STOP Wasting Time and ORGANIZE Your Tools | Free Plans!

This hand tool storage cabinet not only organized my chisels, planes, and sharpening stones, but it also helped me to stop wasting time in the shop looking for tools.  Check out the build and customize this storage cabinet to your needs!  Thanks to my friends at Kreg Tool, I’ve made the plans for this hand tool storage cabinet available on their site for free!

Save money on these tools I used for this project:

Grab your tools

To start things off grab all of the tools you want to organize with this cabinet and lay them out how to want to organize them.

Make custom tool holders

These tool holders are pretty simple to make and you can use anything from pine to exotic wood.  In the plans (linked below) you’ll find all of the dimensions I used for my chisels, draw knife, and mallet.  You’ll likely need to tweak things to fit your tools.

Make plane shelves

I have two planes that I needed to make shelves for.  The first step was to mill a piece of wood to be just larger than the base of my plane.  I cut a shallow groove in the shelf that lines up with the blade location of the plane.  This way you can set the plane on its sole (bottom) without dulling the blade or always having to retract the blade.

Next I milled up some stock to be about 3/16” thick and about an ⅛” taller than the thickness of your plane shelves.  Cut miters (or use butt-joints) and glue them to the front and sides of each shelf.  This provides a “lip” and prevents the plane from inadvertently slipping off the shelf.  I used Starbond Brown CA glue since I’m working with walnut, but Starbond Medium CA glue would be a great choice for light colored woods.

Cut the back

Once all of the tool holders and plane shelves are made, arrange them on your bench (with the tools in/on them) and make sure there is enough space around them to put the items away and retrieve the items from the holders and shelves.  Take some measurements to determine how big the back piece for your cabinet needs to be.  

Pocket holes

Drill pocket holes around the perimeter of the back.  Start 2” from each corner and drill holes every 4-6 inches.

Cut frame

Mill lumber as shown in the plans to make the frame for your cabinet.  Adjust the length as necessary to fit your back piece.

Assemble the cabinet

 Secure the frame pieces to the back with 1-¼” pocket hole screws.  Secure the top and bottoms of the frame together with 1-¼” pocket holes screws through the counterbored holes and cap with plugs.

Flush cut plugs

With the plugs installed, cut/sand them flush.

Apply finish

Finish tool holders and plane shelves as desired.  I used a new finish from Bidwell that is a simple wipe on and buff off hardwax oil.

Attach tool holders

Install the tool holders with 1-¼” pocket hole screws through their counterbored holes.  Install the plane shelves with 2” and 2-½” screws through pre-drilled holes in the back and the plane holders where desired.  Pre-drilling the holes will help to insure shelves are installed accurately and prevent the shelves from splitting.  (This is more critical if using hardwood for the shelves.)

Load up your cabinet with tools!

Now comes the moment you’ve been waiting for.  Load up that cabinet and live life a bit more organized!

Get the Plans!

Follow the link to head over to Kreg’s website and grab the free plans!

As always, if you have any questions or comments just let me know. And until next time, have fun making something!

Kreg Tool provided me with product and/or monetary compensation as a sponsor of this post. All opinions are my own and are not influenced by the sponsor. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

Products specifications are sourced on each product page linked above with each item.