Storing Carving tools

[Tom M]

My wife made me two beautiful tool rools for my carving tools.  Each holds 25 tools.  Now I have over 80 gouges, and am wondering what would be the best way to store them.  I like the rolls, but they take up a lot of space when unrolled, and of course they don't hold all of my tools.  I thought about making a tool box with drawers for storing my gouges, but have never come up with a good design.  One problem I have is finding the tool I need.  With the two rolls and various candle boxes filled with these things I have never been able to figure out a way to organize them.  I have many Dastra tools, a couple Swiss, lots of old Addis and Buck, and even a couple Barton.  I love the old tools, but I get a little envious when I see guys with all Swiss tools with the same handles.  Most write the sweeps and size on the handle so it is easy to identify.  With the large mix of age and brands of my tools (thanks to a tool collector friend who always gives me first "dibs" when he makes a find), I never know what each tools is, and will usually pick up several tools before finding the "right one".  This may also be partially due to a bit of trepidation on my part.

So do I ask my wife to make me two more rolls, or do I come up with a new system, and maybe use the tool rolls if I'm traveling?  I realize there is no right answer, just opinions, so lets hear your thoughts!

Tom

 

[frangallo]

I don't want to sound like an old curmudgeon, but I am, and the result is unavoidable. Tool rolls are nice but are completely impractical. While it's lovely that your wife made you these things it is obvious that while she takes a keen interest in you and your work she is oblivious to the perils she has cast before you. I spend a good deal of time with my carving tools and have created a good system for sorting them. First I broke down the main array into general size and purpose. This follows their use classification fairly well but is by no means definitive. I have several fishtail gouges that are large, some with a sweep, that I use for roughing. All these are fairly large and easy to identify. This leads on to the big veiners and front bent gouges I might use next and then down through the smaller tools. You could use a bag or roll for these arrangements but I keep them on open shelves in this vague sort of order. When I am carving I often am working off some kind of jig that holds the work in an optimum position. All these jigs have a piece of steel attached to the somewhere and all of my carving tools (140 or so) have a small magnet stuck to them. I suppose I could have just used a magnetic strip on the jig but I guess I wasn't thinking to clearly at the time. Anyway, I've got a bunch of little magnets, they're not in the way, and when I set about carving something I just keep the most commonly used ones stuck to the steel strip. I don't think I can say that I am able to pick off the shelves everything I need for a project and stick them to my strip and carve away, blithely as a linnet, but usually I can take a good look at what the carving needs to look like and after several days of looking at the tools on my shelves something usually emerges from the mist. Once the tools are laid out on the jig all hell breaks loose. Get a set of cheap tool handles and glue them to the tool roll and put them where your loving wife can't avoid but see them and build yourself a few shelves somewhere the delicately nurtured sex would never venture and you'll be all set.

 

[NLandry]

Tom,

Pictured below is a design that Gene Landon came up with and was published in FWW.  It works well for me.  Each one holds 28 gouges.  The design can certainly be modified to suit your needs.

 

[albreed]

Tom- I started out with tool rolls and quickly moved to draws. I have so many tools now that I have a printer's chest with a draw for every sweep. Inside the draws I set dividers running side to side so that each tool has its own trough. The draws are only about 1 1/4" deep and the dividers are about 3/4 so the tools are easy to get out.
I organize the draws with a sweep for each one, 1-11, a draw for backbents and one for v-tools.
I find that when I'm carving on a project, the best way to have the tools is just laid out on the bench with the steel towards me.(see the back cover photo on the Grinling Gibbons book) I've tried racks, but I'm always adding and subtracting tools, so the rack becomes too much of a pain, and I can't get them out fast enough. When I lay them on the bench I have an order from left to right so that I can put one down and pick another up in a second. I now only use the racks for keeping a set of tools for a specific job together if I stop and do something else.
Since your tools will be various makers and ages, keep a chart of sweeps handy and file them using a consistent method, either German or English. Sometimes I'll stamp the sweep on the handle to make re-filing easier.
The only place I've found that a rack for tools works is over my lathe, where I have a rack that hols the tools one over another horizontally where I can take them and put them back quickly without having to change my grip.-Al

 

[hazard]

Tom,
I have struggled with tool rolls for some years as you stated.  As with Al, I finally made myself a carving bench with a stack of 8 drawers each 2 inches high, 24 inches wide with 14 individual compartments in each drawer for chisels running front to back.  That way I can pull a drawer out and see all of the chisel handles in that drawer.  Each drawer contains all of the chisels of a particular sweep.  There is plenty of space at the back of the drawers for other tools like files and scrapers.  In my case I incorporated these into the base of my carving  bench.  I made a dedicated carving bench that is somewhat higher than a standard work bench.  I find it is easier on my back if I am standing more upright to carve.  The box of drawers could also be mounted on a base with rollers and used that way.  It is too heavy to easily transport as a single unit so it stays in my shop.
Chris

 

[jdavis]

Here is a photo of an original Chisel sales cabinet that I found and use for storing my gouges. It was originally a Greenlee Tool Co bench chisel cabinet for hardware store sales. I went into one of the oak furniture refinishing shops looking for something to use for my gouges and my jaw dropped when I found a piece that was actually made for the purpose, in original condition with 3 decal labels. It has a brass plate that reads Greenlee Chisels and Bits. You might like to use it as an example. I wouldnt mind having a copy of it myself.  Click to enlarge the photo.
John