Simple Tool Holder for Slatwall Hung in Garage Shop

Choose your own adventure dear reader. Watch my dopey face guide you through this in the video above, or drink my words of wisdom below. Either way, I think you are in for quite the "edge of your seat" type read.

Step 1: What Are We Doing?

Still with me? Yay, you like words. I'm a big fan myself.

I hung slat wall in my garage recently, thus turning it into a shop with a garage door. Convenient right?

Now, with all this slat wall up, I need to figure out various ways to affix my tools to it. Duck tape and shoe goo failed me in this regard, so I will have to go with something a little more robust.

In this instance, I am making a mount for wrenches. You can use this for any tool that has holes in it really, just adjust your spacing as needed.

Step 2: Now Pick a Color/style

I'm not much for really fancy designs in my garage....crap, I mean shop....but I do like things to be neat and tidy and have the appearance of cleanliness. Just like my women.

I pulled out a few scraps to see what would look best to use as the backer board for my tool holder.

I don't want my entire shop to be white on white on white on white, after all, it's not the early 90s, but the straight wood didn't speak to me so I will use some old white wood trim for a back board. I think this way the tools will really be showcased too.

Step 3: Lay It All Out on a Flat Surface

Throw all your wrenches on a table and map out how much spacing you want and leave some room for the future. Invariably you will get more wrenches the very next day after you make this holder, so plan for it.

I left room for 3 more tools. So far my wrenches haven't had babies so the birth control must be working.

Step 4: Cut the Backer Board to Size

Keep it simple stupid. Chop the wood to the right size.

Step 5: The Mounting Brackets

I found these slatwall generic blanks on ebay after searching high and low for them. These are what you use when you need to make a custom slatwall bracket or a holder, but typically only if you are a merchandiser or in the retail industry. I am not, so I had to really flex my Google-fu muscles.

The guy I bought from will gladly sell smaller quantities, so email him directly if you only want 50 or 25.

Make holes in these brackets so you can screw them to your backerboard or piece of wood or potato or whatever you are using.

Step 6: Shelf Pins for Hooks

Initially, I was going to go simple and just use some screws to hang the tools. A screw is nice since it has a flare on the end, (the head), that will keep the tool on the wall with mild jiggling, but I wanted to class this joint up a bit and remembered I had some old shelf pins. I used the shelf pins when I was adding shelves to a cabinet, but I ended up having more pins than I needed. This worked out great.

I drilled holes slightly smaller than the shelf pins and put them at a very slight angle. This will allow the pins to aim up just a bit which will help retain the tool when it is hung.

To get the angle consistent, I have a fence on my drill press and I put down a small wood shim. (see arrow in pic) This gave me consistent, repeatable results. I don't use the fence on my drill press much, but when I do need it, I find it quite handy and makes the end result look somewhat professional.

You can grab drill press fences like mine from Harbor Freight. Mine looks just like this.

Step 7: ASSEMBLE!

Put all these steps together and start assembling. Screw the brackets to the back. You should probably predrill the holes, I did not. I got lucky.

Tap, tap, tappy the shelf pins into the backer board on the front, being mindful of the angle so you don't hammer them in wrong.

Step 8: Look Over Your Work

Bask in it's mediocrity.

Step 9: Put It on the Slatwall, Hang the Tools and Yippety-hoo Crack a Brew.

Done. Hang your tools and drag your entire family into the garage...er...shop to show them how motherflippen handy you are and how they should respect you more. Tell them nobody else does the stuff you do--most people just buy something from the hardware store and throw money at the issue. Tell them they have no idea how amazing you are, and what a privilege it is to even be standing in the same space that you are. Tell them....

oh wait, they left.