Blog Woods

Its Starting To Come Together

For the first time in over a year my clamps are off the floor, out of buckets and hanging on the wall where they belong.

This was a less than useful home for my parallel clamps.

This past week I was able to spend some time in the shop. With the walls and floor finished, I focused on getting tools out of their piles on the floor and into their permanent homes. This is a slow process, as I usually have to design and build their permanent home first.


I knew that the design for the clamp racks had to be efficient. I used to use Woodpecker Clamp Racks. Though they were strong, easy to use and cost effective, they only stored clamps one (1) clamp deep. Given my abundance of clamps and shortage of wall space, this mean they had to go. Six (6) months ago, they moved to my Dads shop and theyve been happy there since.

My old Woodpeckers clamp racks now house my Dads Parallels.

For the new racks in my shop, I spent a few days savings rack designs to a Pinterest board. The I took the materials I had at hand and got to work.

5/4 Pine, 3/4" OSB & 1/2 Baltic Birch served as great materials for the clamp racks.

I ended up with three (3) simple racks. They total 10 slots for clamps. Each slot is 12" long and holds between six (6) and eight (8) clamps, depending on the size of the clamp head.

In use, the 3 racks work wonderfully.

I also made a simple rack for my quick clamps. Its just two (2) pipes (the original guide rails from my band saws factory fence) set into a wood block. I took the idea from the pipe clamps which my quick clamps used to hang from.

Simple and effective quick clamp storage.

Finally I made a quick rack for my Systainers. This rack is just a temporary measure, but Im looking to consolidate all my storage and get everything off the floor. In those terms, it works well.

A quick and dirty systainer rack.

Hopefully Ill get further on it this week, though I have to start working on the next quilt rack as it is due at the by the end of September.