Chisel Holder

I have a modest collection of carving and bench chisels that were previously in a drawer and I have made the full conversion of trying to get the most used tools in the shop out into the open.

For those who haven’t been following along, I am converting one side of a 3-car garage into a dedicated space for carving and leatherwork. The other 2 car garage is the main work area which you’ll see a little later. I’m trying to make this side of the shop a little more glitzed up than the other side. This is where I am going to come and sit and escape the fast-paced culture and forget the notions of cost effectiveness and economical. This place will be for indulgence in the slow, steady, extravagant and mindful.

A place for everything and everything in its place – it was either Mary Poppins, Ben Franklin, or Metallica that said this. There’s not much that’s more inspiring that a tightly organized handtool workspace. I’ve never met a serious woodworker who has not fallen asleep at least once thinking of the Studley tool chest. If you have never seen the Studley tool chest – please leave this video and google it – your life will be more rich because you did. This is the craftsmans version of taking a bath in champaign. Well, my space will be nothing close to that, but it will have plenty of nooks and cranies for handtools. Eventually no fine tool will be in a drawer or sitting on the workbench rolling around.

So here I’m making a series of cubbies for miscellaneous tools that don’t fit on the holder. My idea here was to make a wooden version of a tool roll. In retrospect, I should have used a wider spacer because I’ve limited myself to a ¾ item. However, if I would have made it much wider, it would have offended my symmetry compulsion. It works ok, but I’d suggest using a 1 or 1 ½ inch spacer.

Now to the actual chisel holding part of the build. I took a couple of my more frequently used chisels and came up with spacing that kept them from knocking into each other. I really don’t know why I haven’t done this before, it was very simple to batch out a series of holders. Usually when I find something I like, I put it all over the shop, so I suspect that I’ll be making a lot more of these holders for hammers, files, and the like.

If you didn’t see the past builds where I discussed what wood I’m using, - this is Ipe, an outdoor wood commonly used for decks and outdoor furniture. Its basically a darker version of teak that finishes to look a bit like walnut or wenge. The reason that I’m using this is because it was free – no other reason.

The right side of this wall will be used for carving and bench chisels. I believe that it holds about 80 chisels – I only have about 20 so I have some catching up to do. Back to eBay. The left side, which will be in a later video will hold leather working tools – knives, bevelers, edgers, and punches. And in case your curious, the benchtop will have a carver’s vise, a dedicated vise to leather stitching – basically a modified stitching pony. It will also hold a riveter and an arbor press.