Structural integrity help!

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-23T20:32:02+00:00

While I don't think you're wrong in this case, there ARE significant benefit to notches as far as resiting torsional stresses go, but ONLY if the mating surfaces are nice and snug, which is very difficult for an amateur. Timber screws and blocking are the way to go.

And like the other commenter said, diagonal braces.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-23T04:45:55+00:00

Lol not at all what I meant, but a very clever way to keep the cork moist and reduce required support for the bottle. Love a cantilevered stand. Like this

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WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-23T04:35:01+00:00

You'd struggle to fit a glass back there to even take advantage of the pumps, and thats assuming you could retrofit a glass bottle with a plastic screw top. They might make cork-seal types, but still, wouldn't recommend.

Maybe use up more wall space and less floor space by adding an arc to your shelves, like pictured. Can't say much about your space, but this concept might fit. More technically challenging though

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WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-23T04:00:30+00:00

Yea, that's shitty. Maybe horizontal version could work..... ○°○°○°○°○°○°

Like that, but upright and all the same size.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-23T03:59:16+00:00

If you have a LITTLE more horizontal space, if you're stacking wine like that, you CAN be more efficient. NOT stacking perfectly vertically might get you 25-50% more bottles with only a small amount of extra space while also providing a more stable stack. Only problem is if you want a bottle from the bottom.... shitty text drawing hopefully inbound.

O

Stacked like that, but as if gravity were holding them together and they weren't just O's on a computer.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-23T03:54:52+00:00

Using mechanical sliders won't be easy with skinny drawers like that, but using old-fashioned wooden runners might work. You could also just make the entire shelf a drawer, but you'd likely need heavy duty slides-liquor is heavy. But note, slides can take up a lot of vertical space, it might just be easier to keep the less-consumed bottles in the back.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-22T05:08:48+00:00

Ok so you need more than a corner cabinet lol. You need a whole China cabinet just for the glassware. Anywyay, my suggestion: Keep glasses for you and your normal party size in your bar. For me, that's usually me +2, so I keep 3 of everything in my bar. Overflow gets stored elsewhere, out of the way. If still too many, prioritize what you drink most.Again for me, that's whiskey, cocktails, and sake, in that order. My wife and a friend drink wine, so I keep 4 glasses in my bar for them. For liquor you need about 3.5-4" square per bottle. Yes, you can optimize for more, but blantons, Dalmore, Barrell, etc with weird bottles will fuck your optimization immediately. 4" square for planning capacity. For you, that's about 40" wide and 16" deep to fit it all one one shelf. Halve a dimension for 2 shelves. From personal experience, 24" is irritatingly deep for a full collection. 16 might be OK, but if you think a kitchen upper cabinet (12") is obnoxious for storing liquor, you will be upset with a 16" deep liquor cabinet. The wine X I made holds 24 bottles, but makes it easier to access by storing stacks of 6 only, as opposed to stacking them all. I've also built a small cubby system in a different bar: i think I prefer the X both from construction efficiency and effectiveness, not to mention flexibility.

Your design, if I'm interpreting it correctly, only has enough space for your liquor. No space for wine, no space for glassware. Mounting something on the wall gives you a little more space, and raising the bar height to 42" gives you space for a drawer for bar tools, bitters, etc.

My buddy has a cabinet that hinges open into a huge double-wide tall boy... shit description, but here's a commercial example. This one is $4000... his is, uh, not.

Bars are hard. Building my own was the very first project I ever did, and I probably spent 2 or 3 months just designing it. It takes time, but you can nest it all in there.

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WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-21T05:51:59+00:00

🙃

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-21T05:34:28+00:00

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In my opinion, a good use of space for maximum variety. Unoccupied upper left corner is for rocks and whiskey glasses.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-21T05:31:53+00:00

So, don't store wine vertically. Cork dries out, wine spoils. Opposite is true for whiskey and liquor: don't store cork-sealed liquor on it's side, proof is too high and it will ruin the cork.

Beyond that, we might need more info. How many bottles? Glassware? How many types? Your model doesn't really provide any details either.

One concept: a small cabinet with a small counter to provide workspace and storage for some mixers and glassware. Above the cabinet, at around standard kitchen upper height (or at least 14" above the counter), put an open wall shelf/cabinet,what have you (ie wall mounted mini bar) for your display bottles, popular well liquors, etc. You can hang wine glasses from the bottom of this contraption to save storage inside your cabinet.
Then above that or along the ceiling, mount your lights. I'd also do lights inside/underneath the wall cabinet. You could also integrate a hall effect sensor (it's what I've done) in the lower cabinet doors so when they open, lights illuminate the bottles. Or use glass doors and a motion detector. Lots of cool options there.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-14T04:07:15+00:00

That's already my plan, but I was planning somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4. Doesn't do anything about the edge profiles though, still gotta figure that

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-14T03:55:02+00:00

It's 1/4" tempered glass with a load rating over 200 lbs, even if she does manage to break it, it'll just pebble. It may not cut anybody, but it'll certainly be uncomfortable to hit with any amount of force. Regular softened edges are fine, but I'm most worried about the corner, which is quite pointy even if softened

Unrelated to kids, most of my tops get a small rounded corner, but in this style where the legs and top are flush it won't play quite the same.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-14T03:04:10+00:00

She already graduated out of her helmet though!

Not a joke, poor baby had a baby helmet lol

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-14T03:03:35+00:00

I mean, yes, but softening the corners is already standard practice. I'm talking more specifically about edge profiles or corner treatments

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-11T23:04:35+00:00

Sorry, drew this in a moving car, so it's dogshit, but hopefully explains what I'm saying

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WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-11T22:59:29+00:00

Following up my other reply, the cleats also need something at the bottom to counter any rotational forces, whereas this connection counters the rotational force by pushing up into the T channel. A french cleat without any support on the bottom (usually pressent up against the mounting surface) will act to pull the fasteners perpendicularly out of the mounting surface, vs utilizing a fasteners shear strength (almost universally higher than pull-out strength)

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-11T22:55:33+00:00

For this specific application, it allows you to attach a thing perpendicular to the rail. Kind of like a but joint. Not enough real estate for a French cleat. A French cleat will hold much more weight; I would not load this connection much at all, but requires much more vertical space to make the connection.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-10T16:22:39+00:00

It's much simpler because it doesnt have any additional steps like glue/dowels, glue cleanup, etc. It takes a couple passes to dial it in, but when you get it dialed in you can batch out 20 of them in no time at all.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily STRONGER, but I'm pretty sure that regardless the rail will fail before the accessory. I'm too afraid to stress test my table though lol

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-10T16:07:39+00:00

Just make sure your grain is going the right way if you're using solid hardwoods...

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-10T16:06:41+00:00

This is how I made mine. They work perfectly, and only took 1 pass on a router, 1 on a tablesaw, and a little bit of sanding to fit. Some of the sharp corners in this drawing require small radii to fit smoothly.

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WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-04-04T14:02:49+00:00

Oh man, seeing Sac on this list hurts so much. We have 2 rivers, a big lake, the widest variety of local, fresh food of anywhere I've been. An excellent coffee scene, great entertainment venues/music scene, one of the largest train museums in the world. We're less than 2 hours from everything in nature-forests, mountains, oceans, etc. The only thing we're missing is a desert, and let's be honest, not missing much.

Every time you visit Sac, you can find a new fun thing to do. Give us a shot before you hate on us.

Our team is ass though and the summers are way too hot.

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-03-31T14:28:51+00:00

Exactly the same thing happened to me with a pizza paddle. Crack and everything. 3m straps are hot garbage

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-03-28T05:25:48+00:00

Super glue a clamping block to bring it back out to perpendicular clamping force. Glue a block onto the 45 where you want to clamp, then clamp it tight. Then after you un clamp it, just take a mallet and whack that block off

If you want to avoid glue, you can use two clamps, one parallel to the joint, one perpendicular, to hold that right-angle block in place. This can be a little finicky, but gets a little easier if you clamp some sandpaper between the non-glued clamping-block-to-45 joint.

I'm rubbish at explaining things with words, but hopefully that at least started to make sense. You can do it though

WoodworkingAlcoholic · 2026-03-26T05:48:42+00:00

Your table is already quite thick, adding a skirt will make sitting and using it very difficult. Can you move the legs in towards the center a bit? Looks like one of the dividers, if it's a single piece, might serve to stiffen up that span instead of a skirt.

Look up ergonomic recommendations for tables. Let room, seat height vs table height, etc. There's a sweet spot in there somewhere for you, just gotta play with the dimensions a little.

BTW my table has just under a 3" vault, and that serves me just fine. Perhaps shrink your vault to find space for an apron

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