Trick of the Trade: Make Treads & Risers a Little Bit Easier

This issue's tip comes from Reuben Dahlquist, owner at R.A. Dahlquist Enterprises in Brooklyn Park, Minn.:

This is called a sheet pan rack and is used normally in commercial, school and church kitchens. It can hold 20 sheet pans, which are more or less giant cookie sheets. Instead of using them for cookies I use them when I'm working on stair treads and risers. I cut some 1-by-2 wood strips and add two circular felt buttons to each strip in order to facilitate placement of the treads while allowing the finish on the underside of the overhang to properly dry. Sheet pan racks have rails only on the sides, so each tread is supported by a 1-by-2 placed at the front and back. Treads are coated on a pair of sawhorses and then carefully loaded on the rack, starting at the top, in order to keep contaminants from falling onto the wet finish. Risers are loaded sideways in pairs. The rack can handle an entire flight of treads and risers in a small area and is easily movable even when fully loaded.

Do you have a Trick of the Trade? Send it to [email protected].