Gear of the Week | DIY ski/stocking wardrobe

The ski wardrobe

My personal problem was simply too many jackets, shirts, sweaters and a wardrobe that was bursting at the seams. A bent ski pole between two cupboards had to serve as a makeshift solution, and it neither looked good nor was it stable. When I found an old pair of Fischer skis in the bulky waste, the plan was made: A robust clothes rail with real ski character was needed.

Materials & tools

• An old pair of skis

• An old broom handle

• Two small wooden blocks (at least 2 cm thick)

• Screws & dowels

• Jigsaw & cordless drill (and ideally a metal drill!)

Go with the flow

My approach was more intuitive than precisely planned, but the result is impressive. First, I determined the right height for the crossbars. To prevent the jackets from standing up at the bottom, I chose the position of the front jaws of the binding. However, these were quickly removed.

The most difficult part was the hole in the ski. I hadn't thought about the metal plate that many skis have under the binding! As a result, my hole ended up being a bit messy, but the corners and edges caught well in the soft wood of the broom handle. The broom handle also still had its old thread. So I was able to turn/insert it into one of the holes with a little force. It held firmly without any glue, which probably wouldn't have stuck to the material anyway.

To attach it to the wall, I sawed cut-outs the size of the broom handle into the small pieces of wood. This can be done quickly with a jigsaw, even if the hole is "open" to the side. The wooden blocks were screwed to the wall in the traditional way with dowels. If you want to be on the safe side, hammer a small nail through the wood into the bar from above so that nothing slips.

As the skis are straight at the bottom, the construction is stable on the floor and is adequately held in place by the clothes rails. Your DIY coat rack is ready!

Initially I had a complicated idea and had already made a list for the DIY store, but while looking for the right tools I stumbled across two old bamboo ski poles in the cellar that hadn't been properly put away after the last stag party.

In the same breath, the idea was born, but as with so many ideas, it wasn't clear whether it would work in practice and be stable enough. It soon became clear that far less material was needed than was on the sheet of paper. After two more steps, I had four eyelets, some cord, a pair of scissors and a folding rule in my hand and got down to planning.

Materials & tools

• An old pair of ski poles

• Some used cordage

• Four small eyelets for wood

• Some knotting skills

• Folding rule, scissors, finger strength (for wooden ceiling)

• Some mental arithmetic (can be compensated by AI)

Some time, some skill, too much math

The given variables were the desired height from the ceiling downwards and the distance to the wall. The length of the coat rack should be 125 cm and lo and behold, the ski poles were exactly that length. There wasn't much planning on the paper, apart from a triangle.

I have to admit, I didn't remember exactly how to calculate the side lengths of equilateral triangles - in fact, I didn't even know whether it would really be an equilateral triangle or an isosceles triangle or a right-angled triangle or perhaps an obtuse-angled or acute-angled triangle. I quickly accepted that further planning would be at best obtuse or acute - so I got to work and just tried it out.

If you calculate too much, you only lose valuable time for trial and error

True to Erich Kästner's motto "Nothing good happens unless you do it!", I recommend not spending too much time planning such projects. Things often turn out differently than you think anyway, so just try it out. In situ, I realized that the ceiling lamp limits the distance between the eyelets anyway.

A little too much cord and a bit of knotting knowledge helped me to adjust the length afterwards (mast throw and scissors!). After a bit of trial and error, the desired position was achieved and the ski pole wardrobe could be inaugurated. It became clear that one bamboo pole would not be able to withstand the static load of all the ski clothing and the second was simply connected to it in three places with the remaining cord.

The new wardrobe was ready much quicker than I thought and I enjoy hanging up the clothes again after every ski trip! I look a little wistfully at the melting snow and am already thinking about what I can hang here in summer!

By the way, I didn't measure which triangle was created, but anyone who can work out how it could have been planned mathematically will get a reward from me! Just send me the plan by e-mail!

Now it's your turn!

Have you also turned old slats into a bench, built shelves out of an old Crazy Creek board or made a lamp out of ski poles? Let us know in the comments! And if you feel like it, you can present your upcycling furniture in one of the next Gear of the Weeks! We'll see if there's an old pair of skis as a reward...