I’m getting very mixed reactions to these shelves. Some folks are applauding my ingenious reuse of beer bottles (although the genius isn’t mine), while others are saying it looks horribly tacky. Personally, the latter can get fucked; bottles of all types are attractive to me, especially when they once held the holiest of liquids. And really, it looks pretty nice in real life.
The whole project could have been completed in about an hour if I hadn’t chosen to sand and coat the wood with polyurethane. I’m building a second set of these in the bathroom, though; if I didn’t put some sort of sealant on these they’d warp in just a couple of showers.
How strong are they? You can pick them up by the top shelf with no fear of torquing the whole thing around, although the only thing holding the bottles in place on my design is the edges of the boards, so you could slide one out if you really tried. The real strength comes from the downward force on the bottles, though, and I’d hazard a guess that they could support plenty of weight before cracking. I wouldn’t be afraid to put my KitchenAid on one, let’s say. (Okay, a little afraid.)
Looks great to me. Well done
What did you use to fasten the bottles to the boards?
MZ: Tension!
Nice. Those bottles all look to be the same…what brand did you use?
Or is it “compression”?
Your line about picking them up by the top shelf suggested, to me at least, that it was a solid unit.
Looks great in the kitchen, though in the bathroom?
Those are all Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA bottles.
MZ: It is a solid unit, insofar as it’s all solid when torqued down. I actually did use a little hot glue on the underside of the bottles to keep them in place when aligning everything, but it’s not really providing much in the way of strength. (You can pull on the bottles with a tug and they’ll move a little bit.)
As for the bathroom, well… I don’t care! I just need more shelves.
I like it…I like it alot… In all seriousness, this has given me a great idea for beer keg patio furniture. More on that in the future as I study the feasability of the thought..did I spell that correctly?
Joel have you picked up any of the 120 minute since it came out last month?
Shane: I haven’t gotten any of the new 120 Minute batch, but I’ve had plenty of previous years. A delicious hammer.
Fantastic idea to squeeze the bottles between the shelves in order to keep them still. I’m sure I learned about how it worked in school physics classes.
Also, isn’t this the more modern equivalent of making a shelving unit out of planks of wood and books/bricks?
You do realize of course that this could lead to a whole new career for you?
Think about it. Your own designer line of beer bottle shelves and accessories, or champagne bottle tables and chairs (for the terribly snooty), Bud Light bottles versions for those in the Deep South, tin can versions for those going camping, medicine bottle versions for the terminal hypochondriac, milk bottle versions for the La Leche League members, and on and on and on and…
You could branch out into tables, chairs, mobile home furniture, dorm furniture…
Did you think about painting them out? If you paint the bottles and shelves all the same color (say, the color of your bathroom walls?) they’ll look less wood+bottle=function and maybe even border on teh stylish, IMHO….