# Pegboard management 101 - how do you use pegboard in your shop?



## Woodcanuck (Mar 9, 2010)

As I'm sure most of us do (or maybe it's just my way of procrastinating) I enjoy building things for the workshop, be it a jig, storage or just organizing things in a better, more efficient, way.

I always marvel at how well some people are able to take advantage of pegboard for storing tools and jigs to keep them handy and well organized. I marvel at this primarily because I am significantly challenged on this point. I have a nice big pegboard area and a collection of chisels, screwdrivers, wrenches, saws, squares and who knows what else arranged in a haphazard way that works…but just barely.

This is something I feel an ever-increasing need to get in order. So…

How do *you *make use of pegboard in your workshop? 
How do *you *arrange tools on it?
What works and doesn't?
Do you have any shop-built accessories for the pegboard that you use?

(translation: help!)


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I primarily use the pegboard for hand tools. I have a 4X8 sheet in a room near the shop with all of my hand tools. I try to keep it the same, with screwdrivers, awls, hammers to the left, and ending at the right with saws. I also hang my circular saw and some drills on it too. I do have a half sheet of pegboard in the shop with the air nailers on it. One thing I have found is to use the heavy 1/4 inch pegboard and the larger hangers….it seems much more stable.


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## buffalo689 (Mar 2, 2010)

To be honest, I hate the way pegboard looks, I like to smash it up and toss it in the dumpster..


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## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

I have pegboard but over the months and years most has been replaced. Now I have one square, 4' high x 4' wide and I only keep my most needed tools on it. Like nail guns, squares, brush, hammer, drivers

Everything else is now in drawers oron shelves


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## CoolDavion (Dec 6, 2007)

I had to rearrange me garage, and took down some peg board. I decided no to pu it back up and went with the french cleat system. No in the process of making some hangers for all the stuff I want to hang up on it.

I hated the way all the little hooks fell out, even with the plastic keepers that they came with.


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## MDeSchepper (Dec 27, 2009)

I organize mine similar to Wayne, I keep similar items together such as screwdrivers, rasps, burnishers, chisels together and put other times such as pliers, wrenches, saws together. The best bet is to look for the specific holders for certain items. Keep the items you use most near the center and less frequently used items around the edges. For me it makes it easier to access when you need them.


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## Abbott (May 10, 2009)

.
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## PaulfromVictor (Mar 29, 2009)

I made some small framed pegboard "things" that hand on the back side of the risers on the staircase leading into my shop (I am in a basement). I put all my router bits on them. They are right at eye level. It was a great use of otherwise unusable space.


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## NewPickeringWdWrkr (Feb 24, 2010)

I don't have a pegboard (don't like them either), but once i reorganize the garage into a true shop, I plan on using a french cleat board. Inspired by TWW episode 106 'French cleat storage system'. That way you can add custom shelves and other holders as you need.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I have pegboards in 2 different locations. One is on the wall close to my lathe and I keep all sorts of lathe accessories on that pegboard (faceplates, calipers, etc.) Included in my list of lathe accessories is 2 sets of open ended wrenches (one metric and one imperial). I use these wrenches for multiple purposes but they are also great for checking the diameter on something you are turning on the spindles.

A second pegboard is near my workbench and it contains many of the small hand tools I use (hammers, squares, straight edges, etc.) I do not store screwdrivers or pliers on the pegboard. Nothing beats a simple wooden shelf with lots of holes drilled in it for screw drivers and pliers.


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## parnoldo (Jun 15, 2009)

Personally I kind of like pegboard. When I was outfitting my new garage shop I just covered big areas of insulated stud bays with it and started hanging stuff up. Since I'm constantly changing things it helps leave my options open. Unfortunately the only place code said I could put the electric panel was right over where I planned to put my workbench. Whatta ya gonna do.



My screwdriver rack is two strips of pegboard with a spacer between, a cleat the same size as the spacer screwed to the wall (pegboard) and the rack slipped over and screwed to the cleat. I've had some version of this for almost twenty years and it's always worked well.


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## Woodcanuck (Mar 9, 2010)

Great responses.

Abbott: I particularly like the skull and case of blended Canadian Whiskey….personally I keep these in a cabinet away from prying eyes. 

I too have a pile of hangers that seem to have an aversion to staying in the pegboard…another aspect of my love-hate relationship with it.

French Cleats: I've seen Marc's video on French cleats and have been seriously thinking about this as well. Hoping for a last ditch attempt to revive what I have before I start on yet another new shop project.

Rich: using open ended wrenches as a sizing tool…that's brilliant. I once used some very cheap calipers for sizing the turned tenons on a stool….cheap calipers don't stay put very well….by the time I'd finished the fourth leg, I had four legs with increasingly larger tenons. A harmless error, but annoying none-the-less.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Wood: I'm with buffalo689 on the pegboards…... I don't like, or use them ever. All they do is catch dust and it makes everything look ugly. I keep all my tools put away in cabinets that I made to protect them from sawdust and dust. That way, they will last longer, and it also makes your shop look neater, I think.
If you've ever gotten dust in a tool, and it wouldn't work, you'd know what I'm talking about… so the more protection for your tools, the longer they will last….. just my take on pegboards… keep on keeping on… later.


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