Planes and systainers (or how to solve the storage problems of a tool junkie)

[TahoeTwoBears]

I've got a few planes that I inherited from my father in law (never met the man, he'd passed on before I married his daughter). He was a carpenter and I got his tool box which consisted of various hand tools. In a mistaken moment 30+ years ago, I bead blasted them to "clean" them up. Apparently that was a huge boo boo. Fast forward to today and I'm slowly getting around to restoring them (if I can figure out how to do it properly). With no work shop space everything has to have a place. It occurred to me that a Systainer would do just fine.

I also have a little wooden plane that James Krenov gave me a couple of years ago. He made me promise to use it and I intend to use my father in laws planes as well. So these aren't going to be hidden away forever.

Has anyone built a purpose built setup for storing their planes that way? I'd love to see pictures or hear ideas.

Thanks for all of the terrific ideas that are presented here, day in and day out.

Mike

Still shoveling snow till spring..................  and dreaming about ww to while away the hours spent doing it.

 

[Mike_Chrest]

Mike,
  I'm guessing these were metal planes you bead blasted? There is a good DVD on restoring tools by Frank Klaus
http://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2053

I don't store my planes in a systainer but it's not a bad Idea.

Mike

 

[Eli]

I'm not using the hand planes as much. I used to have two of those magnetic tool bars mounted on the wall. With those I used one of those white plastic cutlery trays, like the size you'd use for rolling pins, etc. I held the tray up to the bars and put the planes inside it.

Since you only have one or two planes down at a time, the tray stays in place. The soft plastic protects the soles, and you can mount it upright on a wall or even a low ceiling, but I'd use three magnet bars if you were going to go upside down. That held the four or five most used planes pretty well. If you don't have anything against plastic.

 

[Dan Clermont]

That's a tough question. Do you have a specific handtool workbench? Do you use the MFT? A systainer would be fine if you are planning on moving them around from site to site. Why not just stuff them in a drawer or hang them above the area you work with your hantools on a small shelf.

I have a storage cabinet with a lock for all of my hand tools and it hangs on the wall near my bench. It works for me although I have about a dozen planes I use quite often, along with saws and chisels.

This is an old shot of my cabinet but it will give you an idea

 

[TahoeTwoBears]

Good morning and thanks for the replies. I don't currently have any dedicated space for woodworking. It's either stolen space in the garage which I have to break down after or outside (which at the moment is full of 9' - 10' of snow. So the systainers or other storage container is the way to go for now. I appreciate the storage ideas for a dedicated space and have printed them out to put in my "dream notebook" in case we ever move and get a place with a shop.

I also appreciate the link to the dvd re: restoration of hand tools. I'll get it to see if it can help with the rest of my problem. I bought another video about restoring hand planes and all of the discussion was about how to keep the finish, not what to do if there is no finish. I wrote to the author hoping he could steer me in the right direction in terms of what to use to apply a new finish. His answer was simply that bead blasting was the worst thing I could have done. No mention of what I could use to fix my mistake. I didn't find that too helpful.

Anyone ever applied a "new" finish to something like this?

Thanks for all the help.

Mike

 

[Tinker]

For storage of my handplanes, i built some tool boxes that fould up in between the ceiling joists of my shop.  The ceiling joists ar only 6'-8", so that is not much of a stretch.  In fact, when i lower the storage bins, I cannot walk under them without crouching real low.  Never mind what happens when i forget they are down and walk into them.

As for finishing, i need to look into that myself.  i have a set of old molding planes a friend of mine gave to me when her husband (one of my best friends) died.  unfortunately, her BIL got the irons, so i will have to locate somebody to make new ones for me.  The wood parts need a lot of work.

Tinker

 

[Dan Clermont]

As for finishing, i need to look into that myself.  i have a set of old molding planes a friend of mine gave to me when her husband (one of my best friends) died.  unfortunately, her BIL got the irons, so i will have to locate somebody to make new ones for me.  The wood parts need a lot of work.

Tinker

Call the guys at St. James Bay tool companySt James Bay

I bet they could send you the blanks and tell you how to heat treat them or you send the planes to them and they'll take care of it for you. They used to be quite accomadating however I haven't called in awhile

Dan Clermont

 

[Tinker]

Dan,
Thanks for the tip.  I'll look into that
Tinker

 

[TahoeTwoBears]

Tinker,

You might also check out Ron Hock's blades. You can check them out at:
http://www.hocktools.com/

Mike

 

[semenza]

Hi,

    If you are still considering systainers for storing your planes- the Maxi- Systainers wouuld probably hold longer ones as well. The long dimension is about 23".  They can be latched to each other and standard systainers can attach to the top of them.

Seth

 

[Eli]

sort of. Unless the maxi's are different in the states, there are two fold up 'latches' in the maxi lid, but they don't snap to a regular sys, they just allow you to stack them. It is a good size if a bit big. Jointer plane would be the only length you'd need it for, like you said. Other than that, if you really want them in systainers, I'd use either pick and pluck foam or make a plywood tray with dividers for the planes.

 

[Ned]

sort of. Unless the maxi's are different in the states, there are two fold up 'latches' in the maxi lid, but they don't snap to a regular sys, they just allow you to stack them.

Not true.  See my pics in "SYS Maxi empty?"

One or more Maxis can stack together, and regular systainers can be connected (at all the usual points) to the top Maxi.

The regular systainers attached to a Maxi face each other.

Ned

 

[Eli]

My bad, you're right.

The regular systainers attached to a Maxi face each other.

and how handy. The only thing worse than having a systainer you need at the bottom of a stack, is having it at the bottom of a stack facing another systainer. Maybe we've finally found a good theft prevention solution.

 

[Dave Rudy]

The Frank Klausz video suggested earlier is excellent.  So is A FWW video called reclaiming flea market planes by (with) Ernie Conover.  Between them you should have encylopedia of plane restoration!