How do you store all of your supplies and tools?

[Omega Leather Works]

I bought a largish plastic tool case, more like a large tackle box at Harbor Freight. It'll be fine for some stuff, but cannot hold everything. I'll need another one or another solution.

Of great importance to me is how to store the chemicals. Not only do I have a baby, I'm also paranoid of leaks. I'm glad of that too, because I had a couple of bottles of dye open up in storage. Thankfully I had taken a moment to put them in ziplocks before putting them away, it could have really sucked!

I don't have adequate shop space so the supplies and tools will need to go in something.

What do you guys use? Any special considerations for the leather itself?

 

[Sagewood]

Anytime I used a small dye bottle, I set it in a small tea cup (or coffee cup). It gives it a nice solid base, and contains any spills. Knocking a dye bottle over can be catastrophic if you are dyeing in a place without a concrete floor.

 

[Horsewright]

I keep the qt bottles of dye, finish, Hi Liter, Antique etc in a cardboard box. I lined it with several layers of foil for any spills. Crumpled up newspaper is in between the bottles so they stand up right pretty securely. This box is put away on a shelf. I pour smaller amounts into wide base glass jars (pickle jars actually). The color or material is written with a sharpie on the lid. These too are in a similar box and only removed from the shelf when being used. Neatsfoot oil I keep in a crockpot on a bench. The tools I keep in a 6 drawer tool chest. This I move from bench to bench depending on what I'm doing. I have a large set of shelves. My leather is rolled up grain side in and stored on these shelves. One shelf is for the veg tan, one for the chrome and oil tan and another for misc. This seems to work well but isn't ideal. I've often thought of a closed cabinet for the leather but have never gotten around to one.

 

[leatherman]

Anytime I used a small dye bottle, I set it in a small tea cup (or coffee cup). It gives it a nice solid base, and contains any spills. Knocking a dye bottle over can be catastrophic if you are dyeing in a place without a concrete floor.

Oh yea! The split second horror when your hand hits that bottle is like no other feeling! My wood tool box, Gerstner clone from Costco way back in the day, shows the spots from a dark brown dye accident. My shop is ceramic tile, I usually curse that stuff, but dye does not stick. A knife dropped on the other hand is horrible. I have a small door mat in front of where I work just in case, especially after dropping a particularly expensive knife once upon a time.

I keep my dyes in what I want to remember is a wire frame spice rack, the little bottles sit in it real nice and they stay upright. The bigger quarts are in a cubbie in my drafting desk. The gallon black dye sits on the floor where it belongs, way too much invested in that greyhound.