The Framers Forum

Hi all,

I was wondering your methods for storing your stock of mouldings? Being relatively new, I purchased some racking:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Triton-Wood-Timbe ... 5634475e2c

I assumed that storing the mouldings horizontally was the way forward and I don't tend to have any difficulties. However, I purchased a load of moulding from Tabmaster that was on special offer and it has turned out to be popular for framing school photo's. I went to get some today and it resembles the shape of a banana!

I have been debating whether it is better to have the mouldings stored vertically as all the suppliers I go in have it this way, but I had assumed that was more of a space saving issue.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Thanks

Hi Fusion

We have stored mouldings in bothe directions. In the last unit we had I stored them vertically, but to be honest it was difficult to quickly identify what we had in stock without moving loads - and then they would drop off the racks and damage.

Our current unit is much larger and we carry a much larger selection of moulding so we store it vertically for space saving reasons.

The reason it warps is bdue to change in climatic conditions from supplier to your shop. We try and leae the product bound for 24 hours before opening so that the wood can acclimatise. Doesnt always work but warpage is not too bad.

Steve

don't keep mega stock - but i always store moulding vertically - and as vertical as possible if you know what i mean.

If you have the space (and height) there is no question - Vertical is better. It is easier to root through for the one you are looking for without damaging the rest of the stock, and you can fit more in, and it is less likely to warp.

Thanks for the advice, I will be moving to vertical storing . Our workshop is in a Barn so room and height is not an issue. I just put the racking up without thinking through what was best, but unless I get a request for a very strange shaped frame, that moulding is ruined!

Cheers

Nick

As shown before.. We do not have the height to store vertically.
We had these horizontal supports made for us. As you can see for the 3m lengths there are 4 supports.
In the 11 years of using this system, we have not come across the 'banana effect'. Occasionally some twisting does develop, but that is easily taken out.

I made the same assumption and got horizontal racking at first thinking it would prevent warping. There was another thread on it recently regarding offcuts also.

My framer persuaded me to go vertical and it is going to save us space and in our quite compact unit (1200 sq.ft) will just give that bit extra versatility to get another bench in etc. It's also easier to keep smaller offcuts near long lengths and assess stock (no short lengths at the end being confused for long)

I also believe it will lead to less damage (we didn't have as many shelves as Merlin so stuff was a little bit more piled up). Our racking had front posts so had to slide them out the end though and it was old racking with only 5 shelves. Maybe Merlin's system is similar in effect to a vertical overall because of it's better design. We had boxes of stretchers underneath so the whole space wasn't wasted.

As a tip we are making steel supports and the steel we are getting from a local furniture company at £10 per 6m length (offcuts are free from the skip). My Dad's mechanic is going to weld it up at his garage and someone near you will do it for £50 probably. I'm not proud of doing things on the cheap but needs must and it's better in your pocket! Think it will look fine too.

It's easier than individual brackets because the welded one-piece design means I'll need to drill far fewer holes in the wall. Plus have you seen the price of large shelf brackets in B&Q! Talking a tenner each for the largest ones!

Thanks all,

Merlin, your setup looks great, the difference is yours look well made and support the moulding at several points, whereas mine is wholly inadequate!

James, I think I will try to get something along your lines. I have a friend who works with steel building frames for large buildings. He has plenty of offcuts, the problem was at the time that he is very busy so my little jobs can take 6 months.

I am all for doing things on the cheap, my glass storage is made from the wood from a pine double bunk bed which cost me £10 at auction. It works an absolute treat.

I store moulding horizontally and use shelving brackets

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/26903/Iro ... -13mm-Pk10

and

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/84148/Iro ... ight950PK2

fitted with square guttering:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/16271/Plu ... -Pack-of-6

The guttering supports the moulding over its whole length and stops it falling onto the floor (mostly).

In the light of day, looking at your initial post fully I see I misread it a bit to begin with and didn't click your link.

To me it looks as though if you turned your horizontal racks 90 degrees they would also make a pretty good vertical storage system too (creating bays). Just a chance they would rip out the wall if placed that way though (maybe a weld a couple of arms on the end for security).

I initially went for horizontal racking with shelving to prevent any chance of warping which was a bit different (if you were near to me I'd maybe even let you have the old racking if it was useful i.e. you don't stock too much moulding).

You maybe just need a couple more brackets though and stick with horizontal and those don't seem a bad price all in (I've seen them sold for much more elsewhere that type of thing).

We tend to store the hardier mouldings vertically and the more intolerant to damage horizontally in separate section of gutter pipe.

The gutter pipe is a great idea, I am now undecided again, but may try that before going vertical. I did have some leftover 25mm mdf, but of course that has a propensity to bow as well. We have a local screwfix so will get some to give a go.