hinges
how does it open
no doubt the coolest model car cabinet on the block

> Not suggesting their use for this particular purpose but maybe in
> helping to stabilize the knives.

it might be an interesting design to base it on these magnets
neodymium??

> Anyway, two of six magnets in the cabinet portion to hold the door in
> place.
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/19976210501/in/dateposted-public/
>
> And with the door in place. I used short countersunk screws on the
> back of the door as the target for the magnets. I screwed them in
> and out to get just the right amount of attraction. Pulling the door
> out in the usual fashion to open the cabinet is almost impossible but
> sliding the door to one side or the other is smooth and uneventful
> and then simply remove the door.
>
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/19976210501/in/dateposted-public/

i like this for the door
some of the knives are too heavy for these magnets but it would be
interesting to have some of the magnets concealed in the cabinet back
for holding the knives

[Leon]

On 7/24/2015 7:52 PM, Electric Comet wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Jul 2015 09:57:32 -0500
> Leon <lcb11211@swbelldotnet> wrote:
>
>> Consider also, rare earth magnets... These things can solve a lot of
>> problems. 8 or so years ago I built a model car display cabinet for
>> my son. It hangs on the wall and has lots of glass. The stiles on
>> the cabinet are very thin as are those on the door. Read that as
>> troublesome adding hinges.
>
> i think that is a novel and elegant solution
>
>
>> Instead the door simply sets on the bottom ledge of the cabinet and
>> is held in place with rare earth magnets. You simply slide the door
>> to the side to go beyond the range of the magnets and the door is
>> released.
>
> well that is great
> plus it adds a bit of mystery
> what
> no hinges
> how does it open
> no doubt the coolest model car cabinet on the block

Thank you. They do help when normal fasteners are too clunky.

>
>
>> Not suggesting their use for this particular purpose but maybe in
>> helping to stabilize the knives.
>
> it might be an interesting design to base it on these magnets
> neodymium??

A google search gave me this place. Just an example of the sizes and
shapes that the come in.

http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw58ytBRDMg-HVn4LuqasBEiQAhPkhum9IlYE13D1KH2zU-m0r_BTms2ms6J8VrcNTHKPO_QMaAuOk8P8HAQ

>
>
>
>> Anyway, two of six magnets in the cabinet portion to hold the door in
>> place.
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/19976210501/in/dateposted-public/
>>
>> And with the door in place. I used short countersunk screws on the
>> back of the door as the target for the magnets. I screwed them in
>> and out to get just the right amount of attraction. Pulling the door
>> out in the usual fashion to open the cabinet is almost impossible but
>> sliding the door to one side or the other is smooth and uneventful
>> and then simply remove the door.
>>
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/19976210501/in/dateposted-public/
>
> i like this for the door
> some of the knives are too heavy for these magnets but it would be
> interesting to have some of the magnets concealed in the cabinet back
> for holding the knives

Exactly.. ;~) A little hidden magic!