Box Vox

packaging as content

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July 17, 2012

Mostly Red Revolving Jar Racks

I’d always admired my father-in-law’s workshop. When he was moving recently and offered me some of his tools it was these red, revolving jar racks that I especially coveted.

Reusing old jars to store loose hardware is by now a venerable and thrifty American tradition. In my basement, I have, for years, had several jars full of assorted nuts, bolts, nails & screws that I must dump out to find anything specific. So I envy and admire those with more methodically organized workbenches.

Now that I possess these two revolving jar racks, I could theoretically “up my game,” but really I just love them as objects, with their staggered, vaguely sputnik-like array of jars.

At first I thought that my father-in-law had built these himself, but they appear to be store-bought, although handcrafted examples of the art do also exist.

My son discovered that they can mesh together like gears —a feature that I’m attempting to demonstrate in the video below:

Looking deeper into the world of revolving jar racks, I discovered quite a few other configurations and, for some reason, most of them are red.

(7 more examples, after the fold…)


Antique Spinning Nut & Bolt Storage Rack, $14 on Etsy (sold)


Vintage Industrial Organizer Spinning Jar Shelf, $15 on Etsy (sold)


Vintage metal spin rack with 16 jars, $40 on Etsy


Vintage Spinning Hanging Tool Nut Bolt Screw Organizer Storage Metal Glass Jars, $21.99 on eBay


Vintage Metal & Glass Jar Standing Hardware Organizer, $39.99 on eBay


Vintage Aqua Glass Jar Spinning Holder, $45 on Etsy

A rare, non-red example. The sign reads, “Here’s a new kind of Merry Go Round, Rotates the Nails so Easily Found.” Which is interesting, because, depending on how a revolving jar rack is oriented, it can also be compared to a Ferris wheel…

1950′s vintage industrial machine shop revolving workbench Ferris wheel” glass jar rack — Wyler’s beef bouillon cube jars, $375 at Urban Remains 

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