Show Us Your Hand Tool Organizers

[Sean Hughto]

While I worked wood in apartments before having a house, it was pretty crude and unsophisticated stuff to meet needs with a corded drill and jigsaw and not much else. When I got a house in the mid-nineties, I set up a shop in a small dank corner of the basement and still had no room for power tools, except a portable benchtop table saw (crap mini-fence) that I would lug up narrow stairs to the backyard to use. It was then that I started learning about handtools in earnest as I had no room to work any other way. About ten years ago when we renovated our small house, I was able to add a basement shop under the new space - about 20x20. I still don't have very fancy stationary/power tools (contractors table saw PM 64A, PM 14" bandsaw with riser, Makita 12" lunchbox planer, Makita SCMS, Rigid drill press, Jet dust collector), but they are more than enough for my needs. I added a Jet 1642 lathe a few years back, and the rest are hand tools. I build storage and shop organizing stuff between projects - maybe every 6 months. Funny thing is, I always need more! With wood, and all sorts of other stuff living there, my shop is getting pretty cramped and messy these days. I need to sell some extra stuff!

[Joe Tilson]

We seem to follow the same route as woodworkers. My grandfather was a carpenter of the highest order and made just about anything. I got my first real taste as frosh in high school. Made a few things in the yard of apartments we rented, and in a shop of sorts in the maintenance room of one place we lived in. We got our house in the seventies and had a 10'x10' metal building to work out of. It's the home of three lawn mowers and a tiller now along with some stuff. Finally did build a 12'x20' shop back in 1998. We have a lot of power tools, but have decided to go back to hand tools. We will be selling off the power tools not needed along with some of the rust hunt tools not needed(I know we will need them once sold). Starting over with hand tools has been fun for me, my wife says it's costing to much, and why haven't I sold the electric tools yet? I tell her I will when we find some more right tools needed to do the job. Like you I will get around to selling the extra stuff. Good Luck,
Joe

[Mike Allen1010]

I have really enjoyed the shop and hand tool organizer pictures. Thanks to all who share their shop pictures, they have all brought a big smile to my face.

Here's a couple pictures of my single car garage size shop.
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FWIW- The most important thing I've learned in moving through three previous shops is pegboard! I like to have all my tools available in easy reach, without having to open the door so I take advantage of as much wall space as possible. I've organized my saws and planes into the tills/rack you see here. Given the inevitability that your collection of hand tools will absolutely grow beyond the space are currently planning, the pegboard lets me move the tills and racks around so I don't have to confront the fact I have a horrible tool problem!
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The tool cabinet is on rollers and was my first piece of shop furniture. I keep chisels and small carving tools etc. in the drawer so I can bring the whole drawer to the workbench when needed. The inlaid box below holds molding planes. You can't see them behind the open doors of the tool cabinet, but hanging on the outside of the cabinet are shop built bow saws, which candidly I don't use much these days.
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The 8' foot, Maple Ruebo bench is the center of the shop – I built it several years ago which allowed me to put my original 30-year-old bench inthe corner for finishing, metalworking assembly etc.

Directly adjacent is the saw bench with a light clamped directly overhead – which is been a big timesaver/accuracy enhancer for me.


All the best, Mike

[Doug Hobkirk]

I have really enjoyed the shop and hand tool organizer pictures. Thanks to all who share their shop pictures, they have all brought a big smile to my face.

Here's a couple pictures of my single car garage size shop...
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...All the best, Mike

Mostly I lurk in this haven. Some of you guys stun me. Like this picture. In the part of the saw rack that's shown, I counted about
75 HAND SAWS!
My jaw is agape, my mind areel.

Oh, and thanks, Mike and others, for your pictures. I agree that it's been a delight.

[Moses Yoder]

Why isn't there a like button on web forums? Take a lesson from Facebook, ya'know.

[Mike Allen1010]

[QUOTE=Doug Hobkirk;2259761]Mostly I lurk in this haven. Some of you guys stun me. Like this picture. In the part of the saw rack that's shown, I counted about
75 HAND SAWS!
My jaw is agape, my mind areel.

Doug, it's called a "bad saw problem" for a reason.

In my defence the backsaws are shop built and I don't have a table saw...., on second thought ... ah never mind, not sure that really helps my case ...

Best, Mike

[steven c newman]

I thought that after 15 saws, I was getting too many, SHEESH! Five in the tool chest, the rest hanging from hooks in the ceiling joists. That doesn't include three hacksaws, or three coping saws, or two Dovetail saws.....

Think I might have this ....under control??

[Alex Zimmer]

Hi Matthew,

What's the woodie behind what looks like a beautiful LN? It [the woodie] has a really comfortable, stable look to it. Shop-made?

[Lenore Epstein]

I subscribe to the Zero-Rummage-Factor school of tool storage. Everything is spread out in a thin layer on the walls, within easy reach. This makes grabbing the right tool easy, so I am more likely to use the correct tool for the job instead of whatever comes to hand. More importantly, it make putting the tools away much easier.
Darrell

This is what I do with every other collection of stuff I have, from ski or camping gear to kitchen equipment. The closer I am to being able to quickly put my hand on a tool or put it away without looking, the more likely it is that I'll get anything done. But with most of my tools and supplies crammed into or on top of or in front of a small set of bookshelves, my need for some semblance of organized storage has become urgent, while I lack the time and energy to build my long-planned wall cabinet with hinged 'leaves' (much like the one Zuye Zheng posted in his chisel cabinet thread). The situation is bad enough that I've decided to hang the 2' x 4' piece of 1/4" pegboard that's been sitting in a corner in the next few days. It's a crude and temporary fix, but the tools which can be hung will be easily accessible, and everything else can be sorted and organized on the bookshelves, which'll be a huge improvement on the trash-midden approach to tool storage.

It hasn't occurred to me to "organize" them all.
jtk

Jim, your system might not be as exquisite as some, but everything is visible and easily accessible, and every tool has a home it can be effortlessly returned to. All the nice carefully-designed cabinetry is wonderful, but your setup looks completely functional.

[Jim Koepke]

[clipped for brevity]
Jim, your system might not be as exquisite as some, but everything is visible and easily accessible, and every tool has a home it can be effortlessly returned to. All the nice carefully-designed cabinetry is wonderful, but your setup looks completely functional.

It is functional and everything has a home.

It has changed a bit since that picture was taken. A shelf was added under the shelf of molding planes to accommodate the purchase of a bunch more molding planes. If you look at the different shelves you can see what has been added over the years.

My chisels have different handles so they can be found either in the drawer or box in which they are stored.

I keep thinking of making a better storage cabinet so it can have Golden rod heat tubes to combat the problem with humidity we have here in the Pacific Northwest.

I also like the hinged storage Zuye Zheng posted.

The Studley tool box is one I would like to emulate. The only problem with many tool storage designs is they seem to be for a minimalist's tool set. The last time I counted I had more than 50 metal planes. I am likely pretty close to that with wooden planes. It is likely there are more chisels and gouges than planes in my shop. Maybe it is time to cut back and thin out the tools.

No, just have to figure a way to store more in the same space.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Lenore

While planes and saws and chisels are stored in cabinets, the tools most used (especially marking tools, knives, squares, etc) hang on the wall behind the bench where they are close enough to reach for.

There is also wall-hung tool trays for planes, saws and chisels in current use.





Regards from Perth

Derek

[Lenore Epstein]

There are two sets of tools that are always eminently reachable: the favorites (big tape rule, favorite screwdrivers, box cutter, pliers, old 16 oz hammer, etc) that have lived in my orange plastic toolbox for 30 years, and my rules, squares, straight edges, levels, and saws, which hang tidily from nails on a handy little patch of wall within a few feet of my work table.

Is that a slot that runs the length of the rack attached to the wall that's nearest the camera, or is there more going on between those boards?

[Lenore Epstein]

Oh, lord, how embarrassing: I'm guilty of resurrecting a zombie thread! My apologies to those who're bugged by this sort of thing.

[Derek Cohen]

There are two sets of tools that are always eminently reachable: the favorites (big tape rule, favorite screwdrivers, box cutter, pliers, old 16 oz hammer, etc) that have lived in my orange plastic toolbox for 30 years, and my rules, squares, straight edges, levels, and saws, which hang tidily from nails on a handy little patch of wall within a few feet of my work table.

Is that a slot that runs the length of the rack attached to the wall that's nearest the camera, or is there more going on between those boards?

Hi Lenore

I think that most are interested in tool storage. In my case I am interested in how it adds to the efficiency of building furniture.

The above photo is a couple of years old. The space behind "slot" behind the rack holds a cooper's jointer.



The slot is usually filled with chisels and marking gauges. It is possible to place 4 set marking gauges out of harms way, but within reach. Immensely useful.

Here is a more recent shot of the bench and racks ... levelling a wide and long rough sawn board ...





Regards from Perth

Derek

[Lenore Epstein]

Thanks, Derek. Looks most useful. There are things that store tools and (hopefully) make them easy to find and put away, and things that contribute to their use, and your narrow tray and chisel/gage/whatever holder are nice examples of the latter.