French Cleat System

[beck3906]

I'm making plans to continue my shop setup by incorporating a French cleat system to organize tools and such. Has anyone used this method in your design?

Would a half-inch Baltic birch plywood cleat system be adequate to hold lighter weight holders and boxes?

Do you have any pictures you could share? Any links to other sites?

Thanks for the help.

 

[walshjp17]

Check out Steve Ramsey's Woodworking for Mere Mortals web site Woodworking for Mere Mortals. Videos, projects, and more!. Steve revamped his workshop a while back and did a video on using French cleats for his tools racks.

 

[flyitfast]

Look at this month's copy of ShopNotes, issue 132, page 32 for a great description of what you want.
gordon

 

[Richard Gibson]

Rick- I don't know what a French Cleat system is but this is the cleat system I use. Found the palns in WOOD Magazine back about 3 years ago. Works well for me.

 

[sbwertz]

We made ours out of 3/4" birch plywood.

Here is the cleat on the wall

Note the strip of 3/4" plywood on the bottom as a spacer to make the cabinet hang vertically. I love this system. If I change my mind about where I want a particular size of cabinet, they can all be re-arranged by just lifting them off the wall. Also, this is the easiest system for someone our age (70s) to hang cabinets, since you don't have to hold them in place while fastening them to the wall. You screw up the hanging strip and just lift the cabinet on to the hanger and slide into place. I have these cabinets on three walls in my shop.

These kitchen cabinets are also on french cleats

 

[Ross]

I have cabinets on French cleats in my shop. I made the cleats out of 1x4x3/4 pine from the big box store. I have not had a problem and I have them loaded with hardware, screws and nails. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Works great and If I want to change a cabinet around it is simple.

 

[D.Oliver]