Record Handling and Storage Tips

After receiving a tip and covering the modular, stackable and reasonably priced record storage racks from Tony's Woodshop I bit and bought a dozen.

I opted for finished oak costing $55 each including shipping. These are being used in my utility room so I didn't opt for a base unit, even though that meant the lowest unit wouldn't provide full bottom record support. A reader expressed concern about that, but I've not had an issue with it after decades of using the Per Madsen racks that provide even less support on bottom.

They arrived and I immediately smelled a very strong stain odor coming from the boxes that intensified upon unboxing them. I should have taken them outside and left them under my deck until the odor dissipated but I was anxious to get the units up and the records on them to avoid the near catastrophe I had when a similar IKEA shelving rack broke apart because the glue had dried up. This one was showing signs.

The vapors emanating from the racks ended up wafting throughout the house and my wife has asthma. Not good! However, Tony insists that he's used this same General Finishes Satin Finish stain for many years and never before encountered this problem so I'm not sure why I did.

With the help of a few fans I was able to guide the vapors outside over the course of a few days. Now, months later there's only a faint lingering, but acceptable smell that's not detectable outside of the utility room even with the door open.

Please don't let this deter you if you are at all interested in these racks because they are extremely well-built and sturdy. They are stackable and when stacked provide full bottom record support and I think they are attractive too as well as being reasonably priced. So I am a happy Tony's Woodshop customer.

My original plan was to stack them three across but being mathlexic I measured incorrectly so now I'm left with that unused space that I need to fill with some kind of shelving because I have plenty of "stuff" to put on them!