Portable tool rack

With three 2×4’s and some pegboard you can whip up this portable tool rack to house anything from woodworking, craft, or gardening tools.

Hey guys! Guess what?!

I’m MOVING!!

Yes, this came out of nowhere for my family as well. I’ve actually been getting real estate newsletters daily for about 2 years now with the intent of downsizing when both of my girls head off to University. (which would be next year)

BUT

A “unicorn house” suddenly came through my inbox and I had to jump! It is a smaller house, one storey, with a giant lot for the dogs. The walkout basement has 2 bedrooms for the girls and is set up like an apartment complete with their own entry and tons of light flooding in – you’d never guess from photos that it was a basement at all.

It’s as close to perfect as I’ve ever found and I’m so excited!

However, I am now in the throes of packing boxes and staging to sell the house I’m in.

With that in mind, I will be needing access to my smaller tools both before I move and after we get to the new place, so I wanted some kind of portable solution to keep things handy.

This is my solution;

Portable tool rack

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(4) 2″ x 4″ x 6′
pegboard – I went with 23 ½” x 4′
pegboard hooks/hardware
(2) 2″ swivel castors
(2) 2″ locking swivel castors
scrap pieces of ½” or ¾” plywood
2 ½” pocket screws
2 ½” wood screws
wood glue

Cut list:

(4) 2″ x 4″ x 6′ cut with a 5° angle on either end – parallel to each other. //
(2) 2″ x 4″ x 4 ¾” cut with a 5° angle on either end – perpendicular to each other /\
(2) 2″ x 4″ x 18″
(2) 2″ x 4″ x 16 ¾”
scrap plywood will be measured and cut later depending on your needs

To make the frame for your tool rack, start by drilling pocket holes in one end of your 6′ boards. The pocket holes should go on the short side of the boards.

Attach the pocket-holed end to the base (18″) using wood glue and 2 ½” pocket screws.

Attach the 4 ¾” piece between the boards at what will be the top of your tool rack. Use wood glue and screw in from the outside using 2 ½” screws.

Once your two frame pieces are done, attach the pegboard to the front of either side.

You can use metal pegboards like these, but I found that FB marketplace almost always has someone getting rid of old pegboards – the wood kind – so save yourself a fortune and check there first.

By attaching the pegboards first, you’ll get an accurate measurement for how long your remaining base pieces need to be to fit between the sides. In this case, it should be 16 ¾”.

Drill pocket holes into both ends of your 16 ¾” boards, then attach them to the frame using wood glue and 2 ½” pocket screws.

Don’t worry that you can’t access the holes behind the pegboard… you can still use them by drilling a small hole through whichever pegboard hole you want, and then using dowels to hang your tools.

I used 2″ swivel castors for my portable tool rack, but if I were to do it again, I’d probably use 3″. Mine rolls perfectly and I can swivel it in a circle and lock two of the wheels in place, but the larger castors would have made it even easier. Totally up to you.

The main structure of your portable tool rack is done!

From here you can add or remove components, pegs, shelves, French cleats – whatever floats your boat!

I added all of the above starting with shelves tucked between the pegboards for larger tool storage like my circular saw, brad nailer, battery chargers etc. Scrap plywood is perfect for this and saves you the expense of buying a large sheet and cutting it down.

I don’t know about you but it irks me when the pegboard pegs fall out of the board when removing the tool. To counter this, I added small zip ties to each hook so that it won’t come out unless it cut it out.

You can also add pegboard hooks and ties to the inside of your portable tool rack for even more hanging storage:

Finally, I wanted to keep my hardware bins from this ultimate workbench post, so I needed to add French cleats to the bottom of my tool rack to hang them on. Again, just using up some scrap bits of plywood that I had lying around in the garage.

I did take the time to sand everything smooth, inside and out, just to save me from a sliver or two as I grab things off of the rack. (plus it makes it look better overall)

This is my woodworking side:

Then the painting/clamps side:

In the centre compartments I have my circular saw, sander, kreg jig, battery chargers etc.

This portable tool rack ended up housing 90% of the things I had stored on the two 8′ pegboards I have on my walls in the garage!

It’s truly fantastic – a 24″ x 24″ foot print houses 16′ of pegboard tools! Plus, I can load the tool rack in the moving van last, and unload it first, so that everything I need is at-hand on moving day (and long after).