Drawer storage ideas

hobbydad · Post by **hobbydad** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:20 am

rdewinter wrote:1) empty plastic pill containers work with keeping small parts together, such as speciality screws, washers, or parts of a jig or tool.

My wife's grandfather would screw pill container tops to the bottom of a shelf. You could unscrew the container, take what you need, then screw it back in. It seems like this would work best with the "twist-lock" style of container like most prescription bottles.

Loren

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:43 pm

mbcabinetmaker wrote:Bob

That is a great idea on the saw blades. I have been contemplating a system. I have about 25 blades but plan to cull quite a few. I also have a lot of various containers. My wife saves everything from the house, and they come in handy. I also use Q tips but keep them in my pen organizer. Thank you for your tips.

Hi Mark,

That sounds like a very handy blade storage idea. There are several more on this forum. There is one that stacks them laying flat in a box with spacers between them (knot as handy as rdewinter's, but the box protects the cutting edges nicely), and another that allows you to keep an arbor on each blade so you do knot spend a lot of time changing blades; it hangs on your wall with overlapping slots for the blades. A search of the forum should reveal these and other member innovations to you.

Lodgepole · Post by **Lodgepole** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:11 pm

If you get a chance, there is a back issue of Wood magazine relating to a drawer organization project. In this project, they use perf board for the bottom. That way, you can cut various pieces of 1x to length, then place dowels in the bottom of the 1x that line up with the perf board holes. That way, in the future, you can change the organization of the drawer.

If you would like, I can look up this issues number and let you know the article's title?

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:45 pm

Thanks Lodgepole if you can find it that would be great. I have my hands full right now just trying to get semi organized. I plan to go back and reorganize every drawer and cabinet section one at a time after I get the shop operational again.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:09 pm

Here is an old shot of one section of wall in my old shop:
http://picasaweb.google.com/robinson46176/WoodShop#5325281153042619090
I don't see the bin units like the ones in the lower left of the picture any more. I still haven't removed these from the wall to move them to the new shop yet. They had a carry handle across the top of each one but I removed them and just screwed the bin holders to the wall up under a thick shelf that I built just to strengthen the old barn wall. I believe I paid about $10 each for these some years ago. I would like to find a few more just like these. They were just one of many things Wally World carried for a while then dropped. I would like to build a batch of these into a tower unit.

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:45 pm

robinson46176 wrote:Here is an old shot of one section of wall in my old shop:
http://picasaweb.google.com/robinson46176/WoodShop#5325281153042619090
I would like to build a batch of these into a tower unit.

Farmer,

I like those bins as well and would love to have some for a tower I am designing. Thanks also for sharing the picture of the hammer collection. fjimp

Lodgepole · Post by **Lodgepole** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:59 pm

If you get a chance, check out the May 2008 issue of Wood magazine. The page 48 article "Drawers Sized to Suit Shop Organizer". They used pegboard for the bottom of the drawers. The pegboard bottom also served as the runners for the drawers. The case was constructed to hold 3 different sized drawers as a mix and match.

On the Wood magazine website, one of the readers recommended placing a sheet of 1/4" pegboard in the drawer bottom. Then cut rectangular modules around each tool outline you want in the drawer. Then glue 2 - 1/4" dowels (to the heighth needed to keep tool in place) in opposite corners of each module. Place module, and tool, into pegboard bottom.

In one of my older Shopnotes, one of the tips was to use melamine pegboard as a drawer bottom. This one used standard drawer hardware. What I found interesting was he recommended using 1/4" dowels in 1/2 plywood dividers for shallow drawers. On deeper drawers he recommended using 1/2" plywood dividers with #8 x 3/4" round head wood screws to lock them in place.

In the near future, I hope I will be able to use these set ups in my next shop.

I hope this helps you out.

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:57 pm

This morning I put the ideas in this thread to work and organized some drawers for my router bits and shaper cutters. I really wanted to use the Lee Valley system that heathicus suggested but current financials did not allow. Here are some drawers done the old fashion way.

[ATTACH]5368[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]5369[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]5370[/ATTACH]

I am a long way from finished so keep the ideas coming.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:56 pm

Looks GOOD to me. I bet the price was right to.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:59 pm

That is a nice collection, Mark!