Build a Wine Rack with Built-in Wine Glass Storage

By Chris Baylor, About.com Guide

The first woodworking step to building these free wine rack plans is to cut the sides of the carcase. As noted in bill of materials that accompanies the free woodworking plans you downloaded in step 1, you'll need a couple of 1x12 boards.

Using your miter saw or radial-arm saw, cut two lengths of 1x12 at 32-inches in length and two more at 23-1/2".

Next, use your table saw to rip the two side pieces and the top to a width of 10-1/2" each. The bottom shelf will be ripped to 9-3/4" wide.

Before moving on, you'll need to cut a rabbet in each of the four sides to accommodate the plywood back. Set up a stacked dado set in your table saw to cut a rabbet 3/8" wide and adjust the cutting depth to 1/4". Place a sacrificial strip of stock against your table saw's fence and move it so that it is just shy of touching the saw blade.

Cut one rabbet on what will be the back edges of each of the two 32" pieces. This rabbet can go the entire length of the stock.

Now, we'll want to perform the same task on the two side boards (the 23-1/2" pieces), but this rabbet should not go all the way through each end. Instead, you'll want to start and stop the rabbet about half an inch from each end. To do this, you'll want to place the stock flat on the table against the fence and push down on the back of the board, lifting the front edge off of the table. Move the stock forward until you reach a point 1/2" past the far edge of the blade, and then ease the stock down onto the blade. Push the through the saw until you reach a point 1/2" from the back end and use the same procedure (on the opposite side) to lift the stock up off the dado blade. Because it is a rabbet, you can also simply slide the stock on the table away from the blade.

This will leave a rabbet with rounded ends that can easily be cleaned up with a chisel.