# Railroad Spike Coat Rack



## tocws2002 (Jun 19, 2016)

As you may have seen in some of my recent posts, my kids picked up some railroad spikes with the intention of making and selling some craft projects. Well, we started this yesterday and finished it today (still waiting on the epoxy to dry), but all four kids helped in this; from cutting the spikes with a hacksaw, to drilling the holes, making them square with mallet and chisel, to mixing the epoxy and setting the spikes in place. We put two key-hole slots in the back to hang it. The back is a piece of barnwood a former co-worker gave me several years ago that seemed to fit the project pretty well.

Comments and critique are welcome. The kids are talking about selling this and are trying to figure out how much to ask for it, so any advice on that end is welcome also. I've tried to use this as a learning experience and have talked to them about material costs, time involved, hourly rates, and marketing. Not getting real in depth, but enough to expose them and make them aware of what is involved and should be considered.

Thanks,

- jason

On to the pictures....size is about 12" x 29"

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 5 | Creative 2


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## brown down (Jun 19, 2016)

I like that a lot. love rustic furniture and love the fact you are getting your kids involved with woodworking! Im sure they will remember this for a long time! nicely done

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 2


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## ripjack13 (Jun 19, 2016)

Outstanding job! I love the rustic look on it!!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Tony (Jun 19, 2016)

Very nice, I love the fact that you involved your kids in the whole process. Look around on Itsy, Facebook, anywhere you can think of and find similar items and what they are charging. Obviously that's just a starting point, but it will give you an idea of price. Tony

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ironman123 (Jun 19, 2016)

They did a fabulous job on that. Thanks for getting your younger generation involved. Hope they make some good spending money.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Kevin (Jun 19, 2016)

They did a fine job on that it looks great! 

I'm not good at pricing crafts I think @Schroedc would be better at that. I'll take a shot and say that in the right venue $40 isn't out of line. That's 10 bucks each. If you live in a rural area like me where prices on everything are depressed, I doubt I'd encourage them to go less than $29.99 and let them argue who gets shorted the penny.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Schroedc (Jun 19, 2016)

Kevin said:


> They did a fine job on that it looks great!
> 
> I'm not good at pricing crafts I think @Schroedc would be better at that. I'll take a shot and say that in the right venue $40 isn't out of line. That's 10 bucks each. If you live in a rural area like me where prices on everything are depressed, I doubt I'd encourage them to go less than $29.99 and let them argue who gets shorted the penny.



@tocws2002 Up around here with the repurposing craze going on a coat rack like that would sell in a small town shop for 40-50 and in a bigger city art fair or gallery for between 50 and 90 based on the stuff I've seen in the last 6 months.

How are the spikes mounted to the board? Are they just epoxied in? I have done a few hooks like that and one recommendation if they are going to be sold is to drill into the back of the spike, tap it and run a screw with washer in from the back side just to make sure the hook won't pull out if someone hangs a heavy coat on it plus then you don't have to chop a square hole in the board, just drill whatever size hole matches the bolt you use. I've also welded on some threaded rod instead of drilling and tapping... (If you do them on 8/4 boards the hole is deep enough but 3/4 to 1 inch boards generally aren't thick enough to provide enough support for a heavy coat and barn board can be a bit brittle)

All in all though they are great looking racks, should sell well and your kids should be proud!

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Kevin (Jun 19, 2016)

I'm glad I tagged you Colin I had no idea! $90? Jason I'll take the rest of your spikes please.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## Schroedc (Jun 19, 2016)

Kevin said:


> I'm glad I tagged you Colin I had no idea! $90? Jason I'll take the rest of your spikes please.



Those door benches I build? I sell those for between 150 and 250 depending on the features and fancy work, Used to be able to pick up old solid doors from the late 1800's/early 1900's for 10.00 each or less but the demand for them has gotten to the point where I'm lucky if I can find them for under 50.00 each at the used building materials places. Barn Board has gone nuts, there are a few places up here that sell it, they get 3-5.00 a linear foot for 6 to 8 inch wide stuff (Of course they don't want to pay anything to tear down your old barn) I helped a friend tear down a two story timber frame 30x90 barn built in the 1870's and he was able to sell off all the exterior barn board and floorboards for about 15K by the time it was all done (Did take about 9 moths to sell it all off since he declined several lowball offers to wholesale it) plus all the beams are stacked up waiting to get milled into lumber one of these days or recut to make beams for my new shop or a house if I ever get land...... (I got the beams for helping tear it apart and stack it and advertise it plus some cash for my time)

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Kevin (Jun 19, 2016)

Colin my mom used to teach tole painting in the late 80's thru early 90's and had to turn down students for her classes it was so popular, barnwood was huge back then. Funny how things come back around.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Tony (Jun 19, 2016)

I use fence wood down here, but I market it as barnwood so I can triple the price! Tony


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## tocws2002 (Jun 19, 2016)

Thanks for the all the compliments and advice. I was thinking the $40-$50 range prior to posting, so I think we are in the ballpark.

@Schroedc we drilled 1/2" holes then chiseled them square and epoxied in the spikes. I thought about doing exactly what you said about driling, tapping, and using a large washer from the back, but didn't do it on this one, may try that route on the next.

@Kevin I took @Tony advice of looking on Etsy, $90 doesn't sound too bad considering there were quite a few listed for over $100, and one that was $250 (and it only had 4 spikes).  if I use that as a reference, I should be able to ask $312.50 for a five-spiker.....

Will let you all know what the kids decide and if/when they sell it.

Thanks again,

- jason

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Kevin (Jun 19, 2016)

tocws2002 said:


> Thanks for the all the compliments anf advice. I was thinking the $40-$50 range prior to posting, son think we are in the ballpark.
> 
> @Schroedc we drilled hikes then chiseled them square and epoxied in the spikes. I thought about doing exactly what you said about driling, tapping, and using a large washer from the back, bit didn't do it on this one, may try that route on the next.
> 
> ...



That would be so cool if they could get in that kind of high cotton.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Tony (Jun 19, 2016)

tocws2002 said:


> Thanks for the all the compliments anf advice. I was thinking the $40-$50 range prior to posting, son think we are in the ballpark.
> 
> @Schroedc we drilled hikes then chiseled them square and epoxied in the spikes. I thought about doing exactly what you said about driling, tapping, and using a large washer from the back, bit didn't do it on this one, may try that route on the next.
> 
> ...



Jason, I'm horrible at pricing my stuff, I have somebody that helps with that. The best advice I can give is to start higher than you think because you can always come down but you can't go up. Tony

Reactions: Agree 1


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## tocws2002 (Jun 19, 2016)

Kevin said:


> That would be so cool if they could get in that kind of high cotton.



If they get that kind of money for this I am going to let them market anything I ever make again. Or just let them make and sell everything and just take a "management fee" off the top for myself.

-jason

Reactions: Creative 1


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## barry richardson (Jun 19, 2016)

It kind of depends on where you can put it up for sale. I think Colin is about right. You could probably get $50 for them on craigslist or ebay, but if you got them in a store that sold vintage/rustic/re-purposed stuff, $100 easy. The style is very popular right now.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## isaacrapelje (Jun 24, 2016)

Jason, @tocws2002 I really like your barnwood coat hanger and how you used it as a project to do with your kids. I actually did a similar one a little while ago in maple burl. Where I live maple burl is cheaper than barnwood. I cheated and purchased railroad spike coat hangers that had been cut, tapped and had a threaded rod already attached like @Schroedc suggested. I think I might make my own in the future, especially if I can get my kids to hacksaw the spikes in half. I used large washers that are countersunk into the back to hold the spikes. Finally, I used a french cleat to hold it in place on the wall because I didn't want screws showing in the front. The finish is Arm-R-Seal which was my first time using and really like.

Reactions: Way Cool 3


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## Kevin (Jun 24, 2016)

Isaac that's a really nice coatrack.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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