What to use on shelf?

[01GTB]

Hey guys, a newb here. Just found the site a few days ago and have been browsing around checking out your shops and ideas. I must say, you all really take a lot of pride in your homes away from home. Some really impressive stuff

Anyway, I have a small 40x20 shop that I rent just down the road from my house. I've been there for over 5 years and hate paying rent, but my lot is really not big enough for anything that big. Plus I can work over there at 3 am if I choose and no one bothers me I had several store-bought shelves that tended to not hold quite what they were rated at. Plus having a bunch of them of different sizes looked a little cluttered. So I decided to build one.

It is all 2x4's and plywood. I'm no builder, but I did the best I could Of course it ended up changing along the way and I probably could have just purchased a nice one with what I ended up spending on it. It ended up being 10'x2' and 9' tall. All I know is it is very heavy now Now that it is done, I think maybe it needs some paint or something...not that it is ever gonna be pretty I have lots and lots of motor oil stockpiled (that's another story) and it sometimes tends to leak a little. I would want to store it there. And I have some engine parts that are not always that clean that will end up there as well. I was curious what the most durable and semi-oil resistant paint choice might be? I don't want to spend a fortune on it, but I don't want it to look any worse than it does. I had thought about using those vinyl 12" tiles on all the shelves, but I think that is a little more money than this shelf is worth.

 

[danski0224]

Don't know much about oil resistant paint, but if the wood shelving has had leaky oil bottles on it already, lots of luck getting any paint to stick.

Maybe a high solids stain would be a better choice... won't flake off like paint.

I have always believed that wood shelving and leaky oil container storage is a bad combination.

 

[dodgecharger-fan]

You can get melamine paint.

That will create a nice hard surface that will be easy to clean up.

The trick with that is that you need a really smooth surface to make it look nice. Typically it is used on medium or high density fibreboard (MDF, HDF), but I suppose with a little work with some wood filler, you could get plywood smoothed out enough. I guess it depends on what grade of plywood you start with. Some will be easier to work than others..

 

[ZRWON]

My work bench area is 24"wide X ~24 feet long and thru the years the unfinished plywood picked up oil and other major dirt spots. When I decided to paint my shop, I also did the work bench. I used two coats (1/2 quart) of oil base silver/aluminum followed by 3 coats (1 quart) of Polyacrylic Urathene clear coat (fantastic product). So far; so good. The oil base covered all the stains on the work bench and the clear top coats give if a very hard finish that has, so far, repelled all dirt and oil, and even spilled gas while working on a carb. Maybe it'd also serve your needs. Cleaning usually requires only a brushing off or damp cloth.
Here's a picture

 

[OGauge4Me]

Bill:
You sir have a very nice set up!

 

[01GTB]

Thanks for the replys. So far nothing has been on it, no oil or anything.

 

[Luckydevil]

What about table top epoxy? Cheap and easy to mix. Looks nice and glossy also.

 

[01GTB]

Totally clueless here...where might I find something like that?

 

[OH-MAN]

If you have allready leaked a bunch of oil into the wood I would not do anthing other than putting a metal cover on it.
If it is real bad the plywood is not that expensive, just replace it.
Oily wood is very hard to get anything to stick to it.

 

[01GTB]

I think metal is out of the question, too expensive for this shelf. The plywood has nothing on it yet. No oil, no paint, no nothing...it's brand new. But it is cheap stuff. The smartest thing may be to just leave it bare wood.

 

[01GTB]

Well I ended up just leaving it unpainted, I was in too big of a hurry to get the stuff out of the floor and decided to put it into service. Won't win a beauty contest, but it serves it's purpose.

 

[OHEKK]

Bill,

I like how you incorporated the electrical outlets into the workbench legs!

That puts them where they are handy as opposed to on the wall.

The work bench top looks thick...solid core door?

Also...are you sure that's a garage? It looks more like a spare bedroom or den in your house that you converted. Is this your proverbial "Doghouse"

 

[ZRWON]

Bill,
I like how you incorporated the electrical outlets into the workbench legs!
That puts them where they are handy as opposed to on the wall.The work bench top looks thick...solid core door?
Also...are you sure that's a garage? It looks more like a spare bedroom or den in your house that you converted. Is this your proverbial "Doghouse"

Thanks & AMEN to the DogHouse! It's in a stand-alone shop, 24X32, that we built 10 years ago. Two of the legs on the work bench are the metal ones that came with a workbench kit I purchased about 20 years ago. Both front legs of the kit which I expanded to make this long bench have the electric outlets in them. I agree about convenience. The top is 3/4 inch plywood with a 1X2 on the front edge to hide the end grain of the plywood. It's painted with a oil base silver paint and 3 coats on clear polyacrylic. Seems to be holding up well to oil, spilled gas and regular dirt & sawdust. Probably lacquer would damage the surface but that's usually the case with most finishes. Easy to clean up with a dust or damp cloth. Here's another view of the doghouse.

 

[01GTB]

Here it is, dwarfing the 6ft tall 4'x2' shelf that's place it took. Unpainted, but serving it's purpose Still trying to organize it and finish stocking the shelves.

 

[DynoDave]

Great storage space!

What's the turbo for? Curious minds want to know...

 

[01GTB]

Great storage space!

What's the turbo for? Curious minds want to know...

Ooops. sorry about that. Didn't check back for a while. It's for a Buick GN or T-Type. It belonged to a buddy of mine, he brought it over to shop when I had the camera over there so he could get a few pics for a prospective buyer.

 

[Jay H 237]

Funniest thing about that pic are the "N"s in "Tenant Separation"!


I have similar shelves in my garage that were built from 2x4s and plywood. They're very stong and can hold quite a bit. They were never painted or sealed with anything but I don't keep any fluids on them so they're not stained or anything although the wood has naturally darkened with age.

 

[01GTB]

Haha, the "N's" are like that on both walls I should have painted over it but I did not feel like investing that much in paint when I moved in.

As far as the shelves, I figured they would get dirty anyway. If the plywood gets oil soaked I can just replace it. The paint would just be one more step I would have to redo.