As is true for many of us, my cheese "cave" is a wine fridge. It serves quite well for a cheese cave, with the ability to set my desired temperature exactly as needed. However, there has always been one very, very annoying thing about using this "cave" -- the original heavy-wire shelves were, oddly enough, made to hold wine bottles. Thus, rather than being flat, with closely-spaced wires, they are wavy, with the wires well spaced apart.
The only way that I have been able to use these shelves, in the year+ that I have had this "cave," is by putting a wooden cutting board or something similar on top of the wavy shelf. Not only does this take up extra room, but it means I only get partial use from each shelf, since the cutting boards are not the same size or shape as the shelves.
This weekend, I finally got around to rectifying the problem. I made a set of new shelves by ripping some poplar boards that I had on hand into 1" wide x 3/8" thick strips. The top of each of these strips was rounded off before ripping, and the sharp edges on the bottom were softened with a hand plane. I made a jig to let me assemble these to fit the shape of the original shelves -- not quite rectangular; they need to be about 1/2" wider at the front than at the back.
The pictures below show the results. The first picture includes one of the original shelves in front of the closed fridge; the second has the door open for a better view inside. Here's the payoff -- with the old, clunky configuration, this cave was mostly full. As you can see in the pictures, now I have quite a bit of room to make more cheese!
Hey, I recognize those green topped mini-caves. In fact I have 2 of them in my cave now housing 2 small blue cheeses, mine are upside down with a round plastic embroidery mat sitting on the lid.
Nice shelves btw
Nice job! What kind of wood did you use?
I used poplar -- my first choice would have been beech, if I'd had any on hand, since that is the most neutral wood that I know of as far as adding flavors to food. But poplar is a reasonable alternative, and I expect that I will not be setting any cheese directly on the wood; I will use a plastic mesh mat. And by sheer coincidence, I happen to have a lot of poplar on hand ... :)
Yet to be determined is whether the additional ventilation afforded by the slat design will be an asset or a liability. For cheeses that are at a point where they go several days, maybe a week, between flipping, I generally find that unwanted mold problems develop on the bottom of the cheese, long before any shows up on the top. So maybe the extra ventilation will help to prevent that ... or maybe not. Time will tell ...
How are the strips connected to each other? Nails, stainless screws, glue?
Glue is the primary connection, as far as strength, but to help assemble it I used small galvanized brads. Yes, I know -- galvanized is not something I want in contact with my cheese; therefore I assembled these upside down, so the brads are in the bottom. It remains to be seen whether they begin to rust in the high-humidity environment. I may need to seal them in with some epoxy or something similar.
I'm pretty much copying this idea. I have a very similar fridge. I'm using red oak (poplar was an option, but the oak available seems to be a better wood for this purpose). I'll be gluing and pegging mine to avoid metal (not for any health reason, but that's how I typically build wood things).
Just posting here to thank the OP for the idea.
Made these shelves last month and they are working great. Thanks again to mr. awake for the idea.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cheese/i-tpPPGz9/0/e969f642/X3/_MG_2478-X3.jpg)
Hello Awakephd,
I wish you a good mood, very beautiful cheese cellar and beautiful presentation, clean, glazed for viewing without opening each time, nothing to say, Bravo, a cheese for this beautiful sharing.
Good luck.
Quote from: pastpawn on February 15, 2018, 06:48:07 PM
Made these shelves last month and they are working great. Thanks again to mr. awake for the idea.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cheese/i-tpPPGz9/0/e969f642/X3/_MG_2478-X3.jpg)
Sorry to be so slow in replying - I've been off the forum for many months - too busy with that annoying thing called a job!
Your shelves look beautiful! I'm curious whether you have gotten any off-flavors from the tannin in the oak? If so, I'd suggest re-making them using beech (if possible), or some other neutral-flavor wood. Whatever you do, don't use walnut or olive wood - very strong flavors!
Quote from: awakephd on January 14, 2019, 04:18:44 PM
Quote from: pastpawn on February 15, 2018, 06:48:07 PM
Made these shelves last month and they are working great. Thanks again to mr. awake for the idea.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cheese/i-tpPPGz9/0/e969f642/X3/_MG_2478-X3.jpg)
Sorry to be so slow in replying - I've been off the forum for many months - too busy with that annoying thing called a job!
Your shelves look beautiful! I'm curious whether you have gotten any off-flavors from the tannin in the oak? If so, I'd suggest re-making them using beech (if possible), or some other neutral-flavor wood. Whatever you do, don't use walnut or olive wood - very strong flavors!
No issues at all. It's worked REALLY well for me in fact.
A wealth of info in this thread, given that I need to build shelves! Now, as soon as I get the mountain of crap off my table saw I will get started. Flat surfaces don't last long in my shop! :-[
Quote from: TravisNTexas on January 15, 2019, 01:19:23 PM
A wealth of info in this thread, given that I need to build shelves! Now, as soon as I get the mountain of crap off my table saw I will get started. Flat surfaces don't last long in my shop! :-[
Yeah, I understand that problem, all too well!