Coat Rack

Posted 2 March 2018

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“Why buy it when you can make your own!” This handmade coat rack features sliding dovetails that self-tighten to lock the pegs in place. Paul’s contemporary design can be adapted to include more or less pegs to suit your requirements.

Tool List

  • Knife
  • Square
  • Tape/Ruler (or both)
  • Sliding bevel
  • Dovetail template
  • Chisel hammer
  • Chisels (at least 1″ & ½”/26mm & 12mm)
  • Hand router (see how to make a Poor Man’s Router here)
  • Smoothing plane (No 4)
  • Dovetail saw
  • Drill driver/hand drill (3/16”/5mm twist bit, countersink bit)
  • *Rasp
  • File

* = optional

Joints Used

  • Sliding dovetail

36 Comments

    1. We felt the past videos were over saturated and the white balance was off, so have made a few adjustments to make it more accurate. However we are working through an issue with the export which has dulled out the colour, so it should be sorted shortly.
      Thank you for the heads up, Phil

    2. I have noticed too. It feels a bit blown.
      Personally I prefer the old ones. They felt a bit more personal and had more depth.
      Wasn’t going to nitpick on it, but it does detract somewhat.
      Just my own feelings, I’m not good with change 🙂

    1. “According to my wife it’s very frustrating.” In an unrelated forum, this was described as, when you say you can do something yourself cheaper, you may not be factoring in the cost of divorce.

    2. The other thing I find that needs to be balanced is the timeliness of being able to make something for my wife. There are a number of things on the list to build. I do make steady progress and will change the order of builds. Even that sometimes isn’t fast enough. I pick and chose my battles.

  5. Love it. Simple but elegant.
    Say you want to learn to fly. Not just any plane but a Boeing 777. Skip the single engine Piper Cub go to a big jet.
    That is like starting out hand tool woodworking. You want to go straight to the GOOD Stuff, a rocking chair. I’m sure I speak for all of thous we love the rocking chair project, gives a dream and may be someday . . .
    But for now I need to learn and more or less master tools like the saw, plane and chisel, both how to sharpen and use them then the three joints. The coat rack is one of the simpler to make but teaches not the basic wood prep but how to make a dovetail, actually a sliding dovetail. Now this is a project I feel more comfortable getting into. The rocking chair is still down the road. I may, probably not get their, but “I have a dream”.
    Great project Paul!
    Mike

    1. On one of those Wednesdays ahead in this Year I guess; sorry – I could not stand the bait. 🙂 But I am looking forward to this. I think of reworking my wardrobe in the entrance and I think one step further: What, if I use this coat rack as an upper frame of wooden plate beside a chest of drawers whos backplate is so big, that a mirror fits in his frame?
      Sorry, I am Austrian, not native speaking English, but I hope I could make myself understood.

    1. Hello George, Vimeo tends not to downgrade the resolution as quickly as say YouTube. This can be the main thing that causes issues. You can adjust the resolution manually by clicking the gear symbol. If you have further trouble, click on the video and press d, open link, and copy it. Then send it to us through the contact tab and we will look into it.
      All the best, Phil

    1. Have you ever had a coat rack like this that had pegged dowels for hangers? I have and they loosen up over time and can’t take much weight. The great advantage of this type of joint is its strength and durability. You will be able to put a lot of weight on those hangers and they won’t budge. In fact, I reckon the weight limit will be determine by how well you secure the backer board to the wall. They look pretty good, too, imho. Cheers.

  13. I agree with Skeeball in the above comment 100%. I also believe it’s all about a sharp tool. Hard to learn about the wood and practice on skills when one is fighting the tool. Bring it on, I’m excited. Now I’ll go see if I can sharpen a plane iron in less than two hours.

  14. I would also like to see a little more on that very interesting escritoir in the background. I hope that it inspires a future project.

    This is an interesting project that could also transform itself into a free-standing hat/coat stand; I’ve made a few of those in the past and it certainly makes a change in appearance and technique from the ubiquitous screw-on hooks.

  15. Can you please verify the 56 degree acute angle measured from the 2″ side as indicated on the drawing for the hook layout. Dashed line on the drawing is more in the neighborhood of 68+ degrees. The dashed lines are parallel and appear to be about a quarter inch apart so you get two hooks out of one 2″ x 5″ block

    1. Hello Eric, good spot. The 56 degree angle on the drawing is marked incorrectly. If you look at how Paul marks it out, that is the correct place for it. I will get the drawing corrected and uploaded as soon as possible.
      Thanks.

      1. Angles are correct once I figured the 56degs label should have been to the horizontal datum not from vertical. The 36 is the acute angle between to get the cut on the long edge. Took this apart with Sketchup trying to make those angles work by the drawing and I was doing a bundle of head scratching. Thanks for the reply. Anxious to see the Master work his magic with this. Those “Pegs” are a bit of a trick to hold onto.

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