Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Tool Holders

Or: What to do with a few scraps of wood and a few hours of unexpected free time.

When I designed my tool cabinet about 7 years ago, I carefully arranged sketches of my handtools on gridded paper.

Well, needs change, priorities change, and minds change, so my half empty cabinet looks a bit different than the original design.

When faced with a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do but weed the flower beds—a most egregious task—I decided instead to make a couple tool holders for my dovetail and tenon saws and my little mallet.

The saw holders are simple—just a block of wood that matches the shape of the inside of the handles, and little turnbuttons to keep the saws from sliding off the blocks of wood.

The mallet holder mimics the shelf that holds the chisel rack.

Also pictured are two Mag-Bloks (which work extremely well) that I bought from Lie-Nielsen to hold gouges and floats.

So after I made the tool holders, I looked around to see what other handtools needed to be hung in the cabinet. Shockingly, and to my utter dismay, I found that everything—everything!—already had a home in some compartment, drawer, or shelf.

And we know what that means, don't we?
Time to go tool shopping!

13 comments:

Shannon said...

I really like those magbloks. Is there any truth to the statement that it will make them difficult to sharpen later if the tools become magnetized?

Yeah for tool shopping!

Auguste Gusteau said...

Brrr... Magnetic holder... Vade retro satana... ;-)

Anonymous said...

wonderful tool cabinet but please dispell the rumor that holds me back from a magnetic tool bar that it does not affect sharpening when needed due to the metal eventually becoming magnetized. Is there a quick way to demagnetize and than sharpen?

Kari Hultman said...

Hmm, that's news to me about the magnetic tool holders. I can't believe that L-N would sell a product that would affect our tools in such a way, so I doubt there's any truth to the rumor. BUT, if anyone knows otherwise, please let us know.

Anonymous said...

Nice job, Kari. It's slowly coming along together but I agree: you seem like a lady that needs some shopping time. What are you waiting for? You can still fit plenty of hand-tools there.

Regarding the comment on magnetized tools, I can't offer any scientific reasoning but this never prevented me from saying my word. :o)

I do believe that the rumor comes from the fact that the metal shavings generated during the sharpening process tend to stick to the tool if it is magnetized. Dragging this metallic slush is obviously no good for your edges.

Still, magnetizing a very thin screwdriver is quite easy but a chunky gouge, I'm not so sure about how much power x time it would take. Also, at any big-box store there are some cheapo tools on sale with the specific purpose of magnetizing and demagnetizing tools.

Kari Hultman said...

Thanks for the explanation, Jojo. I have a message into L-N asking about this and will let everyone know what they say.

Bob Tinsley said...

Ah, cabinets with space in them. I remember those days -- NOT!

Bob

Eric Madsen said...

Looks great... your way more organized than I me... even your pencils have individual storage!

Gary Roberts said...

Kari... you clearly have too much time on your hands. My garden is currently a jungle of weeds due to the rainiest June in history. Please stop by and use up some of that free time for weeding.

Kari Hultman said...

Okay, I heard back from L-N and here is the response:

It is true that over time you will notice the chisels becoming magnetized. I have not however noticed any problem with sharpening. The same thing will happen from excessive grinding on sandpaper or in some cases off a grinder. All that will happen is that some of the metal filings from the swarf on the stone will be attracted to the blade. These wipe off with no problem. Please let me know if you need any other assistance.

Cheers,

Deneb

Woodbloke said...

Hi Kari - I've always assumed that it's no good whatsoever planning the interior of a tool cabinet, however appealing the idea might seem. It makes the assumption that the quantity of tools to go in it is finite, but as you will have amply discovered by now, it takes no account of the 'Slope' An immaculately filled cabinet will always cry out for one more (or several, or lots!) of new tools to go into all the nooks and crannies - Rob

Kari Hultman said...

As another follow-up to the magnetizing question, I heard from the inventor of the Mag-Blok, Jameel (Khalaf) Abraham:

Dear Kari,

I also wanted to echo Deneb's words about tools getting magnetized. I've had my chisels (and carving tools) on prototype Mag-Bloks for over 10 years and I've never had any issues.

Cheers,
Jameel

naomi said...

More photos!! I think the Schwarz wrote about magnetisation and its impact on sharpening...