I am rapidly running out of room for my lathe tools. I have a box with compartments for about a half dozen, a canvas roll for another dozen or so and still I have lathe gouges and chisels rolling around my lathe bench and generally scattered all over. As I expect my collection to continue to grow, I need to get a handle on this now and develop some sort of rack to organize them. I don't have a lot of wall space left, but I could free up some by taking down some shelves. Any brilliant innovative ideas? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Barry
PS Ever notice that every tool that falls on a concrete floor always lands cutting edge first?
Hey Barry- A while ago there was this same discussion and someone had a tool rack made from a discarded greeting card display. Not the wire- spinny one but the large multi-card thing in grocery or card shops. IIRC, they put some wheels on it and used PVC tubes to hold the tools upright. I think it held a few dozen tools or at least looked like it.
I hope I'm not the only one who remembers this- it was, and still is, a pretty clever use/recycle idea.
I seem to recall something like that too. I think I saw a photo in a magazine or somewhere. It sounds much better than the 5-gallon plastic bucket I've been considering.
My shop space is limited, so when I looked for a solution to storing tools safely, I attached a couple of magnet knife holders to the wall adjacent to the lathe. These are nicely-made wood items with two linear magnetic strips inset into their faces. Even my largest roughing gouge stays securely in place. The good ones, at cooking stores, cost about $20 apiece.
I dropped a skew when I reached for it and didn't get a grip on it yesterday. It fell straight down onto the butt of the handle, just as it hangs.
My wall space is too valuable to hang tools on, besides, I keep changing the position of my woodlathe. My solution is a circular caddy, about 14 inches/ 350mm diameter mounted on a vertical pole. Base is an old car wheel or whatever you have, with a piece of pipe welded or otherwise fixed to it, height to suit you, mine is about elbow level. The caddy is made from two pieces of wood, MDF/plywood fixed with a 3"/75mm spacer between them. I made a larger diameter hole in the centre spacer for the pipe to fit in so the caddy is free to rotate, you may need to add another piece underneath to stop wobble. I used a pipe flange & larger pipe for mine. Before assembly cut identical holes and slots for your chisels in two rows around the caddy, leaving enough space between the rows to grip the chisels when removing them. Mine holds about 20 chisels and is easily moved by tilting and rolling to wherever it is to be stored or used. HTH Alan, in beautiful Golden Bay, Western Oz. VK6 YAB VKS 737 - W 617
Thanks, that sounds like what I had in mind............but I already have more than 20 tools. Maybe I just need to get rid of some of the old tools that I use only rarely. I have a full set (8) of old, carbon steel Buck chisels, an old set (10) of carbon steel Sorby's with orange handles which I am replacing with high speed steel (now have about 10) as the need arises. Add to that a set (3) of Kelton hollowers and a Sorby bowl gouge and multi-tip hollowing tool.
Hi Barry I don't know about brillant or innovative, but here's what I did. I made a frame out of poplar and peg board (as a backing and stiffener). I drilled holes evenly spaced in the poplar strips on a drill press, large enough to fit the brass collars of my tools, but not so wide the tool would slip through. I used two strips, one which holds the brass collar and the other which holds the cutting end of the tool. I place them in with the cutting surface facing down, and a small "lip" along the bottom for odds and ends. Works great, and I have about 20 tools being held this way. Robert
innovative ideas? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
I pretty much have the same setup. Made from scrap plywood and secured to the shop wall behind and to the side of the lathe. They don't seem to get too dusty there and are easily accessible without having to lean over the lathe.
Ditto. My frame in on the floor. So my problem is distinquishing between the tools when all of the handles look alike from the top-down view. So I've been toying with ideas of identifying the different tools by the end view. Custom handles help. Re-shaping the ends also help (Flat scraper has a flat end, etc.)
I have very little wall space too, so I grabbed an old 5 gallon paint bucket, bought some 2", 1-1/2" and 1" PVC and cut lengths to the depth of the bucket. Most tools are in sleeves that stop the tool at the ferrule. A few longer tools are in the larger diameter PVC so that the tool goaes all the way to the bottom. I sprinkled the bucket with dry shaving to protect the cutting edges as they ht the bottom. My bucket holds almost 30 tools.
A few tips on use. I put all my tools with handles up. I have found that I always return the tools to (almost) the same locations so they are usually easy to find without seeing the steel. I made some of the tubes in the middle of the bucket taller so that those tools would stand proud of the perimeter tools. This works well to a point. Since I don't spin my bucket around, the tools on the far side of the bucket become more difficult to access with the raised tools in the middle. I now have the far tubes the tallest, or I stick the lesser used tools there. Generally, the shorter handle tools are on the perimeter and the loner handle tools are in the middle. For tools with matching handles, I identify tools with the following tricks: location in the bucket; I write on the butt end of the handle with a permanent marker; an on some Sorby tools, I've purposely dented the brass tip. Colored markers would work too.
I've considered getting one of those bucket caster gizmos to put the bucket on, but I have so many chips on the floor that rolling the bucket around would become difficult.
I built two lazy susan racks. The longer tools go in the center holes with the shorter ones in the holes around the outside ring of holes. I also use PVC to cover the ends of the tools for safety. The racks can be moved when needed.
Made a cabinet out of scrap plywood about two foot across and 18 inches deep. Big bottom section holds big/odd stuff, two drawers for chucks, facelplates, assorted stuff, on top is my grinder and my tools. Used pvc pipe, screwed pipe caps to the surface then glued lengths of pipe. I put all my tools in handle first so I can pick and choose easily, plus all is right next to the grinder. The whole thing is on wheels so it is always close at hand and real handy for me. Its always being "redesigned" as I need it to be. When it is finally toast it'll be no big loss, just the price of pvc pipe and I'll switch the wheels over to whatever replaces it. Have fun, Guy
A well known turner once did a demonstration for Magnolia Woodturners and he dropped a tool. He immediately put both hands behind him before the tool hit the floor, wonder if he'd ever tried to catch one before it hit the floor? I have a tool caddy that was built after seeing one of a fellow turner. Don't remember where he got the idea and I don't have the plans but maybe you can get some ideas. It has two 6 inch wheels, not visible, on the back and two casters on the front so it can be moved easily by rolling. The lazy susans are mounted on a section of 1" iron pipe. It also has a lazy susan on top that holds accessories such as drive centers and chucks. A photo is located on the page at the following link.
Yep. I learned that one from the woodcarvers myself. Never try to catch a falling tool. It's far easier to sharpen a chipped edge than to reattach a finger. Not that I've ever dropped a tool .... or had a catch.
If you don't leave 'em in the shavings, how do you cut yourself when rummaging for "the" tool?
I have magnetic strips to hold 'em. Before someone chimes in - NO, I don't care if the tools are magnetized. Problem with this, as with most edge up methods, is that tools have various lengths of handle, so you need a couple heights if you're going to support the bottom of the tool. Advantage is no matter where you put it, you can see which tool is where, unlike handle up or handle out storage.
By using your wall space and piano hinge creatively, you can get three/four layers of tools with a door and a tip-out tool cabinet.
Not a chime George, but when my tools inadvertently become magnetized I spend time wiping metal filings from the grinder area off them. They are as tenacious as do-do on a shoe sole. No big problem, but it is a small aggravation. How do you avoid this catastrophe? :) Arch
Say George, Thanks for the tip. I have several of those powerful magnets one can get by ripping the innards out of a hard drive. They oughta have the ooomph to hold a bowl gouge in place. I feel a project coming up for this weekend.
Never noticed. But I take mine from the wheel to work, sometimes without stopping rotation, so I suppose they just fall off.
Other thing, which may help, is that I grind the way my carving teacher said to grind - not the edge, but TO the edge, which, I suppose, means a lot of the stuff is carried under rather than over. First spark over is the end of the grind. One-two light passes.
Hey, use 'em all over the shop. My bandsaw has the appropriate hex wrench held to it by a magnet. My Belt/Disk sander uses no fewer then three sizes of hex wrenches, attached to same by magnets. Chuck key on the DP? You guessed it.
Then there's rough-out time when I use speaker magnets to hold the sheet draped over the edge and down the floor to catch most shavings. Gather four edges at the end of a couple of bowls and do a Santa out to the heap. Two is about as much as a double will comfortably hold, and forty minutes is about what I can do before I have to drain the liquid I feed my stones. Works out great.
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