Just interested in hearing some thinking on principles for storing hand tools in the bench area. What in your views works and what doesn't. So far i've used a mechanics tool chest, but want to free up floor space by using a mix of a wall cabinet and wall boards. It won't be fancy - just screwed together ply etc.
Thinking right now it seems to make sense to put easily damaged stuff in the wall cabinet beside the bench - planes, shoulder planes, chisels, dovetail saws and Japanese saws etc. Less sure about marking out and measuring stuff like squares, dovetail markers, marking gauges, scribers, dividers/compasses and the like - certainly the larger items might be better on a board?
Lots of wall cabinets seem to use framed doors of maybe 4in depth with space to hang tools on the inside face - as well as on the back face of the cabinet itself. i.e. they roughly double the storage area. Does this work well? Not sure about having bulky and heavily loaded doors swinging into the work area, but on the other hand....
The classic method of storage using sloped boards to make beds for planes to sit on seems terribly space consuming - think i'll need to find another approach that packs them more tightly while not risking damage.
Another task will be to figure out a format for the holes in some horizontal wall brackets to hold as wide a range of chisels, screwdrivers and the like as possible - something fairly quick to make but secure. I dropped a freshly sharpened chisel once which sliced through the heel of my other hand on its way down -not such a good idea.
Power tools, fasteners, finishing supplies, clamps, machine accessories and the like are in separate wall mounted storage.
Over to you guys...
ian
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