I have a sectional concrete garage so difficult to put any form of shelving but not impossible. I am looking for ways to store all my hand/power tools so they are neat,easy to grab and easy to see whats missing. I thought about a peg board may be home made or shop bought above my work bench. Trying to keep it all compact and close to hand as i want to clear out the plastic stand up shelves i currently have.This surely cant be the only solution but i seem to have had a brain freeze for ideas. What do you guys currently have set up?

Watches this with interest……

parts bins are v useful

http://www.bigdug.co.uk/storage-boxes-containers-c363/plastic-parts-bins-c364

I have two of these up. Highly recommended.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cwr50-metal-tool-board

I’ve recently discovered Pinterest – my wife and I are using it to share ideas for decorating our new house.

Search for workshop storage and there are loads of ideas…I’ve found a few that I’d consider using.

One thing I was previously aware of were French Cleats, I’m probably going to implement that for flexible shelving etc…nothing in the following picture is permanently attached to the wall…

Pinterest Link

Thanks, i have just signed up to pinterest so i will have a look. Pegboard seems the best way but when you need a few of them its quite an expensive option, i think nail in wood home version will be my choice. This means i am going to have to build some frame work into the garage wall (litres of no-nails i reckon) in order to have something to screw in to. Flexible shelving is a good idea as i never seem to get the location of tools right the first time and have to jiggle them around till i am satisfied.

In my old concrete garage I bonded sheets of 20mm MDF to the walls with no nails a like jollop. it was strong enough to hang bikes off.

Now I have “World of Wood” its a joy to fit stuff without worrying how to fix it 🙂

For most stuff I use magnetic tool rails off ebay, but made a nifty screwdriver rack with some 40mm galv cable tray.
Can’t post pictures from work but will do so later when home
Tool rails like these

Ikea magnetic knife racks are really good I’ve found.

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/60238645/

Magnetic tool racks are a pain if you work with metal filings though 😉

Well, yes though IME you can get them off without too much trouble – the Ikea ones have a mounting plate (which isn’t magnetic) and then the magnetic bit attaches to that so you can get them off (and blast with water for example)

DIY Shadow board?

Put up ply board(s) screws and hooks to hang tools from and then trace the outline of each tool with a marker so that any missing tool is obvious…

That french cleat system is a top idea. Might do something like this chap did in our cupboard at home. Obviously helps if you have a fully kitted out workshop like him though.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYbexqIH4IY[/video]

Two approaches to French Cleats that might interest:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Upi0GUwVw[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBRopVnX17k[/video]

About 25 years ago (really) I got fed up with my Dad having all his bike tools randomly stored in drawers & boxes around the garage and did a shadow board. It’s still there. And mostly still populated.

Northermatt – that video has some excellent effects in it but like you say that really does require a workshop. The cleat system is very interesting and i may adopt that on a smaller scale.
Mr overshoot did you bond an entire sheet as mdf is quite heavy and i guess you could only bond it to the parts where each sectional piece meet so not a massive glue area?
Had thought of the shadow board idea but it kind of cements where you need to keep pieces and i cant help but tinker with layout as i find out what i use pften and what i dont.

Here’s my effort. Its just an offcut of 18mm marine ply with panel pins bashed in. The basket shelves are cable management shelves i rescued from under a bunch of desks when we did and office return. I’m planning another wall full of them as they are handy for bits and pieces

Some good tips there thanks.
Think I’ll fix some ply to the wall then attach drilled out lengths of wood for screwdrivers/hex keys etc and screws & nails for hanging the other bits from.

Urgh shadow boards, tool cannons fired at the wall by most home users not ergonomic at all.

No reason batons cant be fixed to the sectional and any form of storage the rest of us use can be utilised.

Tool boxes here keeps my tools clean and organised. With a set of hex keys and screw drivers which i use often mounted on mag bars at my bench.

Got another bench the same as that down the wall on the left with my pillar drill , bench grinder and a number 4 record all securely bolted down and then my roll cab by the door- as i mostly work on the drive way as my projects are bigger than the garage is mostly.

I have no nailed small wooden slats to hold a few tools but i worry a large sheet and the weight of tools hanging may be too much for the glue given the poor surface its trying to adhere to. I figure i can put batons up vertically with no nails but for added security extend the bolts that hold the sectional pieces together and lace them through the batons, this will stop the baton falling over. Anyone tried this?

I’m with trailrat. Don’t try and get all your tools up, just the ones you use regularly. Everything else in boxes or drawers (labelled)

Cant you drill short hammerhit fixings into the sectional….i have in mine ( not that block garage in pic i have a second unit that is concrete sectional hateful piece of crap.)

I was so impressed with the board with just the hammer and duck tape, perfect 😀

All this talk of Shadow boards, no garage should be without a Shadow shelf, or at a push a Corniche shelf.

Im sure my benches weigh as much as your corniche…..but i get more mpg from them !

Trail Rat, yours may have travelled further than the Corniche in the last year.

Nearly all my small hand tools live on a peg board. BUT I put a lot of thought into where they went, what needs to be away from the kids and what I use most. As a result a lot more efficient than tool boxes. Compared to some up there it is fugly but in the eight months is been up I haven’t felt the need to relocate anything.

Crap peg board layouts are irritating.

60-70% of what the tools are used for happens next to the board. The rest is usually in the house and the right tools come up in a bucket or box then go straight back down when done.

On mine (if it helps) it is perpendicular to the work bench and stretches along about 3m of wall about 1m deep. I have diy/domestic stuff at the work bench end. Bike tools are at the other end (so handy for when bike is in the stand). In the middle is universal stuff like pliers,adjustable spanners, mallet, tape measure,clamps and stuff.

This works well for me, I think mainly because the whole building was built to be laid out this way. A really nice tool chest would have been a nice alternative but was too much of a floor space sacrifice for me.

All the car tools are in boxes as they are heavy and need to be lugged up the garden before they get used

Trailrat – i cant get any fixings in to my garage as it just blows the concrete out, too much aggregate in it. I couldnt agree more that they are hateful pieces of construction.
Is there a minimum thickness you would need to utilise the french cleat system

*looks wearily at tiny unlit ex-coal shed crammed to the roof with bikes, trailers, tools, and assorted stuff*

I hate you all.

*sulk*

looks wearily at tiny unlit ex-coal shed crammed to the roof with bikes, trailers, tools, and assorted stuff

mines at one end of the kitchen on a few rammed shelves and a couple of overflowing boxes – even worse! Once the workstand is up, it is hard to get to the cooker. Kettle is still in reach though.

Bah. At least you’re dry. There is no room in my shed so I have to setup the workstand in the backyard.
Not too bad in summer, but not great on a cold wet winters evening, working in the dark by torchlight.

I’ve even offered to buy or rent my neighbours garage 😀

True – nothing good is going to come of fettling outside in the rain.
Mind you I over-cooked last nights tea as I was also fitting some brakes at the time, and also split stans all over the floor when cooking the previous night’s tea too. 😳

Quality work.

*resists urge to launch into Four Yorkshiremen sketch*

hmmm, going that way 🙂 !

As I’m about to move to a bigger house with a garage I’m liking this thread.

Workbenches? Buy or make your own?

re workbenches – make your own if you have the time/skills , buy them if you have the cash – or the pragmatic way is to source second hand – if you can dismantle/transport a second hand bench you will get a usable bench fairly quickly and very cheaply – local pickup ebay/gumtree.

re workbenches – make your own if you have the time/skills , buy them if you have the cash – or the pragmatic way is to source second hand – if you can dismantle/transport a second hand bench you will get a usable bench fairly quickly and very cheaply – local pickup ebay/gumtree.

Yeah, Freecycle is your friend – the only thing I bought was a modular shelf/workbench system from Aldi, everything else was gifted (such as friends doing a house up gave me loads of loft boards). I had enough for back boards and work surfaces (ie, to fix the two Aldi modular workbenches together for an 8ft run) as well as enough to board out the trusses in the pitched roof of my garage for more storage space. The rest – additional storage shelves, lighting – downlighters and angle poise – and even a vice were all from Freecycle. Still on the lookout for a stereo and bar stool…

Ah, I see a french cleat project in my future now, Thanks Nothernmat for the vid.

Richmtb – i advise you make your own. Its requires very little skill (sawing wood and drilling holes is as technical as it gets). I built mine using only a drill and handsaw and it cost me £60 in timber and it is obviously the size i want and has the right shelving. I looked down the second hand routes but all required modifying for my needs. You also get the satisfaction of having made it yourself, loads of online stuff to get you started.

My bench is 2 x 4inch square fence posts at 8 quid each

1 sheet of 18mm ply for the top and back,2 lengths of 4×2 cls , one length of quarter round and a pack of damaged packet laminate for 6quid out of bnq for the work top.

The bottom shelf was scavenged from a mates decking

The box is built in – it was 50 quid out of bnq.

So about 100quid all in each bench as they stand . Significantly cheaper without the boxes

Blader

My workshop is log cabin construction so not good for screwing heavy stuff to the walls.

My tool board and elevated bike storage are both free standing.

The tool board has two vertical 4×2 legs that the peg board (screwed to a piece of sterling board) sits on top of. there are two smaller 2×2 legs that go right up the back to hold the board vertical.

It’s then held back to the wall with two tiny clips. Because the load is all vertical and the so long as it stays upright there’s no weight in those clips. To help even more you could take a very shallow angle off the back of the 4x2s.

The bike stand is a “gallows” construction to allow for the weight being forward of the uprights.