I’m building a corner workbench and I want to hang some tools above the bench. I have looked at pegboard(which looks really nice) but it has some disadvantages such as the hooks sometimes fall off the board, the hooks are relatively expensive, etc.
I also saw a you tube video by a man named Herrick Kimball who uses 12 gauge Romex copper wire to fashion various ways to hold his tools to a sheet of plywood attached to the wall. The advantage to what he is doing is the copper wire is cheap and he can bend the wire to accommodate the tool better than the standard hooks and brackets that the pegboard system uses. With his system he is able to space the tools such that he can get more tools on the wall than you could with the pegboard system.
I also know that there are French cleats that come in handy for attaching some tools to the wall.
So what do you guys use and do you have any other ideas that you like?
I made a peg board wall for my son's hobby. He hangs his radio control cars on it. The pegs are spendy but you can find them cheap at Harbor Freight or on Amazon. We got a box of 3" long hangers for like $20. I think it had 50 hangers. Recall details are a little fuzzy. That said though, I personally don't like peg board for tools. My dad had some and the tools were tricky to retrieve without knocking off the hooks and then you have to find them, etc. I like the idea of a wall of ply or OSB where you can screw in anywhere you want with whatever mount you want.
03-24-2025, 01:53 PM (This post was last modified: 03-24-2025, 02:09 PM by Hank Knight.)
I had peg board on my shop walls for years and hated every minute of it. The pegs were always coming off and I'd knock things off the hooks inadvertently. I finally put up solid wood paneling over my radial arm saw bench where I hung my most frequently used tools and used hooks screwed into the paneling to hang my tools. It is much better than pegboard. The hooks stay put and it's easy to build custom racks or tool holders that are mounted with screws into the solid paneling. I still have peg board, but only in those areas that don't get a lot of traffic. I get my hooks from Lee Valley. They sell an assortment of stainless steel hooks in different configurations and sizes, so you can find something for just about every tool. If you want to move hooks, just cut a little sliver of hardwood, put a little glue on it, pound it into the hole, cut it off flush and out done; you can't see the patch.
Here are links to the Lee Valley hooks I use. There are lots of other kinds available, depending on what you need.
I use peg board. Once I had the hooks where I wanted them to maximize the use of space, I used a hot glue gun to put a drop of glue on the pegs at the holes in the board. A drop of glue keeps the pegs in place but if need be you can still take them out and move them. I haven't had a peg or hook drop out for years.
Al
Some people are like a Slinky. Not really good for anything but still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
A dead enemy is a peaceful enemy. Blessed are the peacemakers.
I use peg board as well. As time goes on, I've been able to rearrange my tool layout a dew times. You just need to be careful taking the tools down, but that seems a small price to pay for the convenience.
Jim
Demonstrating every day that enthusiasm cannot overcome a lack of talent!
My whole shop has pegboard walls. I use cheap hooks that usually come in variety packs and then use left over 12 or 14 ga copper wire to "tie" them onto the pegboard. This is cheap, effective, and easy. It takes longer to explain than to do. The attachments show the steps I go through to tie them on:
I’ve used pegboard before, and yeah, the hooks can be annoying when they fall off. If you go that route, zip ties or hot glue can help keep them in place. Lately, I’ve been using a simple plywood wall with screws, nails, and a few custom brackets made from scrap wood. It’s cheap, easy to customize, and holds everything securely.
Definition of coplaner: It's the guy on the outfeed side of a planer handing the stock back to the guy on the infeed side.
(03-26-2025, 02:00 PM)jsears Wrote: I’ve used pegboard before, and yeah, the hooks can be annoying when they fall off. If you go that route, zip ties or hot glue can help keep them in place. Lately, I’ve been using a simple plywood wall with screws, nails, and a few custom brackets made from scrap wood. It’s cheap, easy to customize, and holds everything securely.
Same here for four or five decades. When a nail loses its footing it gets replaced with a long trim head screw.
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