Shop storage monthly contest - AlanJ is the winner

Best Shop Storage

  • 1. Flip table - Jclrk

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2. Many small boxes - Steve (zapdafish)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3. Dutch tool chest/set of drawers combo - RichoB

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • 4. Two flip carts - Neal (bowman)

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • 5. Repurposed cabinets - Joe (fishbucket)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6. MAX pallet storage - Gene (dee2)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 7. Flip cart - NOTW

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 8. Wall tool chest - PhilS

    Votes: 4 21.1%
  • 9. Wall tool chest - AlanJ

    Votes: 6 31.6%
  • 10. tool well chest - Jim (creasman)

    Votes: 4 21.1%
  • 11. Portability - Geoff (bigdog72)

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • 12. Drawer stacks - Tim Sherwood

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 13. Rolling cabinet - FrankK

    Votes: 2 10.5%

  • Total voters
    19

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
I am tossing my tool chest into the mix to show an alternative to drawers.
Built a few years back and still adding tools
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Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
Phil, Having seen this in person through some of its evolution I think that is great storage system. Don't know if you have noticed, but when I am able to visit your shop, I spend considerable time staring this thing down, LOL!
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
What is on the front or face of the doors?
 

AlanJ

New User
Alan
Hand tools for my work bench.

Framed in cherry, with birch plywood panels, the wood panels in the front doors are 3rd generation recycled. 1920ish Nickelodeon thrown out in Park Rapids MN. The nickelodeon sides were rayed walnut veneer over poplar boards with birch veneer in back. Sides were saved and repurposed as a small dining room table top in 50s or 60s by my grandfather. The table was damaged beyond repair in 2018. I built this tool cabinet around the walnut veneers in 2020.

With 4 layers of fitted tools in the doors it stores more tools than my previous system stored on the entire wall. Inside are three of my Grandfathers Stanley Planes and his Starrett Engineers Square.
 

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Last edited:

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
We seem to be on tool chests at the moment so I'll throw mine into the ring. The story behind it is that when I made my workbench I added a tool well -- partly to conserve wood (I was running short on the hickory I used for the top) and partly because I thought it might be a useful feature. The latter never proved true for me and the tools which ended up there got lost in shavings and other clutter.

My fix was to build a small tool chest that sits in the tool well and provides easy to reach storage for my most commonly-used tools. These are always at arms reach. It also has two banks of drawers for storing small items. It's worked out great and I highly recommend this approach if you have a bench that doesn't sit against a wall (where you could mount a cabinet).

I store about 30+ tools in the cabinet, plus a few more in the drawers. The wood is primarily pecan and sweet gum. I added a marquetry panel to the back side for fun (last picture). I probably had as much fun on this as any recent furniture project.

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Jclrk

Jclrk
Corporate Member
Hand tools for my work bench.

Hand tools for my work bench.

We seem to be on tool chests at the moment so I'll throw mine into the ring. The story behind it is that when I made my workbench I added a tool well -- partly to conserve wood (I was running short on the hickory I used for the top) and partly because I thought it might be a useful feature. The latter never proved true for me and the tools which ended up there got lost in shavings and other clutter.

My fix was to build a small tool chest that sits in the tool well and provides easy to reach storage for my most commonly-used tools. These are always at arms reach. It also has two banks of drawers for storing small items. It's worked out great and I highly recommend this approach if you have a bench that doesn't sit against a wall (where you could mount a cabinet).

I store about 30+ tools in the cabinet, plus a few more in the drawers. The wood is primarily pecan and sweet gum. I added a marquetry panel to the back side for fun (last picture). I probably had as much fun on this as any recent furniture project.

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Beautiful
 

Bigdog72

New User
Geoff
My small shop is all storage! Everything is on wheels or in cabinets.
 

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Tim Sherwood

Tim
Corporate Member
I just delivered these cabinets to my daughter in Boone. She and her husband have a home repair and maintenance business: lots of small parts to keep track of.
They were based an a Fine Woodworking article .
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magazine version
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I elected to spread them out and add a working counter top
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FrankK

New User
Frank
I built a rolling (so I could move it outside) cabinet for my planer like the ones above. The problem was I couldn’t keep it from rolling when I planed heavy boards. So I came up with this design. It works fantastic. Then it grew organically as I found other uses for the table. Since my workshop is relatively small, I have to make use of every square foot.

‘The first picture is the base table with the planer underneath. All other components that are used in the various configurations are stored underneath also.

The second & third picture show the setup for planing. Both a smooth ingress & egress ramp carry the weight of the board going through the planer & allow very little effort to push the board through. Setup & breakdown can be done in about 10 minutes each.

The second use is for my tracksaw to break down 4x8 panels. I can back my pickup with the heavy boards right next to the table & slide them into place. No lifting required. If you notice in the first picture, there are indentions in the base tabletop. These match up with the upper tabletops so inserting them in is quick & effortless. Works well for long dados, etc with the router.

4th-6th picture show the tabletop with aluminum grooves that fit the 2x4 risers, allowing the tracksaw to cut without damaging the table. Again, setup is easy, taking only a couple of minutes.

Yet another tabletop is made for my Kreg pocket hole jig. The long rails & homemade stops make any size board easy to drill for repetitive pieces.

The last tabletop (at least for now), is a plain workbench, for general woodworking purposes. One can never have too many workbenches. 11th picture?

‘Tabletop storage is along the back side. Two hand sized holes make them easy to grab & lift up.

A future tabletop will be a rail & clamp system. Like I said, it grows organically as I see new uses.
 

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