Office Ping Pong Paddle Rack

My friend Kevin Baker put the idea in my head that we needed a ping pong paddle rack for the office break room last fall, and I finally got around to putting one together a few weeks ago. Here are the pictures of the build! The Improvers at the Dallas office seem to like it, so I’m pleased with how it turned out.

The frame is built with a nice light 1×4 poplar board (roughly 3 feet long), put together with gorilla wood glue (first time I’ve used this brand), 4x 3-inch drywall screws, and hand-cut pine dowel pegs. I clamped the frame together to ensure a nice fit while the glue dried, sanded everything down with 120 and 220 grit, and then sealed with 3 coats of Varathane water based polyurethane (first time I’ve used this product as well).

If I had to do this over again, I would stain it a darker color to better hide imperfections and daily wear and tear, OR prime it and paint it black before sealing it with polyurethane. I would also use only half as much glue! I might end up doing some maintenance on it after it’s seen a year of use in the office. We’ll see how it holds up. I hope you like it!