Triple Your Tool Storage Space!

My workshop was a mess and I needed to organize the tool storage wall behind my work bench. I had too many tools for the space available and had to juggle tools from the front to the back of overloaded hooks.

If the wall is too small, perhaps I could triple the space by adding doors. Tools could be stored on the front and back of the doors as well as the wall.

So I pulled all the tools off the wall, sorted the ones I wanted and used the most. Then using some scrap wood I tried different arrangements for each group of tools. The front of the door would hand hammers, the back saws and the wall would have the levels and straight edges. To have the strength to hold the tools I used 3/4" plywood. It also has the thickness to hold the pegs. Don't skimp on the hinges, with all the tools this door will be heavy so I used 3.5" house door hinges. Plus the pins are removable!

So I put a top shelf with notches for each mallet, the hammers each received a hole with a Plexiglas notch to hold the head. The saws have wood pegs or screws to hang on, as do the levels and straight edges. Don't stop here with bare plywood, go ahead and put two coats of white paint on everything. It looks sharp and with brighten your shop.

So the paint is really worth the time. Makes it look nice.

The next area was a mess, jumbled drawers of wrenches and nut drivers in rotting pouches. So wood pegs for the wrenches, 2x2 wood strips for the nut drivers and a slot rack for the pliers.

More 2x2s to hold the screwdrivers. The lower rank has spacers behind it so the longer drivers have room. The white paint makes it easy to mark each location. It is so wonderful to know where to put each tool when I clean up! Four cabinet hinges to carry this load.

Vice Grips get their own door. Slots with a Plexiglas front makes it easy to see what is stored.

So I hope you can use this idea to make your shop just a little nicer!

Good Luck, Carl.