Handmade toll roll for less than $5!
Protect your tools. Both you and they will be much happier with adequate shelter and storage. Even with our new tool shed, there is still a feeling of inadequacy for the storage of some of our building tools. Better shelves might help, but we’ve got planes, chisels, and all manner of things that are a bit too “exposed” and unprotected for my liking.
However, we are on the way to changing some of that, now that April made her first leather tool roll for our timber framing chisels. I’m in love with it!
Homemade Leather Tool Roll
We picked up two big scraps of this funny green-blue leather from the flea market this weekend, for a whopping $5. (Don’t you just love the flea market?) My first thought was — tool roll! And so April spent some time today crafting this most excellent chisel roll. It has pockets for seven chisels, and it rolls tidily and has a leather strap for tying it shut.
We debated whether or not to store the edge side of the chisel in the pocket, or out (as seen above), and whether or not to made it single or double-sided. We found images of every possible combination, so we simply let the available materials decide for us. The leather was thick enough to feel durable, but also light enough to push through a sewing machine without too much trouble.
For less than $5 and a couple hours worth of design and sewing, I’d say it was worth the effort. You can easily spend $40 on something comparable.
Next up is a smaller tool roll for carving chisels. Protect your stuff, if you can help it!
Some leather is corrosive to steel-I found this out the hard way. I think it depends on what the leather is tanned with. Keeping carbon steel tools lightly oiled with 10 weight oil (or any light machine oil) will do a lot to keep rust down in humid areas. If you can find it, that really tough fabric the military uses makes a great tool roll(I found an old military tool roll for $2 at a surplus store), and isn’t corrosive.
Some leather is corrosive to steel-I found this out the hard way. I think it depends on what the leather is tanned with. Keeping carbon steel tools lightly oiled with 10 weight oil (or any light machine oil) will do a lot to keep rust down in humid areas. If you can find it, that really tough fabric the military uses makes a great tool roll(I found an old military tool roll for $2 at a surplus store), and isn’t corrosive.