Can you show me your tool storage? Tool chests? Wall Cabinets?

[Matt Lau]

I was looking at my Takeo Nakano kanna sitting inside a husky carryall that I got from a friend.
While I don't have a Stan-quality collection (or a quarter of his skills), I feel like I'm insulting my tools.
As part of my reorganizing my workshop (and building my own furniture), I'd really like to make a good home for my tools.

Can you guys share your tool storage, and comment on what works for you (as well as what you'd change)?

Currently, I'm using systainers...but they don't feel right.

[ken hatch]

Matt,

I use a combination of all of the above, tool cabinets open and closed, rolling tool chest, and chisel and saw tills.

A photo of the behind the main bench storage with a open cabinet, chisel and saw tills, and a tool chest:

benchToolStorage171213dscf2254.jpg

One more of one of the closed cabinets:

extraToolStorageLeftSide171213dscf2260.jpg

There is more but you should get the ideal.

ken

[Phil Mueller]

Matt, here’s my very small shop set up. What I use the most is hanging on the wall, second most used tools are in the drawers and cabinets, and now and then tools are behind the closed door on shelves or containers.

Attachment 382944 Attachment 382945

On the other hand, you could do something like this one I found on the net

Attachment 382946

[Chris Parks]

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=w...w=1326&bih=669

[brian zawatsky]

I have considerable work to do in this area still, but a beginning was made when I built a new bench. Included was a cabinet with 5 drawers that house my most often used hand tools. I am going to add dividers in the shallow drawers to make a small compartment for each chisel to keep them from rolling around.

IMG_1495.jpg

[Mark Gibney]

Ken, is that footwear OSHA approved?

[steven c newman]

I have a bunch of tils in the shop. There is also a 5 drawer chest of drawers to hold a lot of extras. I built a two drawer cabinet, with a long top shelf for under the bench, it holds all the "extra" chisels. There is a rack along the back edge of the bench, to hold the user chisels and other pointy things. Still have a few items hanging from the ceiling joists. If you want, I could post a tour of the shop....again.

ps: Am currently rebuilding a til for the brace drills...will post something, when it is done.

[Bill Houghton]

Combination of cubbyholes under the bench, nails on the walls, and mechanic's rollaways and top chests.

[Andrew Seemann]

Hi Matt,

My hand tools are in wall cabinets for ease of access and to keep them out of harms way when the Cub Scouts are in the shop. Other tools are stored in drawers and cabinets.

My main goal for organizing tools is ready access while working with minimal steps from where I typically use the tool, keeping the tool out of harms way for both the tool and me (I have a particular dislike of exposed blades, especially chisel blades), and ease of returning the tool back home since I dislike working in a messy shop.

Pic of the main tool cabinet. The end of the Frid bench is under the left door when the cabinet is open, putting chisels and planes within arms reach. Smoothing planes, chisels, and block planes tend to be used the most at the Frid bench, so they are designed to be the most accessible. I do most of my layout on the assembly bench, so the main layout tools are in a drawer there with less commonly used ones (and more expensive ones) in this cabinet.
Main Cabinet.jpg

Detail of left side:
Main left.jpg

Detail of center right:
Main Center.jpg

Detail of right side:
Main right.jpg

Plane cabinet. The plane cabinet started out as the main tool cabinet, but it ended up too small and got repurposed for less used planes. It is about 2 steps away from the Frid bench, and has less commonly used (by me) planes.
Plane Cabinet.jpg

[ken hatch]

Matt, here’s my very small shop set up. What I use the most is hanging on the wall, second most used tools are in the drawers and cabinets, and now and then tools are behind the closed door on shelves or containers.

Attachment 382944 Attachment 382945

On the other hand, you could do something like this one I found on the net

Attachment 382946

Phil,

Links did noit work.

ken

[ken hatch]

Hi Matt,

My hand tools are in wall cabinets for ease of access and to keep them out of harms way when the Cub Scouts are in the shop. Other tools are stored in drawers and cabinets.

My main goal for organizing tools is ready access while working with minimal steps from where I typically use the tool, keeping the tool out of harms way for both the tool and me (I have a particular dislike of exposed blades, especially chisel blades), and ease of returning the tool back home since I dislike working in a messy shop.

Pic of the main tool cabinet. The end of the Frid bench is under the left door when the cabinet is open, putting chisels and planes within arms reach. Smoothing planes, chisels, and block planes tend to be used the most at the Frid bench, so they are designed to be the most accessible. I do most of my layout on the assembly bench, so the main layout tools are in a drawer there with less commonly used ones (and more expensive ones) in this cabinet.


Detail of left side:


Detail of center right:


Detail of right side:


Plane cabinet. The plane cabinet started out as the main tool cabinet, but it ended up too small and got repurposed for less used planes. It is about 2 steps away from the Frid bench, and has less commonly used (by me) planes.

Andrew,

Way too neat, I'd never get anything done .

ken

[Phil Mueller]

Thanks Ken. Don’t know the issue. Haven’t had a problem posting pictures in the past. I tried to edit, but all I could do was add thumbnails.

[Hasin Haroon]

Hey Matt,

Here's mine. I have most of my tools on a tool wall, my regular user planes in a till, and a few vintage stanley planes above the till. The joinery planes are all in a small case. I recently built a sharpening bench where I keep all my stones etc.

I tried going the tool chest route but found I always reached for the tools that were readily available outside the chest, and also disliked bending over everytime I wanted to retrieve or put away a tool (and I'm not even 30...)

So as for your question about what works and what doesn't - I like to keep everything within a single degree of separation, so every tool has it's own space that it does not share with any other, is easily accessible without bending, and does not require me to move anything out of the way to access. These are my tool storage principles that I find work best for me. I still keep the chest to store stuff in if I'm leaving for a while. I live in a very dry, cold climate, so rust isn't a big concern in my basement shop.


20170715_112814.jpg20170702_211211.jpg27671D3B-575A-43DA-851A-6A25EF325B7E.jpg IMG_0211x.jpgIMG_0908x.jpgIMG_0212x.jpgIMG_0217x.jpg

[Andrew Seemann]

I'm with Hasin on accessibility. I started out going down the Studley path but very quickly realized I didn't have the patience for all the flips and trips and slides. Anything more than a peg, a slot, a hole, or a turn button just irritated me every time I used it and even more when I went back to return the tool.

[Todd Zucker]

I built a hanging tool cabinet based on the Mike Pekovich plans when I was starting to use hand tools. It is a good size and depth.

IMG_1970.jpg

I originally had the bench under the cabinet but about 2 feet away from the wall. Every time I needed a tool, I would squeeze behind the bench to get it.

I then saw a Christopher Schwarz blog post suggesting putting the bench next to the wall for a couple of months to see how that setup works. I moved it so the rear edge of the bench is underneath the cabinet, overlapping by a few inches. It works much better, as I can now just reach across the bench for any of the hand tools, and if I drop something it will hit the bench rather than the floor (or my foot). The base of the tool cabinet is about a foot above the bench, which feels about right, although it could be even lower.

I am still trying to figure out what to do about hanging the saws, i.e., a rack with pegs vs. a horizontal shelf vs. a saw till.

I keep some other small tools in the drawers on the tall rolling cart, and it is built to hold systainer drawers so I can change it around if need be. Drives me a little crazy because the tool cabinet is hung level but the garage floor is sloped, so the tall cabinet always looks tilted.

You said you have systainers, so you might have a Festool CT. For screwdrivers and hammers and stuff that I use frequently away from the workbench, I built a shelf thing that "hugs" a large systainer sitting on top of the dust extractor.

IMG_1190 (2).jpg

It lifts off when I need to change the bag. It looks strange, but it is nice having a tool rack that moves wherever I need it to be. It is not "tippy" at all, and I might re-do it at some point to provide more tool storage.