Not a fan of Peg Board Hooks for Tools

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  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    Not a fan of Peg Board Hooks for Tools

    I built a tool storage cabinet earlier this year and put peg board on three sides to hang tools. Well, for occasional use tools it is OK, but for regular use tools, the tools are a pain to quickly put back in place. I know that there are locking types of hooks, but that is not really the problem. Peg Board Hooks of different type just don't hold tools well. They are meant more for HANGING things onto them.

    I bought some para-cord and thinking of making some kind of two to three loop around the handles at a point on my tools and adding a strong key ring to it. Then just hanging the tool onto the peg board hook by the key ring.

    Anyone else have a handier solution? Something that is quick and easy, beyond making a custom peg board set of hooks for each tool?

    My most used tools are all Cordless: Drill, Impact Driver (2) right angle grinder, Jigsaw and random orbital sander, brad nailer and staple nailer.
    Hank Lee

    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!
  • cwsmith
    Veteran Member
    • Dec 2005
    • 2737
    • NY Southern Tier, USA.
    • BT3100-1

    #2
    I do not like peg board either. Just doesn't look right to me, sort of cheap or something; and of course, like you mention, the hooks are mostly designed to just hang things on and even for small tools, I find that the hooks become a problem as they seem to tangle with the tool and want to come off with the tool.

    What I would prefer is to make wooden retainers of one kind or another, custom fit for whatever the tool is. For example, a simple block with holes drilled to hold a set of screwdrivers, or chisels, etc. I currently have such a block fastened into the edge of the shelf above my workbench that holds a set of those HF screwdrivers. Simple, handy, and convenient, the screwdrivers are easy to grab and easy to put back and it looks a heckuva lot better than hooks on a pegboard. Better still, is that it doesn't warp, collect dust or provide a great home for spiders.

    For most of my stuff though, I have two of those cheaper ($149) HF 11-drawer tool cabinets. They house my spray guns and finish and brad nailers, as well as various pliers, wrenches, screw drivers, hammers, saws, Dremel, and even electronic tools and router accesories. Larger hand-held power tools though are not so easy to store in drawers. Most of them I keep in their original cases or in a Sterlite plastic cabinet that sits under a bench.

    The problem for me is that if I store tools out in the open, they get terribly dusty when I'm working on a project and that's just a whole lot more to clean afterwards.

    CWS
    Last edited by cwsmith; 12-31-2016, 07:29 PM.
    Think it Through Before You Do!

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    • mpc
      Senior Member
      • Feb 2005
      • 979
      • Cypress, CA, USA.
      • BT3000 orig 13amp model

      #3
      For small hand tools (chisels, screwdrivers, hand saws, marking gauges, mallets, etc) I do in fact use pegboard and it works well for me. I made a pegboard "book" on the wall above my bench rather than having just a single pegboard panel. Imagine making a frame from hardwood, putting rabbets on both the front and back, and fitting pegboard panels into the rabbets. That's one panel in my setup; I have several mounted to hinges which in turn attach to stacked 2x4s as spacers. Thus I have far more square feet of pegboard area compared to the amount of wall area. I made this thing years ago with the 1/8th pegboard which is now hard to find - most pegboard sold today uses 1/4 inch holes. Many pegboard hook kits claim to be compatible with both 1/8th and 1/4inch pegboard... they'll be stupid loose in 1/4inch pegboard holes without some sort of extra locking hardware.

      As for the hooks... Amazon sells a Stanley kit that is higher quality than much of what's out there. See Stanley 819841 kit Most of the hooks have the welded-on nub that engages a second pegboard hole to lock the clip in place - it takes a hard pull to make this style pegboard hook fall off when removing tools. The Stanley kit also includes little plastic gizmos that spread horizontally across the hook, engaging pegboard holes on either side of the hook, to clamp them in place when using the hooks on 1/4inch pegboard. I didn't need them on my 1/8th pegboard. Still, I'd look for hooks designed only for 1/4inch pegboard if that's the size pegboard I had.

      Anything larger than a mallet though is probably not a candidate for pegboard. I wouldn't try hanging my cordless drill or impact driver from hooks for example. A dedicated shelf, with "U" shaped cutouts for the handles, comes to mind. Besides being shapes incompatible with pegboard hooks, I'd rather keep such tools at a lower height anyway. They're rather heavy (compared to chisels and screwdrivers) to be stored "up high."

      Like CWS said, I too have an HF tool cabinet near the bench for all sorts of other tools that may be small but aren't really pegboard-compatible or are more fragile. The Wixey angle gauge, reference squares, my nicer chisels, tape measures, erasers, pens/pencils... My clamps are stored in a shop-made rack near the bench as well; no pegboard for those heavy beasties.

      mpc
      Last edited by mpc; 01-16-2017, 01:57 AM.

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      • LCHIEN
        Internet Fact Checker
        • Dec 2002
        • 20913
        • Katy, TX, USA.
        • BT3000 vintage 1999

        #4
        Part of the Peg hook peg board experience is selecting the right parts.
        There are two thicknesses of peg board. and two classes of hooks, the good pegboard is 1/4" thick and I think the thin stuff si 1/8 or 3/16th.
        There are also the correct hooks, the hooks for the 1/4" thick are called heavy duty hooks, and not only fit right but are much stouter and won't bend. Put the standard hooks in the thick material and they will jut out at an inappropriate angle like a horny teenager.
        Loring in Katy, TX USA
        If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
        BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

        Comment

        • woodturner
          Veteran Member
          • Jun 2008
          • 2047
          • Western Pennsylvania
          • General, Sears 21829, BT3100

          #5
          Originally posted by mpc
          For small hand tools (chisels, screwdrivers, hand saws, marking gauges, mallets, etc) I do in fact use pegboard and it works well for me. I made a pegboard "book" on the wall above my bench rather than having just a single pegboard panel. Imagine making a frame from hardwood, putting rabbets on both the front and back, and fitting pegboard panels into the rabbets. That's one panel in my setup; I have several mounted to hinges which in turn attach to stacked 2x4s as spacers. Thus I have far more square feet of pegboard area compared to the amount of wall area. I made this thing years ago with the 1/8th pegboard which is now hard to find - most pegboard sold today uses 1/4 inch holes. Many pegboard hook kits claim to be compatible with both 1/8th and 1/4inch pegboard... they'll be stupid loose in 1/4inch pegboard holes without some sort of extra locking hardware.
          I've considered doing something along those lines, but I'm not quite following the stacked 2x4s. Could you post a picture?

          Wondering if you (or anyone else) has tried the metal pegboard and if that really works any better.

          --------------------------------------------------
          Electrical Engineer by day, Woodworker by night

          Comment

          • leehljp
            Just me
            • Dec 2002
            • 8429
            • Tunica, MS
            • BT3000/3100

            #6
            Originally posted by mpc
            . . .
            Anything larger than a mallet though is probably not a candidate for pegboard. I wouldn't try hanging my cordless drill or impact driver from hooks for example. A dedicated shelf, with "U" shaped cutouts for the handles, comes to mind.
            mpc
            . . . THAT is my problem. I will probably add some cut out boards across the pegboard (screwed in of course, and to the sides) and mount them that way.

            I do have the heavy duty hooks and I even tried bending some. Kinda difficult without a torch. But the answer for me is in a board (several shelves) with cutouts for each tool.
            Hank Lee

            Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

            Comment

            • mpc
              Senior Member
              • Feb 2005
              • 979
              • Cypress, CA, USA.
              • BT3000 orig 13amp model

              #7
              Okay, pics from a year or two ago. I've re-arranged the tools (now that I have some nicer hand saws) but the gist of the book page idea is readily visible. First pic is how the assembly looks on the wall. You'll notice some unpainted hinge mortises visible... I removed a center page to get more space between the remaining pages. That's the big oops of my implementation - I didn't leave enough gap between the individual pages.
              Click image for larger version  Name:	Wall_Storage_2782.jpg Views:	1 Size:	448.6 KB ID:	828729


              The back pages are screwed directly to the wall studs, the stair-step is made from 2-by material attached to the back pages. All other pages hinge from the stair-step. Because of the steps, the pegboard pages get a little wider from back pages to top/outer pages; this way the sides line up.
              Click image for larger version  Name:	Wall_Storage_Stair_Step_view_2785.jpg Views:	1 Size:	383.7 KB ID:	828730


              As I noted in my earlier post, I use pegboard with 1/8th inch holes. Pegboard hooks for 1/8th pegboard use thin enough wire that I can bend the long straight hooks into gentle arcs to support the mallets on the far left. I use two of the medium-sized "J" hooks to hang small hand saws from, supporting the saws by the wood handles so the blades don't contact any metal bits. (e.g. the vertically hanging hand saw below the "Eclipse" branded coping saw) The large hand saws (home center style saws basically) came factory equipped with 1/4inch holes near the tip of the blades to hang from nails or whatever so I use those holes with small pegboard "J" hooks.

              I've totally re-arranged the tool layout since these pics were taken; it's a lot less cluttered/messy now. And I bought another two sets of the Stanley hooks I mentioned earlier so I can hang more tools properly/cleanly. In these pics, some of my tools & saws are stored in the plastic case that came from the stores... the same cases that let them hang from typical store display pegs. (e.g. the saw just to the left of the Eclipse saw... getting it out of this package to use the saw is a pain.) With the new Stanley hooks, that saw no longer lives in the package and is readily usable.

              I've made small blocks with holes drilled part-way through them for things like marking knives that don't fit any normal pegboard hook; chunks of coat hanger wire bent into "L" shapes are stuck into holes in the back of the block to hang the block from the pegboard. One could use coat hanger wire to support almost any wooden tool rack: a thinner board with holes all the way through for chisels and screwdrivers, a long block with a saw kerf sized groove to support hand saw blades, etc.

              mpc
              Last edited by mpc; 12-31-2016, 11:35 PM.

              Comment

              • LCHIEN
                Internet Fact Checker
                • Dec 2002
                • 20913
                • Katy, TX, USA.
                • BT3000 vintage 1999

                #8
                Oh yeah, only light tools on the pegs No power tools.
                The heaviest I have is three or four hammers on a dual prong peg, a handfull of clamps on a 6" long peg..
                Loring in Katy, TX USA
                If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                Comment

                • mpc
                  Senior Member
                  • Feb 2005
                  • 979
                  • Cypress, CA, USA.
                  • BT3000 orig 13amp model

                  #9
                  Yup, my heaviest tool grouping is a regular hammer + a dead blow hammer hanging from a 2-prong peg. Being in SoCal, one of the safety considerations I have when setting up my shop is earthquake safety... ergo nothing heavy stored up high on pegs or on open shelves up high. All of my upper cabinets have doors that have small deadbolt style latches to the face frame so nothing should fall out during a 'quake. A side benefit is that keeps the shelves covered, minimizing dust catch. Reaching above shoulder height - and reaching across the workbench at the same time - for cordless tools hanging from my pegboard pages would get tiring pretty quickly and I'd always have the nagging fear of getting clonked on the head from a falling drill or whatever in a trembler. So that stuff is stored mostly at waist-to-chest height in cabinets.

                  On the pegboard I try to use "J" hooks whenever possible instead of basic "L" hooks just to reduce the chances of stuff shaking free in an earthquake. If something needs a straight hook (e.g. the small putty knife hanging in my pegboard; the hole in the handle is almost an inch deep so a "J" wouldn't fit in there) I typically bend the "L" from 90 degrees to something like 70 degrees to reduce the chance of that tool shaking free.

                  I've seen some of the nice above-bench storage methods on the various TV shows. For somebody with an established tool collection that looks quite nice - custom spots & holders for every tool. For somebody still acquiring stuff, or is still trying different brands/styles/whatever to find what works best for them, an adaptable storage system is needed.

                  mpc

                  Happy New Year folks. I'ts almost 9:30PM in SoCal as I type this... my shop heater has been running for over an hour now while I spent what was going to be shop time on the web instead.... My weekend project was going to be practicing hand-cut dovetails with my new hand saws.
                  Last edited by mpc; 01-01-2017, 12:20 AM.

                  Comment

                  • LinuxRandal
                    Veteran Member
                    • Feb 2005
                    • 4889
                    • Independence, MO, USA.
                    • bt3100

                    #10
                    I went through your started threads and found what I think your talking about: http://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/dis...l-tool-storage
                    Do you have some room for it to grow?
                    Adam's stand on storage drawers is that they're where tools go to get lost. To keep his essential workshop tools easily accessible, he built these custom sta...

                    In this video Andy Glass with Glass Impressions remakes his drill/driver hanging station with a few storage upgrades!See what tools and supplies I use: http:...

                    Then there are also french cleat and Slatwall setups.
                    She couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod, and the bathroom. We had to go back for her.........................Twice.

                    Comment

                    • leehljp
                      Just me
                      • Dec 2002
                      • 8429
                      • Tunica, MS
                      • BT3000/3100

                      #11
                      LR, I like my storage tower, except for the peg board pegs. I realize now, after the fact that I need custom holed shelves for each tool. I like that link with Adam Savages tool rack. I may make one like that but have to consider its usefulness for me. I heard them disparage the tool draws for not finding anything. That is a common problem but I have two complete floor to shoulder height chest, and except for the very top box that I throw stuff into, I don't have problem finding the tools I go looking for. -Well except for sockets. I need to separate the MM from the fraction sets!

                      Thanks fellow for the input and for helping me see my problem, and the solution!
                      Hank Lee

                      Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

                      Comment

                      • LinuxRandal
                        Veteran Member
                        • Feb 2005
                        • 4889
                        • Independence, MO, USA.
                        • bt3100

                        #12
                        My thought was if the pegboard was removable, then you could put something like his rack on the sides. But space may be an issue, because instead of being tall like an elevator, it would end up more pyramid shaped.
                        That was why I through out the last couple options, as those either instead of, or on top of, might give better mounting points for tool specific locations, without changing the shape.

                        I myself, like AS's idea, but I would still like to see how he or anyone else would implement something like that, in places where I am used to drawers. (mechanics's shop) There, security of your tools needs to play a part.
                        She couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod, and the bathroom. We had to go back for her.........................Twice.

                        Comment

                        • capncarl
                          Veteran Member
                          • Jan 2007
                          • 3564
                          • Leesburg Georgia USA
                          • SawStop CTS

                          #13
                          I don't use pegboard in my shop. Most walls already have something on them but behind one workbench I do have slatwall. It holds a lot of stuff but can turn into a clutter catcher if I'm not careful. One interesting thing about this thread was The mentioning of Adam Savage. That caught my eye, what the heck is he got to do with pegboard? So I clicked the utube link. I didn't know he really did stuff, thought they were just paid actors. Learn something every day!

                          Comment

                          • leehljp
                            Just me
                            • Dec 2002
                            • 8429
                            • Tunica, MS
                            • BT3000/3100

                            #14
                            Originally posted by LinuxRandal
                            My thought was if the pegboard was removable, then you could put something like his rack on the sides. But space may be an issue, because instead of being tall like an elevator, it would end up more pyramid shaped.
                            AS my tool tower's tool hanging board section is limited in depth - 3 1/2 inches, I will have to turn most of the tools sideways if I hang them from a custom cut shelf. I don't see that as a problem, and in fact more of a benefit. One of the problems that I had with the peg board was that the 1/4 inch pegs still fell off when pulling a tool off. Sometimes when using two or three tools and a couple of pegs fell, It was difficult to figure out which hole they went in and which tool went where. I didn't mark them like an organized person would do! With cutouts on a board for each individual tool, that should be self revealing, and I will label them just in case!
                            Hank Lee

                            Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

                            Comment

                            • cwsmith
                              Veteran Member
                              • Dec 2005
                              • 2737
                              • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                              • BT3100-1

                              #15
                              I received this a couple of days ago. It's a plan offer to build a cordless tool station. The picture is simple enough that I don't anyone would really need the plans, but it does offer an idea for handy storage for heavier hand-held power tools. I've seen similar storage ideas for routers, where the shelf box is slotted to allow for the router arbor. Somewhere in my files I have a small booklet that I got several years ago regarding small-shop ideas for storage. If interested, I'll see if I can put my hands on it.



                              In my new shop, I'm planning to run a couple of 3" wide strips around the perimeter of the shop, bevel-cut on the top edge which will allow me to mount custom-made tool boards where needed. Still, ever so slowly, working on the shed, and those mounting strips and boards will be about the last part of the project.

                              CWS
                              Think it Through Before You Do!

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