How to Build a Tool Storage Book

Ron considers himself lucky to have a great workshop, where he can spread out and take all the room he needs. But for many, that's not the case. Many folks have to try to fit everything into a small basement or a garage. This was particularly true for Ron's friend Jeff, whose workshop is down in the basement, cramped into the corner. Ron couldn't wait to show Jeff his great, space saving tool storage system. Ron's finished storage system would look like a giant book mounted right on the wall. Ron had built a demo wall and on it, he and Jeff together built the tool book. Then Jeff was able to take it home and redesign and reconfigure it to fit his own space and tools.

Click Here For a list of what you will need in order to complete this project.

1. Wall studs

• Because the storage book was a particularly heavy unit, it was important that they attach it to the wall studs. The first step was to find these studs. To do this they used an electronic stud sensor.

• Jeff placed the stud finder on the wall and pushed the button on the side. As he slowly slid the sensor to the right, he watched for the a little red light to pop up on the top.

• After locating and marking the left edge of the wall stud, he moved the sensor over about a foot to the right and then slowly moved it back toward the left. He pushed the button on the side again, this time looking for the other edge of the first wall stud.

• After Jeff had located all 4 studs, Ron asked him to measure across the wall and give him the measurement from the center of the first stud to the center of the second, the center of the second to the center of the third, and so on.

• As Jeff read off the measurements, Ron marked them on a 2x4.

• They needed to put up two 2x4s to support the storage system, so Ron used a carpenter's square and pencil to carry the line across both of the 2 X 4s he had laid out.

• They drilled holes all the way through the 2 X 4s where they had marked the lines.

• First they attached the upper piece to the wall, right where they had marked the wall studs and checked for level before making the attachments.

• They repeated the process with the second 2 X 4 below.

• With both cleats screwed directly into the wall studs they had a very strong foundation to attach the plywood panels. When attached to the cleats, the plywood panels would look like the leaves of a book. The panels attached with hinges, and could swing in either direction allowing Ron to mount tools to either side and then fold the panels toward the wall so they would take up less space.

3. Attach hinges to panels

• The hinges were attached to the panels first, and then these hinged panels were attached to the cleats. To mount the hinges onto the panels, Ron first drilled small pilot holes in the wood, directly in the center of each hinge hole. To do this he used a special drill bit called a self-centering bit.

• When the retracting sleeve of this bit is pushed into the center of the hinge hole, it automatically positions the drill exactly in the center of the hole.

• They attached all of the hinges to the panels.

4. Attach panels to cleats

• Each panel would be hinged directly to the cleat allowing the panel to pivot back and forth, but there was a problem. When Ron tried to swing the panel beyond a certain point, the edge of the plywood bound against the cleat.

• To prevent this, they mounted small blocks on the cleats and then mounted the hinges on top of the blocks. This moved everything away from the cleats a little bit so they could swing freely. The blocks were attached first by glue…