17 Clever Ways To Store All Kinds of Tools

Here’s a smart way to keep a vice or small bench-top tool right at your fingertips without cluttering your workbench: Build this slide-in base and mount the vice or tool on it so the entire unit can slide back in upside down and out of the way.

Countersink holes into the underside of the base so you can recess the mounting nuts and washers.

Are all your wrenches stuffed in a plastic bucket? Here’s a better idea. Screw a tie/belt rack (available at discount stores) to a bare spot on the wall over your workbench and hang the wrenches—SAE and metric—where you can swiftly nab and put them away in an orderly fashion.

Rubbery shelf liner works great in toolboxes, but there’s a cheaper alternative. Cut a nonslip rug mat to fit any size drawer and keep tools from sliding around.

Maximise hand tool storage in a tool cabinet with this slick tip.

The key to this project is a 4-ft.-long by-pass sliding door hardware set (about $15 at a home centre).

You mount 1/4-in. pegboard onto it, making sure to provide enough room (2 in.) to hang tools on the pegboard and still allow it to slide by the door in front.

The trick is to insert 1/2-in. plywood spacers in the roller hardware as shown.

You can use the floor bracket that comes with the slider hardware to maintain the same 2-in. clearance at the bottom of the cabinet.

For door handles, simply drill a couple of 1-1/4-in. holes in the pegboard with a spade bit.

Now pop in the pegs and hang up your tools.

Here’s a pointer on storing pointed tools for instant availability.

Drill 5/8-in. holes through a few 4- or 5-in. foam craft balls (available at craft stores), and skewer and glue them along a 5/8-in. dia. dowel with construction adhesive.

Screw together a 3/4-in. wood bracket, drilling a stopped 5/8-in.-diameter hole 1/2 in. deep in the bottom end and a 3/4-in. hole through the upper end.

Screw the bracket at a convenient height, slide in the foam balls and load them with drill, router and spade bits; paint brushes; screwdrivers; Allen wrenches; awls; X-Acto knives; pencils and, well, you get the point.

Find a bare spot on a wall or workbench and screw on a 2-ft. piece of 2-in.-wide, slotted angle iron available at home centres.

It’s the perfect hangout for screwdrivers, bits, safety glasses and sanding drums

Tool aprons can be modified to store nearly any household item.

Just sew a variety of pocket widths in the aprons, then mount the aprons by screwing a wood strip through the top of each and into a door.

For hollow-core doors, use hollow anchor fasteners to hold the screws firmly to the door.

Saw off short pieces of 1-1/2-, 2- or 3-in. PVC plumbing pipe with 45-degree angles on one end.

Screw them to a board to hold paint brushes, pencils, stir sticks and just about any other narrow paraphernalia in your shop.

Mount them by drilling a 1/4-in. hole in the angled end, and then drive a 1-5/8-in. drywall screw through the hole into the board.

Shelf brackets designed to support clothes hanger rods aren’t just for closets.

The rod-holding hook on these brackets comes in handy in the garage and workshop too.

You can bend the hook to suit long tools or cords.

Closet brackets are available at home centres and hardware stores.

Be honest! Somewhere you have a tool drawer bursting with a combination of screwdrivers, nail sets, tape rolls, utility knives, scissors, scrapers, measuring tapes, files and knives. And often you have to dump everything out to find one tool.

One solution: Fit a large cutlery tray in the drawer to organise the tools so you can see and grab the one you want in a second.

he tray is easy to lift out and carry to a job, and if you use a metal mesh tray, dust can’t build up between the tools.