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Garage shop upgrades

52K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  whitebeast88 
#1 ·
Cutting the french cleats

The garage is a mess. Maybe that's familiar to some of you. I decided to remedy this situation.

After scouring the web I've settled on a french cleat system on all three walls of the garage. The flexibility and the chance to improve my woodworking skills (minimal at this point) are what attracted me. So I set off to McCoy's during lunch to get some nice 3/4" plywood.

Good God, this stuff isn't cheap! Here's my conversation with the salesman:

Me: "How much for 3/4" American Birch plywood?"

Salesman: "$68.50 a sheet"

Me: "Holy **. Chinese Birch?"

Salesman: "$36. Better?"

Me: "Only slightly. I'll take two sheets."

That night I got to cutting. And cutting. And cutting. I should have upgraded my circular saw blade from the stock one. Splinters galore!

After two evenings of cutting the plywood I sanded down the corners a bit.

Here's the final product:


I'm working out of town on Saturday but I hope to get these cleats on the wall Sunday afternoon.
 
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#5 ·
Channel,

I too started my french cleat system over the last couple of weeks and have been adding to it. I would like to create a fixture that will hold pipe clamps. i have about 30 and was thinking of setting up eight to a fixture. What do you think? Your cleats look great!
 
#7 ·
Cleats are going up!

After a long 18-hour workday on Saturday and a ridiculous drive home through Houston traffic, I mustered up the energy to put up 3 rows of cleats yesterday afternoon.

It went well for the most part. The first row was definitely a learning experience.

Lesson #1: Builders dont seem to care about the garage walls. Studs may be placed at 16" ± 3".

Lesson #2: Jigs, helpers and other such devices are worth their weight in gold. You can see the spacer I made in the attached picture.

Once I took those lessons to heart, the other two rows went up without much of a problem. Here are my 'Shop Dog' sawhorses hanging on the cleats:

Automotive parking light Tire Automotive tire Automotive lighting Wood


I hope to get the last 3 rows on this wall and the opposite wall completed by the end of the week.
 

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#8 ·
Hangars, shelves, and boxes!

I finally got an entire weekend at home to work on my garage. It was a strange feeling.

Saturday I was able to put up the french cleats on the opposite wall. Here's a pic of the finished product:


After completing the first wall and getting halfway done with the second wall I was sick of changing bits in my drill and keeping up with the one I wasn't using along with the screws. Just then, I had a stroke of genius (these moments come few and far between). I attached small piece of 2×4 to a discarded piece of cleat and drilled some holes in it. It was a bit and screw caddy that hung right where i needed it!

Sunday I got to making things that would actually hang on the french cleats. Once it was all said and done I had made 3 yard tool hangars, a screwdriver holder, a hammer holder, a box, and 2 shelves.




I didn't really plan on making the shelves but I had some decently sized pieces of plywood leftover and I didn't really want to cut them up. I think they turned out great!
 
#11 ·
Productive 3-day weekend

My 3-day weekend meant 3 days in the garage.

I spent half of the weekend cleaning and rebuilding an old Craftsman tablesaw and bandsaw. But that's for another time.

Saturday was a day of firsts.

It was my first time working from a plan that I created.

It was my first time to use a cut list.

It was my first time cutting rabbets and dadoes.

It was my first time building a cabinet.

And here's one that I didn't think would come until much later: It was the first time everything fit together.

I created the cabinet plan in Sketchup and used the amazing CutList plugin to make my sheet goods layout and cut list.

Here's a couple of pics from the cabinet assembly:




I haven't had the chance to attach the face frame or doors just yet but here's the carcass hanging on the french cleats along with some other hangars/boxes I made yesterday:



If you take a look at the back of the cabinet, you'll see some strips of wood running all the way across. These were used to help attach the 3 cleats to the cabinet and allow for longer screws to be used.

Here's a closeup of the wrench and chisel holders:



For the chisel holder, I didn't have anything thin enough to make the slots but I did have some very thin (and brittle) lattice strips. I was able to laminate 3 of the strips together to come up to the right thickness.

I still have a few more hangars that I want to create for the remainder of my often-used tools.
 
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