Protect-and-serve blade rack

Keep your blades sharp, safe, and ready for action with this wall-mounted system

This accommodating holder keeps saw blades easily accessible, separated, and protected from damage. In addition to storage slots for standard blades, it also makes room for a complete 8" stacked-dado set. Dowel pins provide a place for dado shims, a blade stabilizer, wrenches, and throat plates. The rack handles blades from 7-1/4" to 10" in diameter.

Start by cutting the 3/4 x 7-1/2 x 29-1/2" back to size. (If you want to store more blades, add 2" to the length for each additional slot.) Now drill the screw and dowel holes.

Next, cut the 3/4 x 3 x 29-1/2" sides. Using double-faced tape, temporarily join them together face-to-face. This lets you lay out and machine both pieces identically.

Drill a 1/2" hole through both sides to hold the dowels you'll add later. Lay out and cut the radiused corners. Mark the locations of the 1/4" starter holes for the slots, and then mark the slot locations. Drill the starter holes, and cut the slots using a bandsaw or jigsaw. Cut just inside the lines, and then sand the slots smooth using a piece of 1/8" hardboard wrapped in 100-grit sandpaper. Also sand off the sharp points on each slot, where shown.

To complete the rack, screw the sides to the back, and glue in the dowels. Add a coat of clear finish, and mount the holder to the wall by driving 3" screws into a stud.