How to Make a Pistol Rack

Making your own pistol rack puts all of the design power in your hands. Whether you want the perfect means of organizing your handguns in your safe or a handcrafted wooden display rack that you are proud to display anywhere in your home, build a wooden pistol rack yourself. No one wants their prized pistols knocking together in a safe drawer and it's easier than you might think to correct your handgun storage and display concerns.

Cut one 11-inch length (for the rack base), one 5-inch length (for the barrel support), and one 3-inch length (for the gun butt support) of 2-inch by 4-inch pine or oak board with a table saw.

Cut a 1-inch deep U-shaped indentation centered at the top 4-inch section of the 5-inch length and the 3-inch length, using a jigsaw.

Round the top and side edges of the 5-inch length and the 3-inch length and the side edges of the 11-inch length with a router.

Place the 11-inch length vertically flat on your work table (so that one 4-inch length is in front and one is to the back) and place a 3/4-inch bead of wood glue on the front and back 4-inch-wide sections and press the barrel support and gun butt support to the rack base. Clamp the joints and allow the glue to dry for two hours.

Hammer in three equally spaced finishing nails into each end to reinforce the glued joints.

Sand the rack with 80-grit sandpaper, wipe it with a tack cloth and then finish sand it with 120-grit sandpaper before wiping it again with the a tack cloth.

Apply a wood stain with a paintbrush and allow it to sit on the rack for five minutes before wiping the excess stain away with a cotton cloth. Allow the rack to dry for two hours.

Apply three coats of polyurethane with a small paint roller, one at a time, to seal the rack. Allow each coat to dry for 30 minutes before applying the next.

Cut two 15 1/2-by-7-inch pieces and one 15 1/2-by-5-inch piece of 3/4-inch pine or oak board with a table saw, for the rack base and barrel support sections.

Cut six 1 1/2-inch deep U-shaped indentations equally spaced along the top 15 1/2-inch length of the 5-inch barrel support section and six 3 1/2-inch deep U-shaped indentations equally spaced along the bottom 15 1/2-inch length of one of the 7-inch rack base pieces. Use a jigsaw.

Glue the two 7-inch lengths together (with the cut section flat on top of the uncut one) with wood glue.

Glue the 5-inch section with the U-shaped indentations vertically to the back of the two 7-inch lengths, using wood glue. Clamp all of the glued sections with wood clamps until the glue dries for two hours.

Hammer equally spaced finishing nails along the barrel support and rack base joint to reinforce the glued joints.

Sand the rack with 80-grit sandpaper, wipe it with a tack cloth and then finish sand it with 120-grit sandpaper before wiping it again with the a tack cloth.

Apply a wood stain with a paintbrush and allow it to sit on the rack for five minutes before wiping the excess stain away with a cotton cloth. Allow the rack to dry for two hours.

Applying three coats of polyurethane with a small paint roller, one at a time, to seal the rack. Allow each coat to dry for 30 minutes before applying the next.

Cut six pieces of green felt to fit into the gun butt rests and glue them to the indentations with white glue.