There is a reason that the image of a hand plane is on so many business cards for woodworkers and business that do woodworking. The hand plane has become a symbol of woodworking and is recognized around the world as such. For me, moving them to a wall mount rack wasn't about the woodworkers spirit moving me to do so, it was all about freeing up more room in my woodworking cabinet.
For some reason I seem to have accumulated a few more tools over the past few years and finding a place to put them is at a premium. Storing hand planes on their side, in a drawer is fine, if you don't need the room for other things ... which I did. I felt the only reasonable alternative would be move them out of the drawer where they really were taking up much more space than needed, and moving them on to a wall rack would make good sense.
This was not a complex build but because you everyone has different planes and different numbers of them it's pretty hard to work from plans. And so, another "build it on the fly" project began ...
I knew 2 things. Where the rack was going to go, and how many planes I currently wanted to hang on the rack.
First of all the rack needs to be in place that can be securely attached to the wall. Many of these planes are made from cast iron and dropping them on the concrete floor, at best will damage the plane, at worst will break it in two, which I found out the hard way with one of my rabbeting planes. I still have all the parts if you need anything.
I measured the planes and decided on a width and length that I could work with, and one that would allow me to add more planes in the future. I also use a few scrap pieces of wood to use as spacer and figured out what size they would need to be and all that gave me a nice balanced look for what the rack would look like.
I needed this rack to be constructed of good solid materials, and glued where ever possible to ensure the planes would not be at risk of falling out or being damaged in anyway by unforeseen forces.
Half inch plywood formed the base and oak cross members would ensure that the foundation of the rack would be solid and firm, especially when it the pieces were glued together.
Making the top and bottoms of the planes to sit in was a bit of a challenge, and each plane needed it's own special system. The idea was that the planes would sit in the rack while it was vertical, but they could be easily removed and replaced, but still held securely in the rack while not in use.