I've been running out of room for my tools and needing a way to pack a lot of tools into a small space and have them still easily at hand. I've been building a tool storage rack the past few days that consists of a 2x4 frame holding up a few 7/16 strandboard panels attached to heavy duty drawer slides. Slide the panel out and there's a "wall" full of tools, and you can use both sides if your layout allows. My panels are about 50" x 24" each and so far are holding more than I expected, but I've run into an issue when it comes to holding my selection of pliers and similar shaped items. I purchased some of the magnetic tool strips from HF, which were a major disappointment for anything but my putty knives. I did some poking around on the web in search of ideas, and came across a fellow who uses chest handles mounted upside down to hold his pliers. These are the handles that flop down out of the way but lift up 90 degrees when you need to lift the chest. However, they aren't cheap, and continuing on with that thinking I looked at a bunch of cheap plastic drawer handles, which so far seem to be about the right size to do the job, but they don't look so incredibly sturdy to handle long term abuse. I'm not willing to spend more than a dollar to hang each tool, and believe me there's plenty of ways to store your tools out there that are expensive! I was willing to settle for plain steel handles, but I need to find a source that's a bit cheaper than Home Depot, and the ones they sold were a bit too wide inside. So I'm on a quest for simple and inexpensive solutions to store pliers (and my ratchets if you have a good one!) on a wall that doesn't take up much horizontal space. I'll use nails if I have to, but the wood is a bit thin (in retrospect, maybe thicker plywood would have been better!) and I'd like something that will hold many different sizes and kinds without having them fall off if I bump the rack into something rolling it around.
- posted
18 years ago