Making a decent Clothes Horse?

Raiser wrote: »

Folks I must have bought 7 of these in 7 years.

- You pay a relatively large amount of money for a cheap, poorly made, rickety piece of junk that slowly falls apart before your eyes.

The last one we had was a supposedly premium brand that was rusting, twisted out of shape and buckling in no time at all after normal, careful usage. The last straw was when the large wire lenghts (hanging up parts) started to detach making really horriffic eye-injuries a real concern!!!

So I really don't want to buy the same again (and we've tried them all by now)

Criteria would be that its relatively large and can be folded and slid behind couch when not in use.

I did look online - closest match I found was this one - But its not without its faults.....

I was even thinking of going ultra simple and having a large wooden rectangular frame, using the wire-core washing line threaded through drilled holes along the lenght at appropriate distances between strands for hanging clothes and then folding legs (just two moving sections) at either end to raise it to a good height off the floor.

Surely then you'd end up with a perfectly sized clothes horse that would last a lifetime and cost a very small amount?

I couldn't agree with you more. Horrible, horrible things but necessary.
I have to admit that the last two we had were ruined by me in fits of anger when I caught my fingers in those nasty little fold up joints.
It's a unique kind of pain.
My mother had a clothes horse, donkey's years ago, which must have been around for thirty years or more, if memory serves. It was a free standing, all wood simple bi-fold frame with probably 25 mm dowels over which you draped the clothes. If you can imagine two ladders hinged side by side and stretched in width to about 3 1/2 feet each it might give an idea of the structure. If I could use Sketchup I would draw it
I think the old clothes horse was made from ash but it might have been beech. Over its life, it developed a wonderful patina from the clothes rubbing over it.
It didn't have anything like the capacity of the current wire and steel ones but then for some reason, there didn't seem to be as much washing back in the day, maybe we are expected to be more presentable these days.

The only thing you might have to think about if making a couple of (hinged?) frames is the tension needed on the wire core line. You will need a fair bit and this will have to be taken into consideration when planning the construction of the frames to prevent twisting etc..
Ultra simple is always good

Carlow52 wrote: »

33 euro
http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/00176080/

best yet: get the wheel set also i think 5 euro extra, it takes at least 2 full washes or a few tennis balls:) the pic shows half the unit [ may be shown sideways]

Can't see anything from this manufacturer ever becoming an heirloom though. Much better to make your own