Speaker Stand

[Don Grubish]

It was just this last weekend, and I was a bit bored. My roommate was in his hometown and I had a rainy/cold weekend to look forward to. What to do, what to do...

I went into my woodshop and thought about what I could make next. It was too rainy and cold to drive to Menard's for more wood, so I thought I'd see what scrap wood I had left, even after the treasure box project. I still had some wood left over from the podium/light table project.

Then it hit me.

In my living room, I have a surround sound speaker system that helps give me the theatre experience along with my DVD projector. The two speakers in the back are on a shelf made to hold the projector, and one of the front speakers is sitting on top of a bookshelf my dad made me years ago. The final speaker was sitting on a metal wire rack that didn't have any other use. Quite honestly, it really didn't go well in the living room.

"I'll make a speaker stand!"

I had some long thin strips of aspen pine, as well as some wide planks. I cut three shelf pieces from the planks, and made sure I had four equal-length pieces from the strips to use as legs. The result was a four-foot tall, three-tier speaker shelf. I didn't use plans this time, just my melon and creativity.

Once I had my shelf tiers, I used the Kreg Jig to make my pocket holes in the middle and bottom shelf, and one pocket hole for each leg to connect the top shelf. It all seemed relatively easy at this point, but connecting the shelves to the legs proved somewhat difficult when there was not another set of hands to help me. I used grip clamps, but that was a bit of a pain too. I must have measured and remeasured my shelf heights eight times per leg, just to make sure it would all be level before screwing in the Kreg screws.

Once all screws were in, and the level showed the bubble between the black lines, I sanded the entire piece again to get a baby-skin soft feel. I applied stain and coats of finish to my speaker stand, and smiled at my progress. After three coats of finish, it was ready. On this last Sunday evening, I brought in my stand and put it in place. It takes up WAY less space than that wire rack from Target, and really adds to the look and feel of my living room. Now all furniture in there, minus the couches and chairs, are made of wood.

Not bad for again, using only scrap wood and one weekend of my time!

[Don Grubish]

To tell the truth, I did sort of become influenced by that project of David's. My stand could easily hold glass and become a curio display case if I wanted to change it out.

[KregRep]

What a fantastic weekend project, Don. Your skills are improving! The style sort of reminds me of David's impressive Cherry Display Shelf.

Keep up the great work, Don. And keep using up that scrap wood!