Tools be hanged!

I spent much of the last year in the new workshop procrastinating. It got so bad that I was constantly putting stuff in the workshop anywhere I could find room and no projects were completed because I always felt I needed to clean up first and it was a daunting task. The occasions that I did work in the shop, I would have to move this and that, knocking over a tower of tools in the process. Finally, my wife came to the rescue with logic allowing me to get past this depressing workshop era.

I can't quote her precisely, but it was along the lines of, "Take out everything you don't need. You don't need to get rid of it, store it in the attic until you figure out what to do with it." So that is precisely what I did.

I had house carpentry tools, roofing tool, blacksmith tools, and lots and lots of extra tools. So then began the great purge.

Most of the tools in the shop are now used on a daily basis. Mind you there is still plenty of room for improvement but as long as progress is made I am much happier.

One of the things I've been needing to do is organize my hand drills and hammers, which have been littering the mobile bench because I had no clue what to do with them. I don't find that I use the hand drills much, but I hope to change that in the future.

I have all these glorious ideas of hanging them using pegs and if I could only find the time to do it, I would be happy...but time tends to be a precious commodity of which we all lack. So I decided to hang them using finish nails for the time being, a more attractive solution may present itself later, or not. Whatever, it works for now.

I begin by eyeballing the approximate position I want the tool to be located. 

Measuring the gap gives me a span for the hanger, after adding a little extra so the tool isn't pinched, but not so much to all the tool to slide right through. There is not a lot of leeway on these hand drills. 

I mark the location for the nails and make an indention using a nail set. The nail set reduces the chance of your nail or drill bit riding away from the mark due to the hardness of the grain of the wood. I also predrilled a hole about 1/4-inch deep to guide the nail and reduce the hammering needed to set the nail in place.

I then copy the technique for the second drill. I had about six of them, so all the spares will be hung in the hallway leading to the shop as decoration. 

I follow a similar technique with all the hammers. I decided to keep three on hand in the workshop, all older. I've noticed that I tend to use the smallest on the most. My giant framing hammer has no use in the workshop so I set it aside for now. I plan to make a mobile work box for him and his friends later.

I drilled holes in the mallet handles and hung them in front of the drawshave. The smaller one is used on holdfasts and the other is a mortice chisel beater.

There, that definitely works for the time being! 

Dan.