16 workshop storage solutions you’ve never thought of

A 9.5 litre bucket is all you need to store air tools and hoses on a wall right by the air compressor. Screw a 1.9cm plywood shelf inside the bucket to create two storage areas, then attach the bucket to the wall with a couple of screws and washers. Load up the bucket with nailers, nails, tyre pressure gauges and other accessories and coil the hose around it.

Here’s a slick tip to keep partially used caulk tubes well sealed and at hand. Fold a piece of duct tape over the open tube to seal it, leaving a few centimetres of extra tape. Drive a nail through the tape and hang the tube on pegboard.

Here’s a great way to reuse empty CD/DVD containers. Drill a hole in the top for the string to slide through, then screw the lid under a shelf and snap on the string-loaded container. Pull down and snip off the desired length and never worry that your ball of string will roll away across the floor dragging its tail behind it!

Those big hooks that are often used to hang bikes also make slick drill hangers. Get them at any home centre for a couple of bucks apiece.

Create an instant paper towel dispenser with two C-clamps. Position and clamp them a roll’s width apart in a convenient spot, hold up the roll and push in the handles to hold it. Buy slick-looking C-clamps and install them in the kitchen, then fib to visitors about your chic designer hardware.

Work surface cluttered with miscellaneous nails, screws, hardware, whatever? Clean it up and still keep that stuff at your fingertips. Attach a muffin tin under a shelf with a single 0.6cm x 2.5cm-1.2cm flat head machine screw. The tin pivots out from beneath work surfaces to organise and serve up any little doodad you frequently use. And you store all that little stuff without using up a single square centimetre of workspace.

For best results when installing your muffin bins: Use muffin tins made from heavier gauge metal. Drill and countersink a 0.6cm hole in the shelf top, so the top of the screw is flush with the shelf. Place 0.6cm fender washers above and below the rim of the muffin tin. Tighten two nuts against each other on the underside so the threads won’t loosen.

Maximise hand tool storage in a tool cabinet with this slick tip. The key to this project is a 1.2m long by-pass sliding door hardware set (about $15 at a home centre). You mount a pegboard onto it, making sure to provide enough room (5cm) to hang tools on the pegboard and still allow it to slide by the door in front. The trick is to insert 1cm plywood spacers in the roller hardware as shown.

You can use the floor bracket that comes with the slider hardware to maintain the same 5cm clearance at the bottom of the cabinet. For door handles, simply drill a couple of 3cm holes in the pegboard with a spade bit. Now pop in the pegs and hang up your tools.

This rotary-bit organiser may just inspire a renaissance of rotary tool use in your shop. Friction-fit a piece of 2cm plastic foam in a snap-lid plastic food container. Then poke holes in the plastic foam with an awl to hold shafted bits, and slice crevices with a utility knife to hold cutoff discs. Using a spade bit at high speed, drill sockets for larger bits and tube-shape containers.

Here’s an instant rack for hammer storage. Drive 5cm drywall screws into a board and tack it to a shop wall. Hook the hammers on the screws so it looks like they’re ready to pull out a nail. The hammer claw’s V-notch interlocks tightly with the screw threads so the hammer won’t fall off, and the handle angles toward you for an easy grasp.