Photography by Alexa Hotz for Remodelista.
I like to see how other people store their kitchen knives. With a pliable piece of leather, it’s a pretty simple thing to create, and you can tailor each loop in the rack to fit your own needs—no advanced knife skills necessary.
Step 1: Flip the leather over so that the inside of the hide faces up. Measure, mark a pattern, and then cut to your liking.
Instructions
Step 2: On each end of the wooden block, trim the leather so that it can be wrapped tightly against the wood. If your leather is on the thinner side, you can wrap the ends of the wood as you would a gift box, folding it over itself.
Step 3: Once you’ve pinned down each end of the wood, fully wrap the block overlapping the leather on the side that won’t show (and trimming as necessary).
Step 4: Flip over the block to the display side. Pin down one end of the strip in the center of the block about an inch from the end.
Step 5: Push the leather against itself until it makes a loop. Secure the loop in place with a pushpin, and then continue making loops and pinning them down, adjusting each to your liking, until you’re an inch from the end.
Step 6: To mount the finished rack on the wall, there are a variety of options: You can hang it like a picture frame using a length of wire and pushpins on the back, you can nail the entire piece to the wall, or you can nail two sawtooth hangers on the back and hook them onto the wall (the approach I took).
The Finished Look
The knife rack hangs next to my stove for easy access to kitchen shears and paring knives. An alternative option is to nix the wooden block altogether and create an all-leather knife holster that hangs directly on the wall–something that I hope to try in my next apartment.