Snowboard Wall Rack

With the amount of free room in our basement steadily decreasing, I thought the space taken by our snowboards could be used for something else. But what to do with the boards?

Looking at the few pieces of wood I had laying around (also taking space), the possibility of building a board rack that I could then mount on the wall presented itself. This would free up some basement space and would also have a certain decorative effect...

Bear in mind this idea is mostly useful if you have a few boards. I have seen other interesting 'ables for single boards.

Also, please excuse me for the quality of the photos. I would have thought my phone could do a better job...

Step 1: Tools and Materials

Materials you will need:
 - A piece of 3/4" plywood.
   In my case, around 40cm wide (I had this piece laying around).
  Anything much narrower than this, and your boards might not sit very stable.
  The length will depend on how many boards you want to hang. I figured some 30cm per board would suffice.
  Mine was around 100cm.
 - 2 dowels per board. Diameter should be no less than 16-18mm. Length around 25-30cm
 - 1 Block of wood (to help with the angled drilling).
 - Double sided tape.
 - Plumbing foam pipe insulator
 - Adhesive felt sheets
 - Paint / wax / oil of your choice for decoration (stickers would work well too).

Tools you will need:
 - A drill and a spade bit (size should match the sticks diameter).
 - A hand saw, to trim the dowels off the back of the board.
 - A power jigsaw, to shape the back board.
 - A hammer.
 - Sand paper. 
 - A router and a round bit (only if you want to do the edges).

Step 2: The Angled Drilling Assistant

In order to insert the dowels into the back panel, the holes must be drilled at a certain angle (around 30 deg, give or take), and they must be all at the same angle, so doing this by hand is hardly an option.

Using the spade bit, drill a long deep hole into the wood block. Then, draw a line at 30 deg across the block, and cut it.

The result should be some sort of wedge with a hole going through it (see photo).

Don't worry too much about the cut being a bit rough.
For future reference, we will call the cut side "underside".

Step 3: Drilling the Dowel Holes

After marking the guide lines for the drilling, get some double sided tape on the underside of the angled assistant.
Then align it to the guide line and stick it to the back board.

Drilling in an angle is not easy. You need to start at slow revs (if your drill is progressive) and try your best to keep the bit centred in the assistant hole. This is to make sure the dowels will be as parallel as possible.

The distance from the holes to the edge of the back board is not too important, since the pressure will be more or less vertical, however, a couple of centimetres or so is a safe choice.

Step 4: Inserting and Trimming

If all went well during the drilling step, the back board should have 6 (in my case) angled holes.

Now, insert the dowels by hammering a piece of scrap wood to avoid damaging or chipping the dowel ends.
If the holes are too big, you might need a bit of glue. The sizes of the holes I driller was slightly smaller than the diameter of my dowels, so I did not use any glue.

The dowels will be sticking out through the back board, and they need to be trimmer so that the rack will sit properly on the wall.
Use a hand saw to trim them flush.

This is a great moment to test the rack for balance and weight support.

Step 5: Back Board Shape

Once the dowels have been trimmed, pull them back out. It's time to shape the back board.

I sketched some options on the back of the board (in case I decided to finish it with varnish only).
Using your power jigsaw, cut the board to your chosen design.

Once done, if you have decided to smooth down the edges, you can do it using sandpaper, a power sander, a router or a combination of them.

I routed the final shape with a round bit and then sanded the result with a power sander and medium grit sand paper.

After all the cutting, routing and sanding, dust the board and insert the dowels again.

Step 6: Painting (or Whatever Finishing You Go For)

I thought about danish oil, tinted varnish, wax... but in the end, I remembered I had this chrome spray can waiting to be used, so I decided a chrome finish would be a great base to add plenty of colorful stickers afterwards.

When spraying paint, try to follow a uniform pattern. First paint horizontally and then vertically (or vice-versa).
Then wait for the paint to dry (or more likely the wood to absorb it) before applying additional layers.

I sprayed the dowels too, although they will be protected by the plumbing thermal foam.

Step 7: Protection

There are two things you don't want to ruin:
The graphics/polish of your boards, and the work and effort put into this project.

Solution? wrapping the dowels in foam.
This way, your boards will rest on a soft surface, avoiding any kind of damage.

The foam is easy to cut, so using the angled drilling assistant as a kind of template will get you the perfect angle and fit.

After doing this, I noticed the edges of the board (which should be sharp) would be resting on the backboard... not good for the paint.

I have to be honest, I did not go into too much thinking to solve this one. I got some adhesive felt (the sheets that you buy to cut pieces for your furniture legs) and placed some in the angle between the board and the dowels.

Step 8: Hanging on the Wall

Last thing to do before loading the rack is hanging it on the wall.

I used just a couple of vertically centred screws and plugs, but I'm sure there are other ways to do this. Suit yourself.

 
And that's that.
I hope someone will find this useful. Any questions, please feel free to ask.

Oh, and I need to mention the invaluable contribution of my 3 year old assistant, who kept running away with my tools.
Without him, this project would have been a lot quicker to finish ;)