Tool Storage (2023 Update)

[J. Clarke]

Those look handy. Do you make them or buy them? And if buy, where?

[krw]

All of a manufacturer's cases look alike. Most only invest in line of cordless tools, all the cases look alike. Writing on them will work, I guess, but as you say, the blow-mold cases are junk. The tool bags aren't much better. They're really only big enough for the tool and battery, too.

Right, a place for everything and everything in its place. I'm just wondering how others make their place(s).

[krw]

Wrenches work. I'd rather have chisels separated more and where they're visible. I saw an interesting holder where they were stored pointy end up. The handles were in a cup made with a forstner bit and the blade stuck to a rare-earth magnet. Interesting but I dunno.

I keep my bits in the index box they come in. I want to know the expensive bits from the expendables (throw-aways). There are a lot of drill accessories that aren't so small.

Yeah but the first step is how to store them. The main problem with pegboard is the hooks falling off the board when hanging the tool. My plan was the Wall Control boards but the matching, proprietary, hooks are quite expensive. THey'll take standard hooks but the boards are thin (steel) and it seems it would make the falling hook problem worse.

I have nothing against cletes. I plan to hang the wall cabinets on cletes but a wall of them, floor to ceiling to hang individual tools?

IME, tools always spill out of the top of the rolls.

Been there and, in reality, that's my motivation now. I'm now retired (official yesterday) so have some time. ;-)

I have the space but not necessarily enough where I want it.

Exactly. I have cabinets with drawers full of tools but woodworking tools are mixed in (separate drawers) with construction and even concrete chisels and such.

;-)

[Leon]

Ah! Kaizen foam another waste of space, IMHO. It's like peg board in a drawer. ;~)

This is no issue with tools that actually touch each other, they always do when you are using them.

[krw]

The advantage is that you can easily see when tool has gone walkabout, hopefully before it's needed.

As you said, anything below the first layer (of tools) is lost. ;-)

You wouldn't want anything with an edge touching anything hard. That includes rules.

In the same vein, have you looked at the FastCap guide-rail mounting brackets? I thought they were a really good idea but on closer inspection, the rails are stored on their business edge.

Instead, I was thinking about a couple of rabbeted 2xs, the upper with a deeper rabbet. Store on the back edge. To remove, lift and pull. The 2xs would protect the rails from being bumped.

[Leon]

Yeah well, did you see the post where I mentioned that my shop did not resemble a museum? If I was a metal worker and working with extreme tolerances unlike wood working I would be more careful. My rules, Bridge City, are stacked on top of each other on a magnetic bar. The rare case where I store them outside a drawer. No issues in 20+ years.

Yes I saw those when they first came out. It seems a lot, well most of the FastCap products are for those that don't think ahead as to how some of the products work. I don't even like their fancy glue bottles. I had them, the big and small, and ended up tossing them.

I simply hang mine by the holes on the ends. I think that is what the holes are for. ;~)

[Leon]

So going back to the FastCap hangers. Mount them with the round spinning closure on bottom. Slide the track rubber edge up into the opposite captured end and set it on the flat of the other end and spin the round keeper.

[krw]

Too easy. I wanted to protect the tracks from damage. My bench is on wheels...

[krw]

But then it drops down when the wheel turns, instead of sitting on the hook until you can get the other end unloosed. It would have been trivial to make them right, with a wider hook for the back side of the rail.

They can be used vertically (and I might do that) but I have a 108" rail that will be a bit of problem. It would fit between the joists which is where it is now but in its box.

[krw]

I'm not so worried about accuracy, rather nicks in the edge. I have both the aluminum and stainless Woodpeckers rules. I didn't really like the aluminum rules so bought the stainless ones when they came out. Magnets aren't a useful solution.

When you say they're stacked on top of each other, magnets between or a rare-earth magnet then the rules stacked on it?

[Bob La Londe]

I have about 50 (48 maybe?) feet of pegboard down the back wall of my shop. It was easy at first. They perfectly spanned the horizontal purlins, and where above work bench height. I have another 24 feet of pegboard on the back of a tall shelf unit, and another 22 feet along another wall. At first all that pegboard was awesome. For the first several years I kept things organized with space in between, but now I have a hard time finding things on the pegboard. Its mostly full and in some area I have to take off three things to get to the thing I need. I think shelves with pins might have been better for most of it.

My goal now is to build a single monolithic steel top work bench 55 ish feet long down the back wall of my shop with floor top drawers and get all the tools off the pegboards.. I also want to get all my tool out of the three large rollaway tool boxes that are always in the way on the shop floor. I'll keep a couple tool carts to put tools on when I am working on something away from the bench, and then roll the cart back to the bench when I am done.

I'll get rid of the piece meal of work benchs and tables in the back shop. One or two steel top benched will go outside, and the others will go to new homes.

[Leon]

I never use the rules to draw lines so much as measure. If they get nicked, no problem. I seldom draw lines at all except short ones to mark cut or drill locations.

I use this.

This is on the side of my tall stack of drawers with the fan on top. I have this screwed to the side of the unit with 6 or so SS rules and my Wera screwdrivers. Then my work bench is stored away, next to the drawer unit, it is a tight spot to reach to get the rules, in or out. So they often get stacked on top of each other.

[Leon]

Not necessarily. Simply hold it in place until you get to the other end and and unlock the dial.

[Brian Welch]

Just picked up a pair of these magnets for a project...I do not recommend allowing 2 of them to meet "face-to-face" outside of their plastic cages... DAMHIK... As far as tool storage, I picked up a 4' long 4 drawer lateral filing cabinet and put casters on the bottom...Drawers are deep enough to cause some integration of contents, but also allow for some bigger items...Price sure was right on CL...

[Clare Snyder]

I've got one of those old "laterals" as well - holds my circular saws and routers out of the way when I don't need them.

[krw]

SS rules? Magnet? I should try my Woodpeckers.

[krw]

You sound like me. More tools than SWMBO wishes, anyway.

Monolithic? As in one sheet of steel?

I'm giving stuff away, as well. I gave my Craftsman RAS and 6" jointer to a friend. He cleaned up the jointer and it looks better than new. He probably hasn't done anything with the RAS yet but I'm rid of it.

[pyotr filipivich]

[e-mail] on Sun, 02 Jan 2022 15:40:30 -0500 typed in rec.woodworking the following:

I go to Harbor Freight and buy Yet Another One.

It is probably as idiosyncratic a discussion as anything. What do you do most, where do you do it, have you the wall space / storage space to have every tool where you can reach it with out having to move anything. Like I said, I'm trying to cram into an 8 by 3 area. Can't nail to the wall, its a rental.

[Bob La Londe]

*** I was a contractor for 23 years and I have a lot of stuff left from that I never use now. Hate to get rd of it because everybody wants something for nothing. Costs me more in time than the average Internet sleuth will pay for it. When I quit contracting I threw tens of thousands of dollars worth of electronics in the dumpster just to get it out of my shop because it was cheaper to throw it away than to give it away. People want you to work way to hard to sell them something at a huge discount. Even free is a pain in the ass. Half the time somebody says they want something and then asks you to hold/store it for them. Assholes. I wanted it the hell out of my shop. Not to be obligated to some freeloader for the rest of my life. Anyway, I have tools (and materials) for lots of different stuff. Now I am a machinist, part time fabricator, and once in a great while hobby wood worker.

*** Welded and ground every 8 feet. I am considering making it in 8 foot sections that slide and pin together, but I really like the one top idea. One top will gain me a full bank of drawers over its length. Sectional will make it easier to sell when my wife pulls by dead carcass out of a machine.

*** I've got a Delta RAS nobody seems to want for more than my time to deal with them. Every time I'm about ready to scrap it out for parts just to get it out of my way though I wind up using it for something. Its hardly got any time on it. Only reason I have worn out any blades is because it sometimes got used to cut aluminum bar stock. Not so much now that I have a couple horizontal band saws to do that.

[John Grossbohlin]

I've been giving tools and books to my son to get him started... See alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking for a photo of the last batch of hand tools. In all cases they were duplicates for me but in fine serviceable condition.

As I upgraded (mostly to L-N) I retained the old stuff and recently decided I don't want to be the museum business. Some of those tools were my great grandfather's and my friend's grandfather's.... both were contractors/carpenters in the early 20th century. I'd rather the tools be put to use and my friend's father John told me the same thing when he gave me his and his father's hand tools shortly before he died.

I gave my son a bunch of books also. Of course if he is looking for more information on a topic he can borrow from me -- I have a sizable woodworking library -- or I can teach him. My other son is in home renovation mode so his tool needs are different at this time. They have my Jet contractor's saw and my brother's dust collector and thickness planer and the use of my shop if they need it.