Every year our readers find solutions to shop organization problems we hadn’t thought of. This year’s roundup is our best yet – twelve genuinely creative solutions, none of which appeared in any woodworking book or magazine that we can find. These are the things real builders invented when off-the-shelf solutions didn’t quite work.
The spinning router bit station (Denver) – A lazy Susan bearing mounted under a custom-built round cabinet, 24 inches in diameter, holding 96 router bits sorted by profile type in labeled sections. The whole assembly mounts on a wall bracket at bench height. Spin the cabinet to the section you need, pull the bit, done. Total cost including the lazy Susan hardware: $45.
The pipe clamp fence (Montreal) – Standard pipe clamp pipes permanently stored in 1-inch PVC pipe holders mounted to the wall, but the holders are on a horizontal rail so the entire row can slide left or right. When you need a 6-foot pipe, it slides into the work area without disturbing the other pipes in the row. Simple, elegant, solves a problem everyone with long pipe clamps has.
The finish sample library (Austin) – A set of 1×6-inch sample boards, one for each finishing product in the shop, showing the finish applied over both raw wood and over a tinted stain. Each board is labeled with the product, the application method, and the drying time. The library lives in a slotted rack beside the finishing cabinet. No more test boards needed before a project – just pull the relevant sample and compare to your stock.
Nine more reader-invented organization solutions in the full post. These are the things that make you think: why doesn’t everyone do this? Submit your creative shop solution – if we feature it, we’ll send you a Workbench Daily shop tote.