Tool Holder

[oldman_pottering]

Nothing special but by the end of it I was pleased with the outcome and pleased that I'm starting to think a bit better about different processes.

Quick back story, I'm 62 and have worked the majority of my working life as a mechanic so I have never really needed to design or make components, things were either correct or not correct.

About 6 years ago I started playing around with french cleats in an attempt to organise my shed and then started doing more and more with wood.

This Sunday just gone I headed into the shed for a tidy up and decided to get this tool off my bench and figured I'd make a quick holder for it, looked around and found some scrap and just cut it down into a triangle that the tool could sit on 

Once that was done the design of the tool made it that the tool didn't sit flush with the holder on the backside so I decided to make a rebate into the holder, I tried to do this with a pull saw with the holder mounted in the vice horizontally but I couldn't seem to get a good start with the saw. I remembered see people using marking knives before cutting with a hand saw so I did that but still had trouble cutting a nice straight line.

Then I remembered seeing people using a chisel to pare away some of the waste up to the cut line, I did this and then my saw cuts were much better.

Time to pare away the rebate now and the piece was moving all around the place so I quickly made up a pair of stop blocks ( these are the type of processes people use everyday without thinking but as I said earlier I'm a bit blocky in my thinking but that is starting to change)

So now the tool fits neatly into the holder 

 

After that I decide that the tool could still fall from the holder via movement from my bench from grinders etc so I decided to add a plate over the top, this made the whole thing look very blocky so I ran the plate through the router with a 45deg chamfer bit and it made it look much neater

 

So here it is mounted on the wall and I am pretty pleased with the outcome, it's obviously nothing special or fancy but I'm happy that I'm starting to think outside of the box . This took me a few hours or so but I had time and plenty of beer. I could make this better if I was to repeat it because of what I have learnt and there still is some excessive movement side to side in the vertical rebate.

It finally sunk in that even if I am making only a shop tool it is still satisfying to take the time and do the best

In summary, it's much nicer than hanging it on a couple of nails ( which is something I would have done) 

[gee-dub]

A nice tool holder is a joy forever.

[Von]

I really enjoy french cleats due to the creativity they allow for tool holders. Nice job.

[Beechwood Chip]

Looks much more "professional" than all of my tool holders.  Nice work!

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks for sharing your thought process. It will very likely help some budding woodworker that is lurking through thus thead at this very moment.

[oldman_pottering]

On 1/24/2024 at 8:36 AM, gee-dub said:

A nice tool holder is a joy forever.

let's hope so, this is now my signature 

On 1/24/2024 at 9:18 AM, Von said:

I really enjoy french cleats due to the creativity they allow for tool holders. Nice job.

thanks Von, this one though is glued to the wall 

On 1/24/2024 at 11:53 AM, Beechwood Chip said:

Looks much more "professional" than all of my tool holders.  Nice work!

thanks mate

On 1/24/2024 at 12:21 PM, wtnhighlander said:

Thanks for sharing your thought process. It will very likely help some budding woodworker that is lurking through thus thead at this very moment.

thanks wtn, unfortunately my thought process happen on the run. I'm trying to change that as that causes me issues from no planning ahead.

I'm dabbling with SketchUp so I can have a plan but learning that is a job in itself