Tool Storage in a Tool Cabinet

I’m working on yet another chisel rack for my tool cabinet. One of the things plans and magazine articles don’t tell you about tool cabinets is that the actual storage devices are constantly changing as your tool kit grows and adapts to your style of working. In fact I think it is safe to say that you should ignore anything anybody tells you about how to organize your tools. File away their designs for your own consideration but NEVER replicate it exactly without a lot of consideration.

Not only will the methods of storing your tools change but where you store them and how you access them will change. When I built my tool cabinet as a “final” project in Hand Tool School Semester 1, I specifically told my members that I was going to hold off on the last video in the project that details the actual devices for storing planes and chisels, etc. I told them I wanted to live with the cabinet for a bit and build some projects while working from the cabinet. A year went by and I made a lot of changes to where I stored the tools. I made several gizmos that held my saws on the back wall of the cabinet, a couple fancy card scraper holders, chisel racks, and drawer dividers only to tear them out and start over when I realized I was making life harder for myself by interrupting my work flow.

There is also the tendency to “Studley-ify” you tool cabinet or chest and have a niche or cubby perfectly crafted for every tool that is then layered on top of one another so that nothing shifts in place. The result is an engineering feat that elicits many oohs and aahs from those that see it. In the end I find this kind of organization to be counterproductive in the heat of a project and far too static to adapt to a changing tool set.

Perhaps these elements are the things that have contributed to the explosion of floor chests of late (thank you Mr Schwarz) because they are so incredibly flexible with room to grow and no need to have french fitted tool slots. I have worked out of these chests at the museum and do really appreciate this flexibility. In my own shop I have always gravitated to the wall hung cabinet because I do not sacrifice floor space and can use this space instead for saw benches, shave horses, sleeping dogs, etc.

The truth is I don’t think I will ever be done mucking around with how my tools are stored in my cabinet. I think that is the point of a good tool cabinet/chest. It is a living thing that when it works well becomes invisible, completely out of the way of your work. Everything you need is just where it needs to be and the tools flow into and out of it without your notice. In some instances I have very specific holders where specific tools go in specific places (like my chisels) and in other instances I have an open drawer where stuff just goes and only I know where it is. I have some tools grouped by task knowing that I will always use those tools together (dovetail kits, inlay kits) and while I may not need them often, when I do need them I need all of them at once. These are just a few of the many situations that come up and dictate how you should store your tools.

So sorry if you came to this article thinking you would get a glimpse inside my cabinet and ideas for how to stash your precious tools. How I do it isn’t a secret, but how I do it should never be a guide for how you do it. The “best” way to figure out how to store tools in your cabinet or chest is to build some stuff. It will become very apparent what you need ready access to and what can live at the bottom of the drawer under other stuff.

And most important…

Make any solution your implement temporary. I guarantee you will change it at some point in the future.