Build a handy boot washing grate

Cleaning garden mud from your boots is a tedious task that can be made easy with this handy boot-washing grate. Keep the grate outside, near your door-it'll be poised for the mud-footed to stand on and hose dirt off without standing in the runoff, because the sluice drains through the grating. Even when your boots don't require a bath, leave the grate just outside the door so you can wipe off debris on the way inside.

To complete your grate, you need 12 pieces of 3/4" x 11/2" stock cut 12" long. While I used pine, you could select pressure-treated wood or even a species that's naturally resilient to the elements, such as teak. Due to the number of lap joints involved, these pieces should be free of twists and warping, so buy straight stock.

Download the plans for the boot grate!

Materials:

Part	Material	Size (T x W x L)	Quantity
Rails	pine	3/4" x 1 1/2" x 12"	12
Screws	stainless steel	#8 x 1 1/4"	3

*Length indicates grain direction.

I machined my parts from scrap 1x2 rough pine, then planed it down to the right width and thickness. When you have your stock cut to these dimensions, cross cut the material to 12" long. Set up a stop block on a compound mitre saw to regulate length and you'll get consistent part sizes without remeasuring. You could achieve the same consistency using your tablesaw with a stop block attached to an auxiliary mitre fence.

While you're sawing, cut a few spare pieces: you will need at least one for trial cuts later on, and it doesn't hurt to have a couple of extras on hand in case a part needs to be substituted because of a building error. Consistency is important, even with spares, so plan on fully completing each operation before changing your set-up for the next phase of work.

Saddle up
This project uses notches to connect the grate. To ensure consistent results, I used a finger-joint jig with my tablesaw (see April 2005, “In Good Hands,” p. 20) to complete all the notch cuts. The work goes best with a 3/4"-dado blade installed in your saw. Make a trial cut in a piece of scrap and test the fit with the parts you cut earlier. They should fit snugly, but not so tight as to require a mallet to force the pieces together. Make any adjustments to your dado blade thickness and height, possibly with some additional shims, until you are satisfied with the results.