[davidinsarasota]

Here's mine. Call it toolrack 1.0

TOOLRACK RESIZED.jpg

[RussL.]

David,

It looks orderly and solid. Well done.

I'm not sure I'd be too comfortable with all those sharp ends pointed up at me, but if it works for you, more power to you.

RussL.

[achaundy]

This is my sit down work table, I have a nice comfortable chair to sit in so i built this to work on. The stand is moveable. Skip

[Tom H]

Skip, That's about the cleanest design and carving table -tool rack I've seen. Where's all the chips, scraps, and saw dust?

Tom H

[Donald K. Mertz]

I am grateful to Thomp in this message board for letting me (and the rest of us) know about the "ice tube trays" making functional tool racks. I purchase them at Wal-Mart for under four dollars (Thomp has another source). They work fine as "free standing" tool racks holding twenty seven tools, both palm size and knives. I have also customized them to fit into carrying bags by cutting them to size. In the attached photo one "ice tube tray" was cut into two pieces, one with fifteen holes and the other with twelve holes and each one was inserted into a "screw and nail" bag that can be purchased from Harbor Freight for under four dollars. In the left hand corner of the photo on the floor is a "craft tote bag" purchased from Wal-Mart for under ten dollars, in which another "ice tube tray" was cut to fit inside the craft tote with twenty one hole tool rack and the remaining part of tube tray making a free standing six hole tool rack seen between the two "screw and nail" bags. Right above the craft tote on the left corner of the cabinet top is a "ice tube tray" tool rack with twenty seven tools resting. The black tool rack to its right is one I made out of a card board four by six inch card catalog box in which I cut twenty seven holes to receive palm handled tools. Behind the black tool rack is a Robert Clarke tool tote designed by Dave Stetson. The photo also shows many multiple drawered tool cabinets that hold tools. This is an area I call "Carving Central" where I do most of my carving activities. For a more descriptive view of "Carving Central" I invite you to visit my Blog at www.woodbeecarver.com and I thank Thomp as well as all the other contributers to WCI Message Board for all the neat ideas I pick up with ever visit. Wood carvers are the best folk around, .

[achaundy]

Tom it turns out that I was painting my last carving, so I cleaned up a little. Things don't usually look that clean. Skip

[Callynne]

What an excellent thread this is and what creative and impressive tool holders are shown here, Wow!!

I too have the 'Bucket Tool Holder' that xsailer posted a picture of, it's perfect for me, all the blades are visable and the tool I want quickly accessable.

However, while I'm working I just lay all my carving tools down on my portable carving table, pretty soon I have a jumble of them, some carelessly pointing in the wrong (towards me ) direction!

That won't be happening after I go shopping this week and pick up some of those 'bottle opening size' ice cube trays (duhhhh.....didn't even know they had such a thing!). Thank you so much Thomp, for that tip! Not only will it keep all the tools I'm using at the time safely, it will keep them up out of the chips and visable.....no more hunting around for the one I need at that moment!

I think I'll pick up an extra one for when I'm painting, for the brushes I'm using at the time. Right now I just keep the ones I'm using in a glass, that bunches them all in together, with the ice cube trays I could keep them separated by brush sizes. I use a lot of different size brushes when I paint, sure would simplify things! Thanks for the great idea, Thomp!! I love it! Deborah
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[Thomp]

Donald and Deborah, thanks for revisiting that previous suggestion on the ice trays.

the ice tube trays work really nice for normal length palm tools.

but for knives and longer tools i like to line the inside with a piece of the clear plastic tubing to keep the cutting edge from touching the bottom of the tube, its like big aquarium air hose.

im a firm believer that letting the cutting edge or point rest or support the will dull it eventually during the jostling around,

i get mad at myself when i get wrapped up in carving and let the tools collect willy nilly on the bench because thats where you get nicks in the cutting edges... and thats too much work for a small bit of lazyness

from the attachment the aa size battery for size comparison, can be found at lowes or other home improvement


i too have cut the trays down the length removing the center section,
the tool knobs were to tight being crowded on 2 sides, i left the bottom seal alone, which makes a nice place to store slip strops and such
see last 3 photos

[imahic]

Thanks for some great ideas. I think I might have to slip off to the dollar store to see if I can find some of those ice tube trays. Never knew they made such a critter, but then I don't normally browse those areas of the store...lol. Thanks for getting the gears to turning. Mike

[Thomp]

mike,
we had one old rack we used to freeze kool aid in for the kids so for the last few years i been using it to poke the silverware in to dry when its my turn to wash dishes
so i just migrated the one to my carving bench for a couple days, wallaah!

the wife got me 3 more next trip into town..