Tool wall french cleat plus

 Always trying to clean and organise my shop so I decided to build a larger tool wall. Having many tools and picking the ones I use most is always handy and keeping them at arm's reach. This is what I call a French Cleat Plus system, because you can make tool holders that slide or hang. I like to be able to move tools around so you can add take away or rearrange any time. 



                                            Check out the build video here

 To start the wall I used 1/2" baltic Birch. I cut it to 60"x40" to fit the space I had, which was between two tool cabinets. The black will be a good contrast with the light wood. 

I found the wall studs and screwed the board in with 9-2" screws.



I cut 12  boards L 28" x W 5", they were all cut all 45 degrees. To cut I kept the tablesaw fence the same and just kept flipping the boards



The layout for the boards took some time to get everything symmetrical but worth it.



I attached the boards with my nail gun using 2 inch brad nails. Each board was carefully installed using guides levels and measuring tape. This ensures a precision job.






Time to make the tool holders.





Two types are made, one that slides in the slots and will not fall out and the other can be easily put on and taken off.  






Here you can see the two types of holders. Making the holders and filling the tool wall takes time but is very pleasing.

 Conclusion

Depending on your needs  both holders will work fine, both have their pros and cons, make whatever works for you. I like them both.  Making the dowels any length and size is handy and convenient to fit specific tools.  



See also:

                             Small tool holder

Wooden Lock Build

After installing the wooden hinges for my cabinet I will now build a wooden lock. The lock is my version based on ancient Egyptian locks. 

I make a quick mock of my lock to see what would work. Plexiglass is very useful to see how everything is working out. Everything worked out so now I can carry on and build a nicer one from cherry. I may make a few modifications as I build it.

These are the parts, they will be the lock body and back plate. 

I used my table saw sled and cut slots for the pins. This can also be done with a router but whatever works for you.

Maple is used for the pins, they are left long and will be cut later to fit the key.

This piece is the latch bolt it is slightly thinner than the frame so it can slide easy. The top and bottom are ready for gluing the latch bolt will be left in while gluing to get a nice fit.

The pieces are glued together, the latch bolt was used a guide to make sure all the pieces were lined up.

 

Slots are cut in the bolt, they will match the slots on the main body. They are first drilled then cut on the bandsaw. A file was used to do some fine cutting to mate them perfectly.

 Pins can now be cut to the right length.

This is the latch bolt it is for the key.  I first dado cut part of the bolt then glued on a block. This way was easier than using a router or chiseling it out the section.

To make the key teeth were marked to match to the pin slots. The width and depth have to be exact to work properly. 

The last piece of the lock is this bracket for the latch. Two pieces of wood are dado cut to fit the the size of the latch,  then they are glued together. The pieces are glued together first then cut to the right size later.  

Plexiglass is used for now to show the lock. Later I can always add a wood plate.

See Also:

How to Make Wooden Hinges

I built a small cabinet with a door so I needed some hinges so I thought I would try make some wood hinges for the door. They will be made all of wood including the hinge pin.

They are very strong and work well. I will show you step by step how I built them.

In my wood pile I had some Brazilian cherry  stair treads. I like the look of cherry and since it is a hardwood I thought they would work well for the hinges. They will be cut to a width of 3.5".

I used my table saw sled to cut the blocks to the right dimensions for the 2  mounting parts of the hinge. 

I had to glue a couple of pieces together, this will give me  large blocks to work with. They will be cut and shaped later to make a nice looking hinge.

I clamped them and set them a side overnight. 

The pieces are marked and notched out carefully with the band saw. 

 

The pieces are tested for fit. They are not bad but I could have done better, although this does not matter when the hinge is complete.

 

The two pieces of the hinge are clamped together and holes are drilled  for the hinge pin. The hinge pin will be a 1/2 wooden  dowel. It is easier to drill them now and later round the ends of the blocks.

 

In order for the hinge to rotate the block ends have to be rounded. I did this first using the band saw then a  belt sander. To keep things as accurate as possible it is best to pencil mark the round end and clean up using a belt sander. 




To make the shape of the hinge it is first cut lengthwise and cleaned up with the belt sander. 

More shaping the hinge.

When all the pieces are sanded a half inch dowel is pounded into the hinge. It feels very tight at this point but will rotate easier in time. I also use a little bit of lubrication which helped a lot.

 

 Five holes are drilled in each hinge, this will be for carriage bolts.

 


                                          See video


I used spacers to center the door and then drilled and installed the carriage bolts. After the bolts were tightened I tested it out and it worked 
perfect.

See Also:                                                                                  

 

    Tool Caddy                                           Spline Jig                                                       

 

                                            

                                                                              

Wall Tool Holder

Time to build a small tool cabinet or tool holder. Woodworkers can acquire  a lot of tools and keeping them organized and close at hand can sometimes be a challenge.  One solution is to build a tool holder, they are easy to build and look great in a shop.  

If you want to build this attractive tool holder then you will like this article.
 There are many kinds of tool holders and many ways to hang tools. I like hooks and an easy way to move them around so I came up with this idea. Lattice works great for the hooks and they can also be attached to wood cases and blocks for tools as you will see later.

I made some rough lattice and tested how the hooks would work. The hooks worked out fine, and now I was ready to figure out the spacing.  I was now ready to build the cabinet. 

The lattice, hooks and spacing

The diameter of the  hooks are 3.51 mm.  and the spacing of the lattice is  5.49 mm. I found this worked the best but I would suggest you buy some hooks and glue a few strips together like I did and do some testing. 

The lattice strips are first cut to the length of the tool holder and the  W:19mm 
D:4.2mm.



                      

Tool holder frame

The cabinet will be 18"x30"

To build the frame I started with some spruce boards, I cut them to size,  cleaned them up, and  made some rabbet cuts on one side. These cuts will be for the back board.

I did not install my dado blade but ran the boards through the saw a few times to get the right cut. At times this can be done faster than changing the blade and setting up. Special attention should be made when moving the fence to make the perfect cut.

The wood looks rough but some light sanding will clean it up nice. I like to build things from scraps I find in my shop so it won't cost anything.

More dado cuts are made using my miter gauge. This is not hard to do it just take a little practice and a good eye. 

The dado cuts are made slowly by moving the fence after each pass, then the last few cuts are tested each time the table saw fence is moved slightly to ensure a perfect fit.

Here you can see how it all fit together with the compartments.  The cabinet it first dry fitted then glued and clamped. Remember to check for squareness when clamping. You can use a large square or a measuring tape.

Some creative clamping. Sometimes blocks are used for clamping so the clamp does not leave any marks on the wood.

Many strips are cut for the lattice. The first batch was cedar and the second set was spruce. I wanted to create a nice contrast in the wood.

I used my new wooden caliber and my dowel stop gauge to make sure the lattice was lining up and keeping square. The dowel gauge was handy because it was able to span the whole length of the  tool holder.

The lattice was spaced so it would fit the hangers exactly, I even made it a little bit closer so the hangers and hooks would fit very snug, this way they would not fall out when you are handling tools. I found this a problem with the peg boards. 

I dry fit the lattice and used spacers and made sure everything was correct. I then took out all the pieces in the exact order and laid then on the workbench. You don't want to start glueing and find a mistake.

A small line of glue is put on each strip.

After each piece is glued and measured some weights are used for clamping. The weights do not have to sit to long, I use Titebond 2 which has a strong initial tack  so a few minutes will be fine. The glue joints must not be stressed for at least 24 hours.

The tool holder on my workbench waiting for the glue to dry. The next step is to fill it with tools.

Small cases are made to fit drill bits, sanders and other tools. 

After each small holder was made a couple of holes were drilled in the back to fit the hooks. They had to be marked exactly to fit in the  vertical part of the lattice.

Conclusion: 

Making  tool holders is a must for any shop. This is a great tool storage solution and is easy to build, you just need a little patience to make the lattice. The lattice and hooks make it easy to move tools around without drilling new holes.

I think it looks better than a peg board, it has a clean look and is a great system for placing many different tools. Mine did not cost me a cent since I made it from scraps in my shop.

    

                     Country Cabinet                                   Tool Caddy                                      Key Cabinet