Advise On A New Tool Rack

[CGish]

I saw this post by Cattle Hide and redesigned the pictured tool holder to meet my current needs. I intend to build it out of unfinished poplar, as I have plenty left over from other projects. Anyone have any advice or see any major problems with this design before I start gluing wood together?

Thank You,

Cody

[Ferg]

Cody,

I realize everyone doesn't have a chunk of 4" pine 10" wide laying around but,,, that is what I used. My work table is 6' plus long so I made the tool holder the same length. Drilled a number of different sized holes in it to about 2" deep. This yielded space for 350 stamps and swivel knives plus my collection of shaped punches.

Your design looks good, just a little more complicated than mine. I raised the back edge off the work table and attached a couple angle brackets to the ends and into the 3/4" panel I have for other tools on the back edge of the table.

ferg

I saw this post by Cattle Hide and redesigned the pictured tool holder to meet my current needs. I intend to build it out of unfinished poplar, as I have plenty left over from other projects. Anyone have any advice or see any major problems with this design before I start gluing wood together?

Thank You,

Cody

[CGish]

Cody,

I realize everyone doesn't have a chunk of 4" pine 10" wide laying around but,,, that is what I used. My work table is 6' plus long so I made the tool holder the same length. Drilled a number of different sized holes in it to about 2" deep. This yielded space for 350 stamps and swivel knives plus my collection of shaped punches.

Your design looks good, just a little more complicated than mine. I raised the back edge off the work table and attached a couple angle brackets to the ends and into the 3/4" panel I have for other tools on the back edge of the table.

ferg

ferg,

I like the idea of a solid piece to fit the back of a worktable, and I have some rough cut oak I could plane down and use, but I am still in the beginning of my learning process. I have several options for making a work area and want to keep things portable until I have a some experience and ideas on how I would like things laid out permanently. I appreciate the answer and the suggestion.

Thank You,

Cody

[Dwight]

I made a tool holder (250+ holes) by drilling holes in I think, pine lumber some years ago. It was for a widow lady in our church.

I decided I didn't need that hassle when i did mine.

I sharpened the inside edge of a piece of 3/8 inch copper tubing, . . . put it in my battery drill, . . . "drilled" a couple hundred holes in a block of foam.

Personally, . . . I like it better, . . . but that is just me. Foam drills a whole lot easier, . . .

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited January 6, 2012 by Dwight

[electrathon]

Overall I like what you have drawn up. I would loose the gap along the rear row, it will just let stuff fall sideways and get stuck. I have made a few of these and the last one I used larger holes and all bevelers went togeather and so on. It saved a lot of spread out space and also worked better when locating tools. What you have drawn up is going to be something to be proud of in your work area. This is so much nicer than is you just use a big chunk of wood with holes in it.

Aaron

[CGish]

I made a tool holder (250+ holes) by drilling holes in I think, pine lumber some years ago. It was for a widow lady in our church.

I decided I didn't need that hassle when i did mine.

I sharpened the inside edge of a piece of 3/8 inch copper tubing, . . . put it in my battery drill, . . . "drilled" a couple hundred holes in a block of foam.

Personally, . . . I like it better, . . . but that is just me. Foam drills a whole lot easier, . . .

May God bless,

Dwight

Dwight,

This does seem easier! Never thought of using a tube to drill in soft material. Thank you for a great idea.

Cody

Overall I like what you have drawn up. I would loose the gap along the rear row, it will just let stuff fall sideways and get stuck. I have made a few of these and the last one I used larger holes and all bevelers went togeather and so on. It saved a lot of spread out space and also worked better when locating tools. What you have drawn up is going to be something to be proud of in your work area. This is so much nicer than is you just use a big chunk of wood with holes in it.

Aaron

Aaron,

An excellent suggestion. I thought of boxing it in with 1/4" material, but not just making it a block. This makes the front troughs more accessible as well.

Thank You,

Cody

[King's X]

I really like the design overall especially for the beginner and weekend home depot personal. Just a word of caution from something I learn when I made my block. Be careful to allow enough space between the tools especially the smaller size shafts. When you get better at your tooling and faster, you will go to retrieve a tool or put a tool back and the neighboring tools may teach you a lesson for ignoring them. A pinched, gouge or pricked finger. I have learned that this comes from having the tools too close together. If you haven't seen Peter Main's tool block or Bob Park's stamp block.......they have seemed to got it together and worked these issues out.

Either way, I applaud you for coming up with this design for everyone on here.

Good luck.

I really like the design overall especially for the beginner and weekend home depot personal. Just a word of caution from something I learn when I made my block. Be careful to allow enough space between the tools especially the smaller size shafts. When you get better at your tooling and faster, you will go to retrieve a tool or put a tool back and the neighboring tools may teach you a lesson for ignoring them. A pinched, gouged or pricked finger maybe a result. I have learned that this comes from having the tools too close together.  If you haven't seen Peter Main's tool block or Bob Park's stamp block.......they have seemed to have worked it out in their designs.

Either way, I applaud you for coming up with this design for everyone on here.

Good luck

[CGish]

I really like the design overall especially for the beginner and weekend home depot personal. Just a word of caution from something I learn when I made my block. Be careful to allow enough space between the tools especially the smaller size shafts. When you get better at your tooling and faster, you will go to retrieve a tool or put a tool back and the neighboring tools may teach you a lesson for ignoring them. A pinched, gouge or pricked finger. I have learned that this comes from having the tools too close together. If you haven't seen Peter Main's tool block or Bob Park's stamp block.......they have seemed to got it together and worked these issues out.

Either way, I applaud you for coming up with this design for everyone on here.

Good luck.

Good point. I thought about the space issue, but have no idea what is ideal. I went with 1" staggered from level to level so the stamps would not be stacked on top of each other. Currently it will hold 150 tools plus small items in the troughs. Should I open the spacing up a bit? If so, what would you suggest?

Thank You.

I started this tonight, so here are some beginning pictures. All of the wood is a little long, and I will have to cut the angle on the bottom of the main block after I glue it up and drill the holes on a drill press. All the pieces are rough sanded, and I put biscuits joints 1/2" off of the bottom of both sets to keep the pieces from walking when clamped.

Raw Material. All leftovers from some job in the past.

Rough cut, sanded, and put together dry to make sure it works.

Biscuit joints to prevent movement during gluing.

Cody

[gtwister09]

Cody,

I shared a number of different ones that I have made over the years as well as mosaic photos of past ones. I tried a number of ones from the Craftsman tool box with separate holes, saddlemaker rolls, cups,foam, pipes and many other options including one that was a separate one that allowed you to move blocks around mased on size with standardized block sizes....that one became too big. Some of the foam ones tend to chip out and I tried and epoxy finish for them but wasn't completely happy with the level of finish on those blocks. What I finally settled on was one that had larger holes where you could place all of one type of stamp in a particular hole and each swivel knife in a separate hole. It also allows each block to be carried as well as allowing the block to be set at two different angles so that you can view the tools much like your angled design. These are out of oak and can get heavy when fully loaded with stamps and swivel knifes.

I made a small one one for a friend that was "lightened" up. The handle and angled approach was used but the block was not solid oak this time. I made an open box of oak (1/2" thick except for the final bottom which was 1/4") that had a number of holes drilled in it (1-1/2", 1" and 3/4" these match the ID of the particular pipe sizes). This was the top and the bottom was left open. On the underside of the top there was a slight recess for each size of hole(Forrester bit the same size as the OD of the pipe) that would allow plastic pipe to be glued to the top. Once the glue on the pipe and top was dry then expanding foam was shot into the cavity in between the pipe and filled to the bottom of the open box (it was turned upside down to fill). Once the foam was dry then the excess was hot-knifed even with the bottom and the bottom was then attached to the open box. Then this box was assembled with the handle and ends. It did reduce the weight. However it was a lot of time. He engraved some scenes on the sides of the wooden box.

I don't have any pictures of this one but there are some other posts that show the oak block models.

Sam has some very good points about tool spacing. It was the reason for making one that has larger holes where tools can be bunched together like a saddlemaker's roll.

Regards,

Ben

[CGish]

I really like the design overall especially for the beginner and weekend home depot personal. Just a word of caution from something I learn when I made my block. Be careful to allow enough space between the tools especially the smaller size shafts. When you get better at your tooling and faster, you will go to retrieve a tool or put a tool back and the neighboring tools may teach you a lesson for ignoring them. A pinched, gouge or pricked finger. I have learned that this comes from having the tools too close together. If you haven't seen Peter Main's tool block or Bob Park's stamp block.......they have seemed to got it together and worked these issues out.

Either way, I applaud you for coming up with this design for everyone on here.

Good luck.

Cody,

I shared a number of different ones that I have made over the years as well as mosaic photos of past ones. I tried a number of ones from the Craftsman tool box with separate holes, saddlemaker rolls, cups,foam, pipes and many other options including one that was a separate one that allowed you to move blocks around mased on size with standardized block sizes....that one became too big. Some of the foam ones tend to chip out and I tried and epoxy finish for them but wasn't completely happy with the level of finish on those blocks. What I finally settled on was one that had larger holes where you could place all of one type of stamp in a particular hole and each swivel knife in a separate hole. It also allows each block to be carried as well as allowing the block to be set at two different angles so that you can view the tools much like your angled design. These are out of oak and can get heavy when fully loaded with stamps and swivel knifes.

I made a small one one for a friend that was "lightened" up. The handle and angled approach was used but the block was not solid oak this time. I made an open box of oak (1/2" thick except for the final bottom which was 1/4") that had a number of holes drilled in it (1-1/2", 1" and 3/4" these match the ID of the particular pipe sizes). This was the top and the bottom was left open. On the underside of the top there was a slight recess for each size of hole(Forrester bit the same size as the OD of the pipe) that would allow plastic pipe to be glued to the top. Once the glue on the pipe and top was dry then expanding foam was shot into the cavity in between the pipe and filled to the bottom of the open box (it was turned upside down to fill). Once the foam was dry then the excess was hot-knifed even with the bottom and the bottom was then attached to the open box. Then this box was assembled with the handle and ends. It did reduce the weight. However it was a lot of time. He engraved some scenes on the sides of the wooden box.

I don't have any pictures of this one but there are some other posts that show the oak block models.

Sam has some very good points about tool spacing. It was the reason for making one that has larger holes where tools can be bunched together like a saddlemaker's roll.

Regards,

Ben

Sam & Ben,

Here is a new drawing based on my understanding of your suggestions and from looking at some others on the forum. Opinions, ideas?

All the ideas are appreciated.

Thank you for your input and time.

Cody

[King's X]

I like your first design. My suggestion was to be careful with your spacing. If you are considering this design, I would suggest enlarging each hole to at least 3/4" to 1".

Edited January 8, 2012 by King's X

[gtwister09]

Cody,

The angle is a personal one. Mine is not quite as pronounced but others do have a steeper one. If I read your note correctly, then all your holes are 1-1/2". I would suggest some variety for swivel knife storage as well.

I have included a couple of links to some other threads on the forum. Check out the 4 that I have (actually 5 - one is much smaller) in the "To Montage". I don't show the lesser angle in this photo but you can see the variety of 1-1/2", 1" and 3/4" holes.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=34152&view=findpost&p=211630

The spacing and issue that Sam was talking about is apparent in the Sears box in this thread.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=27585&view=findpost&p=173533

Regards,

Ben

[CGish]

I like your first design. My suggestion was to be careful with your spacing. If you are considering this design, I would suggest enlarging each hole to at least 3/4" to 1".

Sam,

Sorry about the confusion, I started putting the first design together and began thinking about a new improved version. I made some modifications to the first design, and it will look like this when finished:

I am still debating the amount of angle to cut into the base of the tool block. I increased the hole size on the bulk of the block to 3/4", the largest I think can safely be drilled out of 1" soft poplar, and increased the spacing of the holes. There are some smaller, shallower holes on the bottom tier to accommodate some smaller tools. Should hold 230 - 250 tools depending on the shaft size of the stamps. If I make another like this I will use 2" wide tiers to allow for 1" - 1 1/2" holes. I have the blocks glued and ready to drill.

Will post more pictures as I get farther along.

Thank You for the advise and time.

Cody,

The angle is a personal one. Mine is not quite as pronounced but others do have a steeper one. If I read your note correctly, then all your holes are 1-1/2". I would suggest some variety for swivel knife storage as well.

I have included a couple of links to some other threads on the forum. Check out the 4 that I have (actually 5 - one is much smaller) in the "To Montage". I don't show the lesser angle in this photo but you can see the variety of 1-1/2", 1" and 3/4" holes.

http://leatherworker...ndpost&p=211630

The spacing and issue that Sam was talking about is apparent in the Sears box in this thread.

http://leatherworker...ndpost&p=173533

Regards,

Ben

Ben,

I saw the Sears Box when I initially read that thread, but I missed the boxes you made. Thanks for pointing those out. The redesign in revision two was strongly influenced by hidepounders pictures in the post after yours, but I am working on my first variation. My wife will lose patience if I start to many projects at once!

Thank You,

Cody

[King's X]

Looks good....cannot wait to see the final product.

[King's X]

Cody,

The angle is a personal one. Mine is not quite as pronounced but others do have a steeper one. If I read your note correctly, then all your holes are 1-1/2". I would suggest some variety for swivel knife storage as well.

I have included a couple of links to some other threads on the forum. Check out the 4 that I have (actually 5 - one is much smaller) in the "To Montage". I don't show the lesser angle in this photo but you can see the variety of 1-1/2", 1" and 3/4" holes.

http://leatherworker...ndpost&p=211630

The spacing and issue that Sam was talking about is apparent in the Sears box in this thread.

http://leatherworker...ndpost&p=173533

Regards,

Ben

Ben,

Thanks for the reminder.......I just looked over the threads again, and notice MarkB block.....wow......I might have to give that one a try for long term storage.

Edited January 8, 2012 by King's X

[Ferg]

Cody,

I noticed your quandary on the angle of the bottom. I set my block at about 30 degrees. Probably just my preference, I can see each and every tool.

It is interesting how many like the larger holes to accommodate a number of tools. I don't like my tools banging against each other.

I find that with drilling several different sized holes throughout the block, I can "bunch" almost all of the "Like" tools close together. In a short time you learn where you have tools you want to use.

Also: I have a tendency to take several different size tools, of whatever I am doing, from the rack and lay them on the bench, easy to grab.

I have absolutely no intention of taking my tools from my shop to any other venue anymore so the permanent block works for me.

I bought several sets of basic tools when teaching a Sunday School class at summer camp, I don't anticipate doing that anymore. There were over 30 teenagers. Gish!!!!!

ferg

Sam & Ben,

Here is a new drawing based on my understanding of your suggestions and from looking at some others on the forum. Opinions, ideas?

All the ideas are appreciated.

Thank you for your input and time.

Cody

[jdwintx]

Cody,

Personally I think it's a good idea in concept, bad in practice. At least it was for me. Here are a couple of images of my rack which is a block of mahogany angled up with 9 rows of stamps on both sides of a center block for my swivels and stuff. I also added a top rack drilled for edgers, etc. as you can see. The problem is that tools get lost in this arrangement and it is very hard to keep all of your tools of similar kinds in groups. I spend more time sometimes trying to find the veiner/beveler/etc.. in the rack than I would like. Plus I find I have to stand up to find a tool as well vs. just looking and grabbing. I'm tossing this one away and going to build a horizontal strip model that looks like a ladder that allows me to group tools better and also keeps them at eye level. JMO though, I've had this setup for about a year now and that's what I've experienced.

[CGish]

Cody,

Personally I think it's a good idea in concept, bad in practice. At least it was for me. Here are a couple of images of my rack which is a block of mahogany angled up with 9 rows of stamps on both sides of a center block for my swivels and stuff. I also added a top rack drilled for edgers, etc. as you can see. The problem is that tools get lost in this arrangement and it is very hard to keep all of your tools of similar kinds in groups. I spend more time sometimes trying to find the veiner/beveler/etc.. in the rack than I would like. Plus I find I have to stand up to find a tool as well vs. just looking and grabbing. I'm tossing this one away and going to build a horizontal strip model that looks like a ladder that allows me to group tools better and also keeps them at eye level. JMO though, I've had this setup for about a year now and that's what I've experienced.

This is the problem I saw with a single block at the back of the bench unless there was a fairly steep angle involved. Hopefully the step design and angle on mine will be OK. If not, I'll have to make another one.

Thank You

Question: Can the tool rack be stained and varnished or should it be left raw? I am worried about getting something on the stamps and ruining a project on a humid or rainy day.

Cody

Here's what it looks like right now.

[King's X]

That came out pretty cool. I left my big block untreated. Another small block that I made for my swivels, I stained and finished it. I haven't had any problems with it.

Good luck

[gtwister09]

Cody,

FYI. Mine were finished and I have never had a problem with them.

Regards,

Ben

[electrathon]

Question: Can the tool rack be stained and varnished or should it be left raw? I am worried about getting something on the stamps and ruining a project on a humid or rainy day.

I would coat it with spray varathane. Easy to apply and it will seal the wood.

Aaron

[Sylvia]

That looks really nice. I am a little late to this party, but I thought I would toss out a suggestion anyway. I know when I'm working I don't always put my tool back in the rack. There has been times when the knive rolled off and hit my bare foot. I've also had things get dragged off while I turned the leather. My space is very small. So I would suggest a fairly strong magnet on one side, right side if you are right handed, left if you are a lefty... then when switching between tools you can slap one on the magnet. It will stay there until you need to switch again. I might have measured your dye bottles too and made a "cup" to hold it upright while dying and if you use the quarts of dye... it could be your beer holder too. Of course Ipod interface and speakers built in would make it totally awesome... name it "iRack" or Rock-n-Rack or something. lol

At any rate, now you need to make a leather case to fit.

[CGish]

That looks really nice. I am a little late to this party, but I thought I would toss out a suggestion anyway. I know when I'm working I don't always put my tool back in the rack. There has been times when the knive rolled off and hit my bare foot. I've also had things get dragged off while I turned the leather. My space is very small. So I would suggest a fairly strong magnet on one side, right side if you are right handed, left if you are a lefty... then when switching between tools you can slap one on the magnet. It will stay there until you need to switch again. I might have measured your dye bottles too and made a "cup" to hold it upright while dying and if you use the quarts of dye... it could be your beer holder too. Of course Ipod interface and speakers built in would make it totally awesome... name it "iRack" or Rock-n-Rack or something. lol

At any rate, now you need to make a leather case to fit.

iRack might get me sued, so I pass on that. Like the idea of a magnet, though. Might have to find one at Harbor Freight.

Here are final pictures. I decided not to stain it, so here it is in use.

Thank you to everyone who provided suggestions and ideas.

Cody

[Sylvia]

iRack might get me sued, so I pass on that. Like the idea of a magnet, though. Might have to find one at Harbor Freight.

Here are final pictures. I decided not to stain it, so here it is in use.

Thank you to everyone who provided suggestions and ideas.

Cody

LOL! So no iRack huh? Looks like it works really well, you might consider a couple of those little magnets at the bottom of an old shower curtain for those wells too. It will help keep small fiddly bits from moving about... like your needles and the allen wrench. maybe there's enough space to even sink it into the board.

Anyway... I'm envious.

[Newbee]

Cody,

I love your design! I have learned so much on this site. Here is two tool holders I made because I am pressed for space. I used some pvc pipe I had left over after I replaced the water and sewage lined in my house a few years ago. I cut the pieces about 2 1/4 in. long and held them at an angle and hot glued them together making each tier a little taller. In the middle I used large pieces of pvc to hold punches & so on. On the bottom I purchased a box of little long round Styrofoam pieces at hobbly lobby in the kids craft section and hot glued them to the bottom of each the 2 1/4 long pieces. I used a round piece of wood for the bottom and placed it on a 6in turn table thing. Of course gluing them together in a circle pattern, each tier didn't fit in a circle, but it came out ok to serve my purpose. I have been using it for about 1 year and it is very sturdy. I made a smaller one to keep at my little work bench. I don't have a lot of time to do leather craft, ( I gained custody of 2 of my Grandchildren, 3 yr and 1 yr. )but I enjoy it very much. Maybe someday I can get them interested in leather craft!

Edited January 15, 2012 by Newbee