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wood turning tool rackMy list of woodworking projects seems never ending and from time to time and make an effort to finish some of my "priorities", like this tool holder and stand for my woodturning tools. I have had my tools sitting in a cardboard box for to long, yes it keeps them together but the problem is that some of the tools are carbide tipped and if the carbide is allowed to bump against steel from other tools, there is a high risk the carbide will chip or break because carbide is very brittle.

The other issue of course is that cardboard attracts moisture, or at least it retains moisture which means if the boxe is not stored in a warm dry place there is a risk the tools will start getting rusty. I need to avoid this risks by finally making myself a storage place and something I can use whenever I am using my lathe.

The best way to solve this issues quickly is to finally make some sort of working tool rack that can also double as a storage unit and maybe even something that I could put doors on to help keep out dust and to a degree recuse moisture exporsure.


Watch this and other similar videos on YouTube - https://youtu.be/az-W5UOKhUA

I had a quick look on the Internet so see if there was anything I like and I decided there were a couple that fit my situation and with a bit of modification I could make something unique to what I need. The first step was to lay out all my tools on my workbench to see exactly what kind of space I would need and what the dimensions of the storage/stand would be ...

I wanted to make something that would not only stand alone by it'self on my workbench, but would also be able to hang on the wall when not in use. Since I am currently trying to clean out my bits and pieces of lumber and plywood that has accumulated of the past few years, it was easy to find some smaller boards that would work for this. I also found a nicke pice of used plywood I could re-use and I thought that dying it a bit darker color would help to make the tool holder look nicer and make the turning tools stand out a bit more with the contrast, and so I dyed the plywood a darker, walnut type color.

I then went about cutting all the sides of the carcass of the frame, making sure to leave enough space for joinery, which, after little thought I picked my Dowelmax jig, just because it is quick, easy and makes strong joints. As a side note, one of the recent additions to my doweling tool is the depth gauge setter offered by Dowelmax on their website. I had been doing this all by hand but this little, recently acquired jig worked like a dream ... another quick and easy accessory.

Once the carcass was done, time to make the cut-outs to hold the actual tools, I needed both and upper "U" shaped for the upper part of the tool and some sort of round cut-out for the bottom of the tool.  As it turned out both were easy, by cutting holds in a couple of pieces of wood I had selected, as you can see in the video, then trimming and modifying them to fit the tools perfectly.

The tool stand I was making was being made with the idea in mind that at some point in the future I might be adding to my turning tool collection so i wanted it to have at leas some offering of being easily modified, so after making the inserts for the tools and trimming the back to size, I decided to use some brass screws to hold these components all toghter. This way if ... in the future ... I decide to add more tools, I can easily re-make the top and bottom tool holding racks which means I could add, probably 3 or more tools to this collection in the future.

I also decided that since the holder/rack would be hanging on a wall and be taken down every time I need to use the turning tools, it would be best to secure them so that none of the tools would fall out during that transport. To facilitate this, I simple added some twist bars on the top tool holder rack that were held on with even more brass screws and thus making them part of the accent of the build.

I finished the tool holder up with a storage place in the back and a cabinet cleat on the top back that makes it easy to hand on a wall ... and it works just great. Now I no longer have to worry my turning tools will get rusty, nor do I have to worry about the carbide getting chipped because all the tools have an easy to access, easy to store holding rack.

Copyright Colin Knecht
woodworkweb.com