Organizing blades

I have a stack of scroll saw blades in little baggies. They're each labeled with whats inside. But it is kinda a pain to sift though all those ziplock bags. How do y'all store your blades? I'm thinking of ordering those tubes from Sloans. Maybe buy one of those Brother label makers so I can label the tubes. The only problem with the tubes I see is them rolling off the table. Hrmmmm.

If you order the tubes.............make a rack to hold them! I only use spirals and I have some puzzle blades. I have some tubes that had seed beads in them and I just saved the tubes.........that's what I use. I wrote on them with permanent marker. They have a hanger built in to the lid and I have them hanging from a hanger on a hook on the wall. I only have to reach up and grab what I want.

Christina

Do they carry those tubes at a craft store like Hobby Lobby? I should check there and see if I can find some.

I checked Uline and they had some tubes, but they had the soft rubber caps. I think it might be more trouble than its worth. Penn State Industries have square tubes that would work pretty good. They wouldn't roll off the counter anyway. Looks like the cap could be a little fiddly, though.

Sloan's Woodshop has the blade holder tubes.

http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/

GrampedStl

Travis I used some 1/2" pvc pipe I had laying around as well as some small wooden balls to plug the ends of the pipe. I cut them to length and mounted them at a slight angle in a pine board that I fastened above my scroll saw. Now when I need a blade I just reach up and grab the one I need. For storage of extra blades I made a box from dwsudekum's pattern. The box is made from scrap maple I had, and some pieces of trim bought from home depot. There is more room for blades under the trays. The box is very handy and it is kept next to my saw, it is a little dusty.

yup i use the 1/2 pvc but i mounted mine in an angled position on a scrap piece of 3/4" pine holds 12 blade sizes about half a gross per tube

blame

I like the PVC idea. Looks easy to build and it looks like its really handy. Now I gotta figure out where to mount it. Great ideas! Keep 'em comin!

I use pen display tubes. They're the perfect size. I can put about 2 gross of 2/0 spiral blades inside of one. They're clear, so you can see inside of them and have nice tight stoppers.

I buy my blades from Mike, and he has labels inside the shipping bags. I just scotch tape his labels around the outside of the tubes.

For a holder I used 3 pieces of scrap 1/2" plywood, a Forstner bit, some screws and glue to make a simple "test tube like" holder. I used double-sided tape to hold the top & bottom together and drilled the holes thru the top piece and 1/4" into the bottom (for the tube bottom to rest in). Then glued & screwed the 3 pieces together. I think my holder is probably 12" long, 5" wide, and 4" tall. It probably holds about 16 different tubes and takes up very little space. It sits on a small bench right next to my saw.

Another tip is to buy some 1" circular magnets. You can get about 4 of them in a pack for under $3. I have one on the right side of my saw stand that holds a bunch of the blades that I'm using on a project. Makes it VERY handy to grab a new blade. No more searching and fumbling.

Travis I sent you a site that sell Baby soda bottle tubes i use them they are great they don't crack or chip or anything they are very tough tubes. They are really cool check them out I love mine and i have bought tubes from sloans and from a woodworkers site but these baby soda bottles are the best. And they come with screw on caps too. you may want to post the website after you have a look at them.

...I use pen display tubes. They're the perfect size. I can put about 2 gross of 2/0 spiral blades inside of one. They're clear, so you can see inside of them and have nice tight stoppers...

Great idea on the pen tubes! I found these that would be perfect! They're triagular so they won't roll off the table!

Travis I sent you a site that sell Baby soda bottle tubes i use them they are great they don't crack or chip or anything they are very tough tubes....

Another great site. Thank you Deb! Looks like they have a lot of options too. For those interested, here's a link.

Hi:

I use the 1/2" PVC marked with a label maker. I use spring clips to hold the tubes mounted to a piece of poplar which is held onto the saw stand with magnets.

Hi:

 

I use the 1/2" PVC marked with a label maker. I use spring clips to hold the tubes mounted to a piece of poplar which is held onto the saw stand with magnets.

Do you use those clips that hold brooms and garden tools? That's a really good idea. Do you cap your PVC?

I have a tray that attaches to my RBI Hawk that has4 round blade holders in it...thats where I put my used blades that may still have a little life just in case I run out of a certain size. I store my good blades in drawers in my cabinet on my workbench.....sizes are labeled on the outside of each drawer. Just take the drawer with the size I'm going to use to my saw and when I'm done I put the drawer back. The rest of the drawers hold picture hangers, my dremel router bits, glue sticks, dowels, and numerous other things. I have never found the need to buy anything else when the drawers are the perfect size for my blades. Why would you want a round tube? They are too hard to get your blades out! Just my opinion! Thanks for listening!

These tubes, from http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/1367 would also work. They have 'screw on' caps.

Hi Travis:

Yep...I use the broom holder spring clips. I would have preferred something lite weight but couldn't find anything. I use the caps on the pvc. This was a quicky. I'll be redesigning another one later on. I'll post a pic in my album.

Have Fun!

I use pvc also, built a wooden rack it holds about 20 tubes, I bought the cheap plactic caps for the bottom of chains from walmart. Very in expensive way to sotre your blades

Clockman

What kind of rack do you use? Is it just a 2x4 with holes? Or do you have something a bit more fancy? I just bought some PVC pipe this last week. I was going to make some marshmellow shooters for my friend's son, but they left town before I could make it. So I guess I have a new project! Blade holders!

Well, plastic baggies wasn't doing it for me anymore, so I thought I'd make a blade holder for myself. I really liked the PVC idea, so I just made a little rack that held PVC with an endcap. I can hold a dozen different blades. Works great and I can find whichever blade I need! I felt so organized, I decided to clean up the rest of the shop too!

nice holder travis

Great set-up, Travis!

Paul

thanks that's what I was looking for, Karl

I've read all over the web about tubes, racks, boxes, and all sorts of ways to keep your blades neat and tidy. I like my little baggies though. I jut leave them in the bags they are shipped to me in. Then these are in a coffee can with a lid on it. Of course, I only use about four different blades. Everyone knows that I use spirals more than anything else though. For those, there is also a soup can screwed to the side of my work table. When I pull out a new bundle of spirals, I take the wire off from around it and out them in the soup can so they are within easy reach when changing blades.

On the wall in front of me is a board with lots of small holes in (sorry forgotten what its called) and you clip in some small hooks. Then I leave the blades in the bags and hook them on the different hooks working in size order and type of blade order. Know exactly where to lay my hand in a jiff. Plus if I am using a particular blade and I know I an going to need more than one I leave them on the bench next to me and when I'm finished I just hang them back up.

Marg