This is a soldering iron holder that I built for less than $10. It will hold multiple soldering irons or desoldering irons, and it supports the iron by the handle, so that the iron's heat is not wasted by heating up the soldering iron holder itself.

Step 1: Materials and Tools Needed

List of materials:

1. Metal electrical box. You can pick this up at a hardware store. The one I am using is a square, deep-well galvanized box. It is a 2-gang size, 4 inches square, meaning that you could fit two standard switches or outlets inside it. The deep well holds the soldering irons at a steeper angle, but you don't necessarily need it for the holder to work. A 2-gang box means that I can have two (or even three) soldering irons stored in it, so if you only need one iron at a time, a smaller electrical box can be used.

2. A piece of scrap 2x4 wood, 3 or 4 inches long. This will elevate the soldering irons so that the tips don't accidentally touch the worktable.

3. A larger piece of scrap wood for the base. Mine is a piece of 1x10 pine.

4. Wood screws. The ones used here are one and a half inch deck screws. They just have to be long enough to go through your base wood and into the 2x4.

You will need a hammer and screwdriver to assemble this. In addition, I recommend a drill fitted with a screwdriver tip to speed up assembly.

Step 2: Assemble the Base

Place the scrap of 2x4 onto the center of the piece of wood serving as the base.

Flip the whole thing over and screw the base to the 2x4 using 2 screws. When finished, the base assembly should look like the one in the third picture.

Step 3: Install the Electrical Box

Open up some of the holes in the electrical box. Place the screwdriver tip onto one of the knockout holes and tap it with a hammer to loosen it, and then bend it back and forth with your fingers to break it off. Give the resulting metal disk to your kids for use as play coins.

Use a few screws to attach the box to the 2x4.

Step 4: Finished!

My base scrap of wood is not quite big enough to mount the damp sponge on it, so if you want your sponge nearby, use a larger scrap of wood than I did. Still, this meets my soldering station needs, and it was dead easy and cheap as chips to build.