Paul started with one 4×8 panel of French cleats above his workbench. Four years later, three full walls of his 24×24 garage are covered from waist height to ceiling in 3/4-inch plywood French cleats spaced 2 inches apart. He has 160 custom-built holders – no two are exactly the same. He keeps a running inventory of them in a spreadsheet. He describes himself, without a hint of embarrassment, as a French cleat person.
The system evolved gradually. First panel: tools he reached for every session – a chisel rack, a marking gauge holder, a saw till. When that panel filled up, he added a second to the left. When the wall was done, he moved to the wall behind the bench. When that was done, he started on the wall beside the door. Each addition prompted a reorganization of the whole system – tools moved to positions that reflected how often he used them and in what sequence.
The holders themselves are a second hobby. Paul builds every holder from shop scraps, sized exactly to the tool it holds. Handles point out and down, at an angle that lets you grip and lift without adjusting your wrist. Heavy tools have wider holders; precision tools have padded holders with cork or leather liners. Drill bit indexes are organized by size, labeled with burned-in text from a branding iron he made himself. “I spend as much time building holders as building furniture,” he admits. “At this point, the wall is the project.”
We could write 5,000 words about Paul’s shop and still not cover all of it. The photo gallery below has 40 images. Warning: this will make you want to cover every surface in your shop in plywood strips. Show us your French cleat wall below – beginner setups and obsessive systems both welcome.