17 Clever Ways To Store All Kinds of Tools

Junction boxes can hold a lot more than switches and wiring.

Nail or screw them wherever you need handy holders for small stuff.

They come in different sizes and shapes and cost pocket change.

Ever had a plane, level or square get dinged up after falling off the pegboard? Never again.

Bend an 8-in.-long pegboard holder into a corner shape by holding it in a vice and pounding it with a hammer to make the series of right angles.

Make one corner to hold the left side of the tool and another to hold the right.

Now just hold the tool up to the pegboard and insert the corner peg so it clasps the tool’s corner.

Here’s a tool storage technique for all those slender tools and shop accessories.

Cut short lengths of PVC pipe (1-1/2- and 2-in.-diameter pipes work well for most items) and slide them over pegboard hooks.

Then load them up with files, hacksaw blades, zip ties, pencils, stir sticks… you get the skinny.

A piece of short-pile carpet in the bottom of each tray in your tool chest will keep tools from shifting and knocking about.

So the next time you open the tray, the tools will still be laid out nice and neat the way you left them.

Another benefit: less noise.

An old bowling ball bag makes a great portable home for your circular saw.

The saw easily slides in and out of the zippered opening, so there’s no more coaxing it into that moulded plastic case and fumbling with those stubborn plastic snaps.

And there’s plenty of room for spare blades, a rip guide and the blade-changing wrench.

So, if you’re spending more time building frames than bowling them, nab a secondhand bag for a couple of bucks at a yard sale or secondhand store.

Here’s a high and mighty way to prevent cordless drills from toppling off your workbench.

Screw large vinyl-covered hooks (available for about $2 at hardware stores and home centres) to a convenient spot on a wall or exposed stud and hang up those drills for safekeeping and easy access.

While this tool storage device may look like a variation on the Pan flute of Greek mythology, it’s actually a great place to store tools that easily get lost – like chisels, files, pencils, scroll saw blades and hobby knives.

For the fatter tools, use PVC cement to join short pieces of 1-1/4-in. PVC pipe side to side into a panpipe design, then add pieces of 1/2-in.pipe along the front of the flute for skinnier tools.

Build a simple case around the pipes to create a floor and a back for hanging on a shop wall.