Hack Job Kluging Together Tool Storage

[Jim Koepke]

Anyone who has been to my shop can tell you there are tools lying all around.
There are two roll away boxes full of automotive, electrical, plumbing, metal working and some wood working tools.

Someone mentioned wanting to see more pictures of our projects and not just our tools, so here is a picture of my in progress tool storage. It started as an old book shelf that was made in California and moved up with us. The one on the left. Recently another unused book shelf was added on the right. Then shelves were hung between the two.

Eventually, I want to make deep doors on the front for a saw till that will also have space for chisel and gouge storage. A few drawers for storage of other items is also being considered.

166892

In the foreground can be seen a current project that is being worked on, a shelf unit for the end of our hallway. It will be close to 9' tall. At the end of our hall, there is a space about a foot deep beyond the two bedroom doors.

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

I think "incrementally developed tool storage" sounds better. My shop sympathizes with your shop - they're both very incremental.

Although I probably have you whupped on rollaways - four rollaways and three top boxes of different sizes (the fourth rollaway serves as the metalwork benchtop).

[Jim Koepke]

Both my rollaways have top boxes.

Then there are at least 3 metal tool boxes in various stages of stuffed around the shop. A few cardboard boxes and other bins with tools. The more unusable the tool, the lower class the storage facility. There are also a couple of tool totes around the shop. One is stuffed with old hand saws waiting for a shot at being rehabbed and one that I try to keep empty for those times when I need to carry a bunch of tools to the green house or living area to work on something.

Organization was never one of my strong points, so incrementally tackling the tool storage/organization challenge seems to be my favored route.

jtk

[George Sanders]

I have been getting organized all my life. I will die the day everything has a place and is in it. :rolleyes: None of my tool cabinets have the quality of what I have made to go in my home. They are expedient and adequate for my needs at the moment. They won't have any sentimental attachment if I have to redo my storage areas.

[Tony Zaffuto]

One of these days, I'll learn how to post pictures and show what my basement shop looks like. Over the past 14+ years that we have lived in our present home, I have organized a number of times. Whenever I do that, it takes me months (sometimes if ever!) for me to find things.

Though some don't like them, I work best with a tool tray in my bench, with open shelves as near to my bench as I can. I still have (and use occasionally) power tools, and those tools always have hand tools, clamps, etc., stacked on top of them.

It ain't chaos, if your can find things!

[David Weaver]

...

Call it a hack job if you want, but I'd call it pretty tidy. It's probably historically accurate to store your tools at home in stuff that didn't cost a lot of $$ in materials to make (not that historical accuracy should dictate what you do in your shop, but you can say that to the next neatnik that tells you your shop is messy).

I follow the same philosophy - my planes are out of my shop and in my basement (because it's always dry there) on the heavy plastic racks they sell at HD. I would like, at some point, to make a nice saw till with hooks on the bottom so I could put all of my western and japanese saws (40?) closer to reach in the shop, since they're always being used with wax, they never rust.

[Gary Herrmann]

My wife has threatened to organize my shop for me if I don't do something soon.

The horror...

[Jim Koepke]

One of these days, I'll learn how to post pictures and show what my basement shop looks like. Over the past 14+ years that we have lived in our present home, I have organized a number of times. Whenever I do that, it takes me months (sometimes if ever!) for me to find things.

Tony,
Posting pictures isn't hard once you find out how. There is a paper clip in the icons above the text area when you reply to a post.

Clicking on the paper clip will open this window. Click on Choose File, then navigate to the file you want to upload. The key below shows the Max File size. The board software upgrade a while back included software to shrink files, so that is mostly for information.

167027

You can upload two files at a time. I usually watch my modem lights to make sure something is happening and have had to click the upload button a second time.

The window will let you know when the files have been uploaded and will let you choose two more up to a total of eight.

If you want to insert files or images into the text, select the area you want the picture to be, then click on the paper clip again. All the files you have uploaded will be listed. You can select just the one you want inserted at the selected point or you can select to insert all of them into the same spot.

There is even a way to add pictures after you have posted with the edit and "go Advanced" functions. This has to be done within 24 hours of the original post.

I often choose the quote function, copy all the text then come back to the thread and pick reply. This helps when I want to break up or edit the text being quoted. Copy and paste are your friends. If you file is extremely large, you may have to figure out a way to convert it or save it in a smaller size.


Though some don't like them, I work best with a tool tray in my bench, with open shelves as near to my bench as I can. I still have (and use occasionally) power tools, and those tools always have hand tools, clamps, etc., stacked on top of them.

It ain't chaos, if your can find things!

I have made the decision that my next bench will have a tool tray. I was going to retrofit my current bench, but decided it might just delay my building a new one.

A friend once came to my home when I was living in an apartment before meeting the woman who would become my wife. He asked about a magazine he had loaned me. I went to a pile of books and magazines and pulled it out of the middle without having to look for it. He exclaimed, "this is not a mess, it is a highly sophisticated filing system."

Usually the only time I can not find something is if I earlier decided it would be better if it was someplace else. I am very careful to not find new homes for things unless it is part of a mass migration.

jtk

[Gary Curtis]

My handtool accumulation was an 18-month eBay marathon. While I waited for my new home and shop to be constructed.

Who in the world needs 14 handplanes, including a #6&8? I didn't. But I had them, nonetheless. So after settling into the shop, I bought those plans from Lee Valley for a large and small wall cabinet. The doors, I learned, are useful to keep out an accumulation of sawdust from the shop.

To show off a bit, the doors are made of plexiglass.

As a newbie, these were my first stab at finger and dado joints. Who cares how unfinished plywood in a shop looks! So I could be brave and learn at the same time.

I made a 3rd cabinet just for planes. It was the easiest because I didn't need all the fiddly holding platforms and nooks for individual tools.

Gary Curtis

[george wilson]

I WISH my wife would organize my shop!! Actually,there IS a great deal of organization. Trouble is,since I retired and brought home the rest of my stuff,there is just too much stuff,period! I'll bet she could find ways to better use space than I can,though. Like some of you,I'd just never be able to find anything again.:)

I have DISTANT plans to build a tool cabinet. You might like to hear about it. What I don't like about it is it won't DISPLAY the tools.

What it consists of is a quartered white oak cabinet about 6' tall,5' wide,and 18" deep. There will be vertically mounted 3/4" plywood leaves arranged like the pages in a book that is standing on one end. These leaves will be mounted on slides so you can pull them out. They will be JUST far apart enough that the tools stored on their surfaces won't catch on each other when you pull the leaves out.

You could certainly get the maximum number of tools in such a cabinet with the minimum amount of wasted space. Doors would close on the front,possibly with saws or thin tools hung on them.

I have accumulated the quartered white oak,and the slides. Way too many slides!!

What do you think?

[Gary Curtis]

You folks have probably seen posters of the H.O. Studley tool cabinet in the Smithsonian museum. But photos don't do it justice, as this Youtube video with Norm Abrams shows. Trays that flip up and flip down, slide to the side, revealing more layers underneath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9QaFTI2F9c

Gary Curtis

[John A. Callaway]

there is one heck of a tool cabinet on the back cover of this month's Fine woodworking magazine...

Huge...and impeccably well made.