Dennis McCullen
01-17-2018, 5:32 PM
It's a frigid day in SE Louisiana as it is in much of the nation so I spent a little shop time putting things away from the last couple of projects, a firewood rack, some zero clearance inserts for my Ridgid table saw, and a couple of Christmas gift cutting boards. One of my benches had 10" saw blades and their plastic packages spread over it and I've wanted to organize those a little better for some time. They market those to hang on peg hooks so the packaging is taller than a file cabinet drawer and that usually means laying them flat in a drawer for storage.
I came up with a quick solution that was necessary as one of the blade plastic packages had become brittle and broke up when I opened it to retrieve the blade. This is not more than a 45 minute project if you have some corrugated cardboard boxes to choose from. A sharp utility knife, pencil, and a straight edge were all the tools needed.
Picture 1) I first chose a box wide enough to accept the 10" blades and taped the box shut. This box was 5" deep so it can accept several sawblades (and dividers) stored on edge and yet the 5" depth still allows the box to stand upright with a half dozen blades in it. I cut the box taller in the rear than the front and actually made two storage boxes out of the original closed carton. I wanted to store these blades on edge in a file cabinet drawer that is just 10.5" deep so the box itself cannot be taller than the 10" sawblades it holds. I did put an extra layer of cardboard in the bottom of the box for cushioning.
Picture 2) I made dividers out of cardboard to keep blades separate and protect the teeth.
Picture 3) When making the dividers, I thought about cutout file folders so I cut the tabs for labeling in different locations for easy blade I.D.
Picture 4) After wiping each blade with a fresh coat of anti-corrosive spray, I put them in their assigned drawer. This simple solution will keep me from digging through a stack of flat-stored blades and give me quick access while saving space. The 5" deep box will hold many more blades than I own but that is the box that was here and it stands up on its own with a half dozen blades inside. Some time well spent, no sawdust wipe off, no power tools needed.
I came up with a quick solution that was necessary as one of the blade plastic packages had become brittle and broke up when I opened it to retrieve the blade. This is not more than a 45 minute project if you have some corrugated cardboard boxes to choose from. A sharp utility knife, pencil, and a straight edge were all the tools needed.
Picture 1) I first chose a box wide enough to accept the 10" blades and taped the box shut. This box was 5" deep so it can accept several sawblades (and dividers) stored on edge and yet the 5" depth still allows the box to stand upright with a half dozen blades in it. I cut the box taller in the rear than the front and actually made two storage boxes out of the original closed carton. I wanted to store these blades on edge in a file cabinet drawer that is just 10.5" deep so the box itself cannot be taller than the 10" sawblades it holds. I did put an extra layer of cardboard in the bottom of the box for cushioning.
Picture 2) I made dividers out of cardboard to keep blades separate and protect the teeth.
Picture 3) When making the dividers, I thought about cutout file folders so I cut the tabs for labeling in different locations for easy blade I.D.
Picture 4) After wiping each blade with a fresh coat of anti-corrosive spray, I put them in their assigned drawer. This simple solution will keep me from digging through a stack of flat-stored blades and give me quick access while saving space. The 5" deep box will hold many more blades than I own but that is the box that was here and it stands up on its own with a half dozen blades inside. Some time well spent, no sawdust wipe off, no power tools needed.