Thursday, January 28, 2010

Saw Storage Upgrade


Recently I decided to change the way I store some of my saws. My old way was working fine, but I was ready for an upgrade that would make me happier. First let's look at how I had been doing things.

I organize the saws in my shop into two groups: those used with the saw bench, and those used at the main workbench.

The first group live in my saw till:


I'm not going to change the till. I'm very happy with it. It hangs on the wall near my saw bench, and keeps the saws conveniently within reach. These are rip and cross cut hand saws. Why so many? Well, having various ppi, set, length etc. can sure add up. But honestly, I'd have to say that five of these saws handle some 95% of my work at the saw bench.

The second group of saws consists of cross cut and rip backsaws, dovetail saw, coping saws, a funky compass saw, hack saws, and some Japanese style pull saws and my turning and frame saw. Most of these saws hang on a wall panel at one end of my bench (the bow and frame saws hang on the wall next to the panel).

Here's a shot of the panel I've been using for years:


When I first decided to make the panels for tool storage in my shop, I went with peg board because I liked the idea of easily rearranging the tools as my collection grew. But I've always disliked the metal peg board hooks. I just don't like the way they look. So I made my own holding devices out of wood and attached them with screws from the back. The grid of holes made spacing and keeping things level easy.

Here's an image of the empty panel showing the various holding devices:


And here's a shot of the back showing the screws and washers:


This method has worked very well, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an affordable, relatively pleasant looking, easy to build, customizable, tool storage system.

But the peg board had served its purpose. After years of use and adjustment, I knew what I wanted and how best to arrange it - for me it was time to move on. My new panel would be solid wood and much nicer to look at on a daily basis.

I'll talk about the new panel in my next post.


11 comments:

  1. The wood-handled hacksaw is a serious looking tool. Do you know who the manufacturer is?

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  2. I like all of upgrades but especially like the design of the saw till. Pretty cool.

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  3. Mitchell - Sadly, no. It works great though. I picked it up, and its friend too, in the back room of an antique store in southern Oregon. I have noticed a few similar ones go by on eBay...

    Jeff - Thanks!

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  4. Thanks for your post--great blog. Is that the Vaughn Bear Saws that I see? I have thought about purchasing at least one of them. What do you think of the saws?

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  5. Dan,
    looking forward to seeing what you come up with- I really love the panel saw till- this is something on my list of work shop furniture.
    keep well.
    Tom

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  6. Matt - Thanks! I'm glad you like the blog.

    Regarding the saws: I like them quiet a bit. I'm sure they are a far cry from the real thing, but they work surprisingly well. They cut clean and fast and are fairly inexpensive. You can't sharpen them, so they are "disposable", which I don't like so much. I save my dead blades for various uses.

    Tom - The new saw panel is not as cool as the till - much simpler. But, as I know you can appreciate, it makes me happy. I'll get the post up soon.

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  7. Beautiful work, and an inspirational website.

    I've also started blogging about my (comparatively small) shop:
    http://bowsaw.wordpress.com/

    Best regards,
    Ross Henton

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  8. Waitin', waitin' waitin'--Very interested to see what you're going to do here in case I get more of a saw problem and need to do a spinoff of the saw till.

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  9. Ross - Thanks for the compliment - and your blog looks great!

    Brian - Me too! Well, sort of. The new panel is done, but I'm just trying to find the time to get the post finished. Last night I had time to work on the post, or in the shop, but not both. Guess which won ;)

    Maybe tomorrow...

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  10. Dan,

    this is a great website. I spent a lot of time reading through your posts. Thanks for all the inspiration, I surely will follow your blog closely.

    All the best from Germany,

    Michael

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  11. Very nice blog post, Thanks for sharing this informative content. Always keep sharing. latest panel saws

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