Inexpensive DIY Brass Gallery Rail

Are you ready for a Rejuvenation brass gallery rail dupe? Have you already seen the gallery rails that others source from Vintage Hardware? I have another source for even more inexpensive unlacquered brass rails. If you read my pantry cafe rod tutorial you might know exactly where I am heading with this.

Where do I Buy Brass Rail?

When I created the pantry cafe rod I introduced you to using unfinished brass lamp parts to build it. Unfinished is another word for unlacquered. Turns out if you’re fancy you’ll call it unlacquered. If you are a lighting part store you call it unfinished.

The best source I have found for all of my lighting parts is Grand Brass Lamp Parts. Their brass pipes are the perfect dupe for brass rails. In fact all of their tubes are dupes for rails. You don’t have to want unlacquered brass rails or rods to use light parts to make these gallery shelf railings. They have every metal finish available.

At this time Grand Brass Lamp Parts doesn't have a referral code program so I can't offer any discounts for their products and I do not make a commission from their sales. 

However, I cannot leave you out of the loop on how easy it is to use lighting parts for all things brass. Their only catch is shipping can be a little high (mine on average is $15-20), try and group your entire order together. Also, anything over 3 feet costs more to ship. 

Even with their shipping costs, they still come in cheaper than anything else I have found.

Some of the links I share are affiliate links, and if you purchase through them it won’t cost you any extra, however, I may be paid a small commission. That small support helps me keep the lights on and we appreciate all of it.

Supplies for making the Brass Gallery Rail

1. Sandpaper 60 grit
2. 5/16″ wood dowels
3. Wood glue
4. Shelf or wood you’d like to attach the brass gallery rail to
5. Two armbacks per shelf
6. Two bull necks per shelf
7. 1 – 1/8 ips 3/8″ male threaded unfinished brass pipe per shelf

Tools for making the Brass Gallery Rail

1. Mallet
2. Sander
3. Drill
4. 3/8″ drill bit (preferably a brad point for accuracy)
5. Measuring tape
6. Speed Square
7. Pencil for marking

How I make the brass gallery rail for my spice shelf

My spice rack shelves gallery rails are made up of three parts: two “armbacks“, two small “bull necks” (but you could also use these for just 15 cents more), and one 1/8 ips 12″ male threaded brass pipe.

The brass pipe threads are only 3/8″ long so they don’t show when the parts are all screwed together.

Assemble your brass gallery rail from your lighting parts

Screw your threaded arm backs into the tops of the bull necks. Then, take two of your assembled ends and join them together with your brass pipe. My brass pipe was 12″ long. If yours are longer I suggest not spanning longer than 20″ without adding a T.

Add wood dowels to the brass gallery rail

Once the rail was assembled, I tapped 5/16″ wood dowels into the female thread of the bull necks. Using a sander, I sanded the exposed dowel down to 5/8″ long. You could cut them with a saw but I felt that I had more control sanding them down and it went really quickly with 60 grit sandpaper on my sander.

Drill holes in the shelf for the wood dowels

I drilled holes into the shelf 1/2″ from the front of the shelves to the center of the hole with a 3/8″ drill bit. To mark the holes I used a pencil and a speed square two make quick measurements.

I have a drill press, so drilling the holes for the wood dowels at the same depth was pretty easy.

However, I realize not everyone has a drill press. You can make sure to go only 5/8″ deep into your 3/4″ shelf by measuring from the tip of the drill bit back and placing a piece of painters tape at the 5/8″ mark. When your tape hits the shelf, stop drilling.

If you don’t already own the bit, make sure you buy the brad point bit. It will be a lot easier to center your drill bit on your mark with a brad point bit.

If you are making more than one shelf, you may want to consider making a template from 1/4" wood. Simply cut piece of 1/4" wood to the same size as your shelf, mark and drill 3/8" holes in the same spot as you would on the shelves. But instead of stopping, go all the way through the 1/4".

Adjust your tape on the drill to account for the thickness of the 1/4".

Place your template on every shelf making sure to align all the edges and drill each hole in the perfect spot every time. 

Attach brass gallery rail to shelf

Then I placed a drop of wood glue into the dowel holes and tapped the brass gallery rail into the shelf.

Because my shelves were going in to a built in spice rack, I knew it would be very difficult to drill the holes for the dowels after I assembled the spice rack. Instead, first I assembled all of the brass gallery rails. Then I attached the gallery rails to the shelves. Last, I attached the shelves to the spice rack.

FAQ’s for the brass gallery rail dupe

I need a longer rail with more sections. How can I connect more than one rail to another?

Let’s say you need to connect multiple rails together you could use this arm back. It has three holes – top and either side.

How can I return my rails back to the back of my shelf?

I am still looking for an armback that has the two correct side holes. However, brass is easy to drill a hole in to and if you are up to experiment, use the 90 degree ball armback from the tutorial. Clamp it to a solid surface and drill the right sized hole. You don’t need to thread it, the pipe will thread in to the cut hole.

Is there a way to make the gallery rail taller?

You’d like a slightly taller rail. Use this brass neck to connect your arm backs to the rails.

The brass is too plain, is there something more extravagant/extra?

You’d like something a little more wow factor, check out this reeded pipe.

They don’t have the size gallery railings I need…

If you can’t find the exact size you need, you can buy regular brass pipe. Cut the brass pipe to the lengths you need. Then thread it yourself using this die handle wrench and this pipe die.

Did you find this helpful?

If you did, leave me a comment or send me an email if you are going to try this out. I love to hear from you and see all of your projects!

Join me on Instagram @jhambel.hambelsgetreal where I share projects like this all the time!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, check out this one from the pantry Or this popular post about how I added an appliance panel to my standard dishwasher.

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