What does your tool wall look like?

[Joe Petersen]

I would like to see how you folks store your implements. I checked out a book a while back that I can't seem to find again. A book of shops. Anyway had some nice placement ideas. Can I see pictures of your tool walls be it peg-board or shelves or drawers for my own expansion.

Joe Pete

[Bart Leetch]

You can get lots on open shelves .

Also in a small shop things like plywood sometimes get set in front of them. If you have doors on them you not only have to lean the plywood out far enough to open the door but then you have to open the door. Yes small shops have their draw backs but they are way better than nothing.

Just one of my experiences in a 13 1/2' x 24 1/2' shop.

By the way how big is your shop?

[Jim Becker]

I don't have a wall usable for tool cabinetry...so I'm about to build a rolling tool cabinet to handle all my small, but growing, Neander tool assortment as well as other tooling for drilling, driving, etc. The mobility will be convenient and it will be height matched so that it can be useful for other tasks, too.

[Wiley Horne]

Joe,

Here's a link:

http://www.traditionaltools.us/cms/m...ch%2BApron.jpg

Wiley

[Mark Singer]

Joe,

Here's a link:

http://www.traditionaltools.us/cms/m...ch%2BApron.jpg

Wiley

Wow! Got tools! Got expensive tools!

[Ken Werner]

Wiley, there's got to be a story to go with that bench and tools.
Ken

[Bill Houghton]

I'm slowly putting up wall storage in some stud bays of my 11 foot square shop, but I have way more tools (blush) than would fit in the stud bays alone. I also maintain our house and cars, so I have auto mechanic, electrician, plumber, sheet metal, and general mechanical tools to store. I rely heavily on mechanic's lower and upper chests - four lower, two upper, plus a machinist's upper chest, and probably an additional machinist's upper chest in the offing, when I finish the current reorganization project. I will probably get around to taking pictures some time.

This part of the North Coast of California has relatively low humidity, so metal tools in metal drawers don't seem to lead to rust, though I do have drawer liners to reduce metal-to-metal contact. If you live in an area with high seasonal humidity, you might want to experiment before going this way (put one of your cheaper tools on some sort of metal thing, like a steel cookie sheet, and see what happens).

[Ron Brese]

All my tools are behind doors or in drawers. That way when clean up day comes around I don't have to touch every tool I own to clean up.

Ron

[Joe Petersen]

My shop is 19' x 8' x 12' high of usable space. I have been relegated to the slot next to the car. I too do many different types of work and like hand tools in a toolbox. I have found I like wood working tools where I can see them and get my hands to easy. I have built 2 workbenches and shelving above (which has been filled up of course) . I have filled most of the upper wall and I would like to utilize the space under the shelves - about 2 foot high. I have lots of black pegboard salvaged from Advance auto that would look nice I think but I don't like the normal metal inserts (from falling out).

I think the tool shaped forms are nice but am afraid of using up all my space ineffectively.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Feel free to steal any ideas you see. I stole most of mine.

Being a slob and having this problem of not putting things away when I'm through with them, I figured that an open tool wall where all I had to do was reach behind me while working at the bench was the way to go. I stand between the bench and the tool wall when working and everything is either within reach or only a maximum of 6 steps away. This means that replacing a tool is easy when I'm through with it and it is much more likely to happen. Before the tool wall, things piled up on the bench and on any flat surface within 10 feet-- things fell on the floor, edges got nicked, and it was sometimes difficult to remember where I put something. Now that is larges, though not completely, in the past.

[Wiley Horne]

Joe,

Here is something that has worked for me. Flat drawer space. You can make a lot of long skinny things disappear in shallow drawers--spare chisels and gouges; wrenches & pliers & hammers & screwdrivers; files and rasps and shaves; marking and drawing equipment; spare plane blades; knives; socket sets, etc etc.

After I built my bench with drawers underneath, I realized I was still seriously short of flat storage. I was working in a long narrow space, similar to yours. But I also needed a sharpening station (Dave Anderson's sharpening station reminded of that!). For the sharpening station, you need a flat place about waist high or so, maybe 1-1/2' to 2' deep and 2' to 3' wide plus or minus, and a coupla shallow drawers underneath. But then you have a whole bunch more room left underneath in that footprint for a half dozen more flat drawers--2" to 3-1/2" deep. So visualize a waist high cabinet with a working top, and a whole bunch of shallow drawers underneath, one on top of the other, and side by side if it's wide enough.

If this fits in your space, it would organize a lot of stuff.

Wiley

[Don Bullock]

Feel free to steal any ideas you see. I stole most of mine.

...

Dave, that's not a workshop. It's a hand tool museum. Wow, what a collection. Very nice and well organized.

[Roy Griggs]

My tool wall is a work in progress; as I aquire more tools and skills it is evolving...

If you want to see more, my shop tour is on my web page; under workshop...
roy

[Jerry Palmer]

Don't have a tool wall, as such, as my tools are spread across a couple walls. Here's a shot at the bench where I am almost able to keep most of the stuff I use regularly at hand.






An updated more frontal view:



Chisels are stored at the other bench so I have to walk a half dozen steps to pick out what I need.

Most of the saws are on another wall near my saw bench.



Here's the best pic I've got of the peg board wall (hey, it IS the classy white stuff) where other planes share space with a wild assortment of other stuff. It is to the right in the pic above and behind the lathe.

[Joe Petersen]

I appreciate all the pictures and am formulating ideas.

Jerry: How is your lumber storage angle iron anchored to the ceiling? My ceiling is a huge space alotment of unused space. Also how difficult do you find it is to stretch for placement and retreival? This could store my iron and lumber without moving both all the time. Right now it goes under the car parking spot.

I think I am going with the black pegboard for the look and will mount wooden holders for small bits and pieces. (Drill bits files chisles)

Once all is up and parked I will post pics too.