A peg rail that holds a full stocking.
Three pegs in a board. Bore the holes eight degrees uphill and the rail holds a stocking with an orange in the toe all night. Bore them straight and you will find the stocking on the floor in the morning.
- How long
- An hour, plus overnight for the glue.
- You need
- A 600 mm length of 1x4 · 12 mm dowel · A drill · Wood glue · Sandpaper
- Messy
- A bit. Do it on a table.
Step 1. Cut the board and the pegs.
One length of 1x4 at 600 mm. Three pieces of 12 mm dowel at 100 mm each. Sand the cut ends of everything now while the pieces are still loose and easy to hold.
A 1x4 does not measure one inch by four. It measures about 19 by 89 mm, which is 3/4 by 3-1/2 inches, because the nominal size is what it was before it was planed. Measure your actual board before you mark anything.
Step 2. Mark three centers.
Along the board: 150 mm, 300 mm and 450 mm from the left end. Up the board: 45 mm from the bottom edge, which puts them in the middle of an 89 mm board. Punch each one with a nail so the bit starts where you meant it to.
Step 3. Make an eight degree guide block.
Take a scrap of wood about 60 mm long and saw one end off at a slight slope: 8 mm of drop across 57 mm of length is eight degrees, and near enough is genuinely good enough here.
Stand the block next to your mark with the slope facing you. Now you have something to line the drill body up against, which is far more accurate than guessing an angle in mid air.
Step 4. Bore three holes, 15 mm deep, tilting upward.
A 12 mm bit, tape wrapped round it at 15 mm as a depth stop. Drill leaning back so the far end of the hole is higher than the mouth of it. Uphill, away from the floor.
The board is only 19 mm thick, so 15 mm is most of the way through. Go slowly at the end and stop when the tape touches. Blowing out the back of the board is the one mistake on this project you cannot sand away.
Step 5. Glue the pegs in and wipe immediately.
A thin smear of wood glue inside the hole, not on the peg, or you will scrape most of it off going in. Push each peg home with a twist. Wipe the squeeze-out straight away with a damp cloth, because dried glue takes no finish and shows up as a pale ring around every peg forever. Leave it overnight.
Step 6. Hang it on two screws into studs.
Find the studs, drill two clearance holes through the board, and use screws long enough to get at least 30 mm into solid timber. A stocking with fruit and a book in it is a couple of kilos swinging on a lever. Drywall plugs will probably hold and studs certainly will.
The cut list.
- Board
- 1x4, actual 19 x 89 mm, cut to 600 mm. One off.
- Pegs
- 12 mm dowel, cut to 100 mm. Three off.
- Peg holes
- 12 mm diameter, 15 mm deep, 8 degrees uphill.
- Hole positions
- 150, 300 and 450 mm from the left end. 45 mm up from the bottom edge.
- Fixing
- Two screws into studs, 30 mm minimum into solid timber.
- Finish
- Oil or nothing. Paint fills a 12 mm hole faster than you expect, so finish the board before the pegs go in if you are painting it.
Why eight degrees and not ten, or none.
A level peg lets anything hanging on it slide outward, and the further out the load goes the harder it levers on the mouth of the hole. Tilt it up a little and the load slides back toward the board instead, which is where the joint is strongest.
Eight degrees is enough to stop the sliding and small enough that the peg still looks level to the eye. Go much past fifteen and it starts to read as a mistake, and the hole gets shallow on one side because the bit is cutting through a thin board at an angle.
That is the end of this one
The word for what you just did is shear.
A load trying to cut straight across something rather than pull it apart lengthways. A stocking hanging on a peg puts the peg in shear where it leaves the board, and tries to lever it out at the same time. Tilting the peg uphill turns most of that levering back into a load the hole can simply hold.
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