I started taking paternity leave on my first daughter’s due date. (Un?)fortunately, she was born late, and I found myself with both a lot of free time, and a lot of pent-up anticipatory energy.

My workshop was a bit of a mess, since I’d acquired more tools - including a heavy miter saw and grinder. My mother-in-law was staying with us and helping with chores, so I decided to focus on cleaning up the shop. I built a sturdy set of shelves from scrap lumber and cheap sheathing plywood to hold my bench tools when they’re not in use.

Approach

The legs were made from two 2x4’s screwed together. The cross bars for each shelf were also made of spare 2x4s. Each shelf is made of a single thickness of 15/32" sheathing plywood that I picked up cheap from a big box store.

Similarly to my workbench, the inner shelf is cut with gaps for the legs, then slid into the frame at an angle before being set down. Instead of fixing the shelf tops like a table top, I chose to nail them directly to the frame.

Results

Ugly, and very functional. I made the upper shelves around my shoulder height, and the lower shelves around waist height, which means each shelf and the floor have plenty of clearance for large storage boxes, tall tools, etc.

This was way cheaper than the much less-good plastic shelves I bought from a big box store. Make your own garage shelves!