It is easier to cook when everything you need is a hand's length away. A steel pot rack helps organize pans, saving cabinet space for spices and ingredients. Cold-bending steel into a pot rack takes patience and finesse. This project requires the ability to bend and hammer cold steel, create a peened surface, and use a power drill and bench grinder safely and correctly. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Use ball-peen hammer to peen one entire side of the 40-inch steel. Cold-bend the 40-inch piece of steel into an arc. Lock the last 2 inches of one end into your vise. Hammer the steel into a flat foot. Repeat for the other end so that the feet will lie flat against the wall when the rack is hung in place. Bend the arch and feet again until the mounting holes so they are 32 inches from center to center, and the feet still lie flat against the wall.
2. Drill one 3/16-inch-diameter hole in the center of each foot. Countersink the hole to the diameter of your screw heads. Use the bench grinder to ornament the profile of the feet. Wire-wheel the entire piece to a wire brushed finish.
3. Cut 6- to 9-inch lengths of 1/8-inch-round stock rod using bolt cutters or a hacksaw. Grind away burrs and give the ends a tapered semi-point. Place steel rods on your anvil, strike plate or top of your vise, and give each length of steel a hammered finish. Use pliers to bend each piece of steel rod into an open "S" hook. Use a wire wheel to give each hook a brushed finish.
4. Clean all the steel hooks and the rack with denatured alcohol or acetone, to remove all oil and dirt from the metal. Use a sponge or brush to coat the steel with gun blue or metal black. Rinse thoroughly with a solution of 10 parts water to one part baking soda. Rinse again with clean water.
5. Put a protective finish on each pothook and the rack using carnauba wax or other high-quality automotive or woodworking wax.
Tags: steel into, against wall, bench grinder, brushed finish, flat against
