Shop Fixtures and Furniture

[ken hatch]

Ken, thanks for this thread, good opportunity to see ideas about how people organize their shop/tools which is something I always find interesting.

Like most of us I’m guessing, I’ve had many shop spaces over the years and based on trial and error have some preferences. For context I should say my current shop is roughly equivalent of a single car garage size and only stationary power tools I need to accommodate are a bandsaw and drill press.

Guiding principles for me our flexibility and keep tools as visible as possible. for those reasons I’m not a fan of kitchen style cabinets with doors or drawers – two easy to forget what’s in there. I have lots of white pegboard on the walls (good for visibility) with layout tools and open tills for planes and saws prominently featured. I also have tall, sample shaker style bookshelves for glue, finishings, power drills etc. things that don’t get used as often.

For a small tools that can be organizing drawers like chisels, carving tools etc. I have a rolling tool cabinet ( shelves on top and three banks of drawers on the bottom“, frankly doesn’t really get moved that often but when needed easy to bring drawer with chisels to bench.

My most recent tool storage option is a Chris Swarz “Anarchist tool chest” on rollers. I was lukewarm at first but now I really like it - not so much for day-to-day storage of frequently used tools, as I said I like tills/wall hangings for those,. The chest easy to move around, can use the top as a storage surface for work in process and Big sliding trays where you can keep joinery planes with lots of blades/accessories, like routers, plow planes etc. and keep all the components in one contained space.

I’ll try and post some pictures when I get a chance and look forward to seeing how other meanders organize tools storage in their shots. Ken thanks for the thread. Good luck with shop renovation.

Cheers, Mike

Mike,

Other than being disorganized I need to find some way to control dust or at least keep most of it off my tools. Of course the big problem is too many tools. I keep talking about getting down to a basic working set and then turn around and buy a new box of 10 chisels. I've a C.S. chest and the other day I noticed all the tools were covered in dust (the proximate cause of this post), of course the reason for that is I never close the lid. Go figure.

ken

[ken hatch]

Guys,

Thanks for the ideas and the photos. The thought of taking all the Jerry-rigged cabinets, boxes, tills and shelf's off the wall, replacing with something better and at the same time find someplace to keep the tools where I can use them is pretty overwhelming.

I'm not sure how to do it but I know it needs to be done.

ken

[Josh Robinson]

9493AEB2-F62B-4322-ABD7-FCA61122719D.jpg
A version of Norms workshop hutch the original design had drawers all the way across but I left the middle open for a pancake compressor. Has a good balance between deep and shallow full extension drawers and open cabinet area which I suppose you could fit with solid or glass doors. The upper section is designed with fully customizable dividers which I regretfully didn’t fully implement. It’s not nearly as elegant as some (Derek) but very basic, flexible and functional storage and holds a ton of tools.

[Derek Cohen]

Here are a few more items from my workshop for ideas for the space-limited ...

The first photo dates from over two decades ago. I re-purposed old kitchen units (topped with ply banded and with hardwood) and added a fold down top (with legs) ...





Well ... it looked clean and tidy 25 years ago. Now it is more like this ...



The sharpening station recently had a face lift from ...



... to ...



Those steel cabinets are where I keep all my glues, dyes, and finishes.

When I built my current bench (about 7 years ago), I did not add a tool tray to the bench. Instead I built one onto the wall behind the bench. This can carry all the tools currently being used, from marking to planing, etc. See this in the background here ...



There are fixtures within fixtures! Below is a cabinet from my first post. It houses spokeshaves, drawerknives and others similar items on one side, and rebate planes, and speciality planes on the other ...



I built a drawer for router planes ...





I ran out of space for lathe chisels, and so built slide out holders alongside a cabinet I made for storing sandpaper, dominos, biscuits, and other less-used items ..



Racks on both sides of the cabinet ...



Don't ignore the ceiling. I have hooks, which are really useful. These are positioned above and hold hoses for routers or fences for the tablesaw ...



I thought that I lost my pin board (where I keep work drawings), which was on the back of the door) when I replaced the old solid rear door with a new half-glass door (for extra light). There was space below ...




Hope this provides some ideas for you ..

Regards from Munich

Derek

[Josh Robinson]

Derek, where is your miter box and saw from?

[David Eisenhauer]

Derek's Dreadnaught sails again!!!!!

[Derek Cohen]

Derek, where is your miter box and saw from?

Josh, it is a Miller's Falls #15 1/2, which looked like this when I bought it ...



I rebuilt the mitre box completely, and then built the saw. This was the result ..



The article is here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRes...oxRebuild.html

Regards from Munich

Derek

[jeff norris 2011]

I think it is important to decide - philosophically - your approach to your shop fixtures. Are you building them to be functional? Functional and beautiful? A way to show of your skills? a chance to acquire new skills? spare no expense? show creative you can be on a budget? Do you want everything unified (wood type style etc)?

[ken hatch]

I guess I should show what I'm dealing with. We brought this house 10 years ago, it is a 1970 track house setting on a beautiful piece of land. In hindsight it should have been a tear-down but instead I pulled my tools out of storage (where they had been for ~10 years while I tried to keep beans and tortillas on the table) and started beavering away. Bottom line, lots of new tools were added with little time to think or do much to store them. Quick and dirty was the order of the day. The house is finished, as much as a house is ever finished, and it is time to tend to my shop.

Starting with what I call the "tool room". It is a general junk room and where I keep saw stuff and grinders:

toolRoom.jpg

The west wall, little used chisels and planes, chair stuff, and other junk:

westWall.jpg

The north wall is behind the main workbench and has most of the day to day tools:

northWall.jpg

The east wall is where the sharpening stuff is kept, more little used chisels and planes, and the main clamp rack:

eastWall.jpg

It was all done on the fly with little time or thought, "that looks about right, nail that sucker".

ken

[ken hatch]

I think it is important to decide - philosophically - your approach to your shop fixtures. Are you building them to be functional? Functional and beautiful? A way to show of your skills? a chance to acquire new skills? spare no expense? show creative you can be on a budget? Do you want everything unified (wood type style etc)?

Jeff,

All good advice if you have the time to think about it , but like I expect most shops mine was put together on the fly. I suspect even on the re-build there will be a lot of quick and dirty, less than the first time but still some.

ken

[Phil Mueller]

You know the problem with reorganization is that after it’s done you can’t remember where anything is . Probably obvious, but I’d start with deciding what tools/supplies go together and what wall makes most sense for those groupings of things. I’m an experienced procrastinator, and most self-help books in that area highly suggest breaking things down into smaller manageable pieces...like take one wall at a time sort of thing.

The other thing that you have to accept, is that it’s gonna be a bigger mess until it’s done. If you have the time, would love to follow along to see what you come up with.

[Josh Robinson]

Ken, ever watched “Marie Kondo” lol. Half joking half serious....google her.

[ken hatch]

You know the problem with reorganization is that after it’s done you can’t remember where anything is . Probably obvious, but I’d start with deciding what tools/supplies go together and what wall makes most sense for those groupings of things. I’m an experienced procrastinator, and most self-help books in that area highly suggest breaking things down into smaller manageable pieces...like take one wall at a time sort of thing.

The other thing that you have to accept, is that it’s gonna be a bigger mess until it’s done. If you have the time, would love to follow along to see what you come up with.

Phil,

1+ procrastinator, drives MsBubba nuts. I expect I will start on the north wall and by the time it is finished, if ever, I will be sick of the project and find some way to put finishing off .

ken

[ken hatch]

Ken, ever watched “Marie Kondo” lol. Half joking half serious....google her.

Josh,

MsBubba would love it, at least for my stuff.

Thanks for the heads up.

ken

[mike stenson]

Phil,

1+ procrastinator, drives MsBubba nuts. I expect I will start on the north wall and by the time it is finished, if ever, I will be sick of the project and find some way to put finishing off .

ken

I love having to move things around to do something. Well, not really, but that's where I am now. Nothing makes it easier to procrastinate