Where / How do you store your jigs?

[Alan Lightstone]

I seem to be collecting a number of jigs, and finding a place to store them has been a problem. How do you store your jigs? I'm talking about things like crosscut jigs, router circle jigs, dado crosscut jigs, miters, etc...

Any creative solutions to the problem that people have been using?

[George Bregar]

Pegboard, hook, done.

[Matt Meiser]

Mostly I hang them wherever I can. Even my big crosscut sled I found a spot to hide on the side of my miter saw's DC hood.

[Jim Finn]

Most of them, I put a hole in, so I can hang it on a peg on the wall.

[Eric DeSilva]

Since no one can see the pile of stuff in that corner of my shop, I'll claim that mine are neatly organized.

[Alan Lightstone]

I mainly have slat wall in the unused areas, so I'll have to find slat wall pegs. Wall space is short, however.

[Bill McDermott]

Alan, I've been thinking about this myself. Just moved the shop and have a pile of them. I'm in a basement shop and used to hang them on long nails driven into a board I attached to the floor joists (overhead) and against the wall. It worked fine, but the one you want is always buried by others and they are all odd shapes that get interlocked. So, I am toying with the idea of hanging them on short lenths of cord. Same deal, drill a hole in the jig, but instead of hanging on a nail - hang on a hook at the end of some cord. That way I can swing them around and work my way thorugh the menagerie to the one I want. Still just a thought. Curious to hear what you think. Bill

[Alan Lightstone]

Sounds interesting. I don't have exposed joists, though. I have a drywall ceiling. I'd love to see pictures of it if you take that route.

[Chip Lindley]

Shops have only so much accessible wall space. If you must hide a few jigs behind others, so be it. Pulling a few down and replacing them after getting the one you need is no biggie! Much less time than it took to type this on a crappy keyboard that misses letters, making me go back and fill in deletions mistaken for bad spelling!

[Lee Schierer]

Years ago I built a table for my lunch box planer to give me a longer in feed and out feed tables to eliminate snipe on boards. It was supported by two metal work bench style legs. My jigs were accumulating under the table. Just this week I finished a new base to fit under the original table top to replace the metal legs. When I designed it, I made spaces to hold many of my jigs that included adjustable shelves and a large drawer for my hand drills and brad gun. It also gave a home for my shop vac and pancake air compressor to go when they are not being used. As a bonus last night I made a quick block that screws onto one end of the new cabinet to hold my Kreg cross cut guide when I am ripping on the table saw.

[Charles Lent]

My shop is small (14 X 26) and the ceiling is bare exposed beams and 8' above the floor and there is very little wall space left for hanging much of anything. Since I am just shy of 6' tall, I have found that the space above me is good for hanging my smaller jigs from hooks screwed into the beams and all of the jigs have a 1" hole in them for hanging. The short jigs never seem to get in the way, but some of the longer ones (closer to 24") sometimes cause problems, so I have moved these to areas where I don't work directly below them. The shorter table saw jigs and push sticks are hung above the front edge of my table saw and it's extension table. The longer tapering and cove jigs are actually hanging on a door, while the router and other jigs are located more above or near my workbench and there are a few band saw jigs hanging, not directly above, but near my band saw. This isn't a perfect solution, but it works better for me than having them in piles on the benches or in a corner of the shop. When I want one it is always easy to find and select the right one and I probably have 20 or so hanging above me this way.

Charley

[Mark Patoka]

I hang them on a pegboard wall. Some of the jigs that have only been used once hang up near the ceiling out of the way.

[paul cottingham]

Since no one can see the pile of stuff in that corner of my shop, I'll claim that mine are neatly organized.
+1. Me too. I would never build a false wall for a lumber rack, then hide crap behind it.
Seriously.

[Alan Lightstone]

Any good ideas on how to store miter gauges?

[Sean Nagle]

Any good ideas on how to store miter gauges?

Here's how I store my Incra Miter 1000HD with its auxiliary fence attached. It's easy to put to use and easy to store away. The miter bar sits in a dado and arms cradle the fence. I also cut a slot to hold the adjustment hex driver so I don't have to look for it elsewhere (there are a couple rare-earth magnets inset behind the slot to hold the driver in place).

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[glenn bradley]

Any good ideas on how to store miter gauges?

Pullout panel / Fence rail support.

[Alan Lightstone]

Perfect. One of the things I have to store is an Incra Miter 1000HD.

[Alan Lightstone]

OK. Bumping my own thread.

I finally got around to installing an overhead hoist to lift up my Table Saw sled.

It's a Woodhaven Large Cut-Off Sled. A very nice sled, but it's about 60 lbs of dead weight. Always gets my attention dragging across my workshop, plus it takes up a ton of space.

I've been wanting to come up with a way to store it from the ceiling, but get it readily accessible when I need it. I thought of using one of those inexpensive HF electric hoists. I finally got around to installing it.

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I still have lots of other jigs, and no wall space left, and pretty well no ceiling space left either.

Still, at least I can drop this down to the table saw without hurting my back, and lift it out of the way when I don't need it.

[Roger Rayburn]

My garage has an 11 foot ceiling. I built a rack that looks like a ladderer except the rungs are 2 foot long 1 1/4 inch dowels and they are only spaced about 6 inches apart. I hung it from the ceiling. I built a jig to bend hooks to fit over the rungs and that have a leg to poke through a hole in the jig. It all fits above the garage door. When the door is open the rack is pretty well concealed. If my wife ever looks up when the door is closed, I'm going to have to find alternate storage.

[Ole Anderson]

OK. Bumping my own thread.

I finally got around to installing an overhead hoist to lift up my Table Saw sled.

It's a Woodhaven Large Cut-Off Sled. A very nice sled, but it's about 60 lbs of dead weight. Always gets my attention dragging across my workshop, plus it takes up a ton of space.

I've been wanting to come up with a way to store it from the ceiling, but get it readily accessible when I need it. I thought of using one of those inexpensive HF electric hoists. I finally got around to installing it.

263637263638

I still have lots of other jigs, and no wall space left, and pretty well no ceiling space left either.

Still, at least I can drop this down to the table saw without hurting my back, and lift it out of the way when I don't need it.

Wow, that is a sled and a half, requiring a hoist to position it. Cool. I really wish I had room and money for a TS dedicated to my main sled so I didn't have to lug it on and off.

[Alan Lightstone]

Yeah. between the extruded aluminum and 3/4" MDF it weighs a ton. Makes my homemade dado sled look like a joke in comparison.

OK, so I've taken care of Moby Dick. Now just need to find spots for the other jigs.

[Paul Wunder]

Sean...nice idea and execution. I will adopt it for my shop

[Rick Potter]

So, where do you store your fence while using that humongous sled:eek:?

I store my UniFence on a full length shelf that's about 6" below the top of my outfeed table. It is inserted from the end. Trying to hang it on either side of my saw interfered with other things.

The crosscut fence for my Jessem slider fits in a holder on the back side of the Unisaw. This works because the top of the out feed table extends 8" or so beyond its base, which is on wheels.

Any other fence storage ideas?

Rick Potter

[Alan Lightstone]

Right now, my fence gets stored on the floor when using the crosscut sled.

I have built-in infeed and outfeed tables on my table saw, so I don't have the ability to store the sled in the saw cabinet itself.

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This is a picture of it extended. The blocks with the roller balls get removed, but the sliding mechanism would get in the way of fence storage. And the right side is taken up by the router table, and the left side is inaccessible. So I'll entertain any good idea for that too.