Hand Tool Organization Tips, Tricks, Methods, etc.

[mbnaegle]

I'm a sucker for organization. For me it's more important than cleanliness, such that a little dust and scrap on the floor isn't a big deal, but tools and materials better be put away! My main tenants of fabrication, metal working with some occasional wood work, produce lots of flying chips, dust, and debris, and as such I don't like hanging tools up and leaving them exposed on the wall, opting instead to keep stuff in drawers, cabinets, trays, etc. Leatherwork typically doesn't make as much airborne mess, other than painting/dying and burnishing, which IMO is best neutralized with vacuum systems at the source or by doing it away from everything, so this opens up the possibilities of how I can store tools.

I've been reorganizing my dad's leather bench, trying to put it back to being an active hand tool bench and not just a place to store his old tools. At one point it was meant to be a mobile work bench, which isn't as important now but is an aspect I like to consider with how stuff is hung on it. It has a built in back-board cubby as well as some large drawers with big and small tray organizers, and I've added some plywood panels on the walls to hang up other tools. In general my goal is to have stuff that is used often at easy access in the open, while stuff that is used less often is in the drawers. He had a LOT of tools and I'm not ready to part with any of it as it's more likely to split up between his grandkids if any of them develop an interest, so there's a lot of redundancy that I think will take time to establish which tools are my primary users, which are special, and which are the back-ups, which adds to the complexity.

I'm interested in seeing how you store your tools. Hammers, edgers, knives, punches, etc. One thing I'd be interested in is how you store your draw knives? I have 5 or 6 and while I don't need them all, would like to keep a few on the bench to leave at different sizes. They're kind of an awkward shape as they don't fit in a hole or holster, but the pistol grip lends itself to something easy to grab. I'm thinking of making some kind of fork they can slide into. The blade is the other issue as it's easy to nick yourself on it when other tools are stored close to it. I could make micro-sheaths to cover them up, but that slows down the quick-draw.

I'll post some pics of what I've done so far and other things my dad had done over the years.

 

[mbnaegle]

Here's the back of the bench currently. The draw knives I have on their sides in leather loops, but don't like this. A lot of knives have makeshift wood and leather slots presently that I'm going to replace with sewn leather sheaths that I'll screw or tack to the sides of the cubbies. The round knife sheaths work well, as do the racks for the edgers, but they're crowded and need more sorting (theres even more in the drawers!). The pin cushions work well for loose needle and awl and drapery pin storage.

The Landis 16 plate is there as my Dad had one when he was doing full time saddle and harness work and loved it, but sold it at some point (kept his two Landis 3's thankfully). We a different one come through our shop a few years ago that was worn out and half gutted of parts, so I saved the plate for him before it went to the scrap pile.

Here's the wall organizers. Mainly long and cumbersome stuff, and the punches and clicker dies are beside his old clicker (its pad gets used for hand punching stuff too).

[mbnaegle]

This is the drawers in the bench. Wide deep drawers with lots of cubbies and removable trays. Lots of space, but not quick to access.

There's some big open shelves under the bench too. Mainly used for heavy stuff. Dad sewed up a lot of sheathes for some tools, like the one for his big slicker. He also kept a few Deep frame C-clamps at the bench as they could reach into a saddle seat to hold or set something in place.

The bench is steel framed sheathed in plywood, and when he welded it up he made a long steel slot in the end and his bench splitter (an old "Krebs type" Randall) is mounted to a steel plank that fits into the slot. It's a fantastic configuration in use with all your scrap falling to the ground and ample room around the tool to work with it, and when you are done it slides out and hangs on the side of the bench. I've started mounting other small hand pull bench tools to planks to use the same routine, so they're all easy to use but don't take up any bench space.

[MarshalWill]

Lately I've started using magnets to hold my most used knives. Quick access and in a box, dust free. This box is what I made years ago when it would hold most of what I needed. Not so any more but I still keep the box for some things.