Wall-Mounted Tool Storage Panel for Squares, Levels, and Saws

Squares, levels, and hand saws are some of the most awkward tools in a shop to store. They’re flat, they’re oddly shaped, and they don’t hang well on a standard pegboard hook. This panel solves that with a simple idea: a row of horizontal wood cleats, spaced with a narrow gap between each one, mounted flat against the wall. A square or a saw slides down into the gap and rests there by its own edge. No hooks, no bins, no fuss.

Wall-mounted tool storage panel holding a framing square, a metal rule, a coping saw, layout squares, a torpedo level, and a marking gauge between its wood cleats

Mounted next to the miter saw station, it now holds a large framing square, a metal straightedge, a coping saw, a couple of smaller layout squares, a torpedo level, and a marking gauge, all visible at a glance and within arm’s reach of the main cutting and layout area.

Building the Panel

The panel starts as a plywood backer set into a mitered solid-wood frame. It’s basically a shallow picture frame with a plywood panel dropped into it, built flat before anything else gets added.

Empty mitered plywood panel frame for a shop tool storage panel, propped against a shop cabinet before the wood cleats are installed — The frame and plywood backer, built before any cleats are added

With the frame built, the next step is cutting the horizontal cleats to length and dry-fitting the tools the panel needs to hold, checking that a square, a saw, and a level actually sit at a usable spacing before anything gets fastened down permanently.

Wood cleat strips stacked on a workbench alongside a coping saw, hacksaw blades, a speed square, and a tape measure while planning a shop tool storage panel — Cutting the cleat strips and laying out the tools the panel needs to hold

The Finished Panel, Before Mounting

Once the cleats are set into the backer, the spacing between them is what actually does the work. Each gap is narrow enough that a square or a saw wedges in and stays put on its own, rather than needing a hook, a clip, or a bin. It’s essentially the same cleat-based idea behind French cleat tool storage, applied here as a set of fixed horizontal strips instead of a single removable hanging cleat.

Finished wall tool storage panel lying flat on a workbench, showing five horizontal wood cleats set into a plywood backer with narrow gaps between them for holding flat tools — The finished panel before mounting, cleats spaced to hold squares, a level, and saws by their edge

Mounted in the Shop

On the wall, the panel sits right next to the miter saw station, the mobile tool chest, and the bench vise: the part of the shop where squares and saws actually get used, rather than tucked away in a drawer across the room.

Wall-mounted tool storage panel installed next to a mobile miter saw station and a Husky tool chest with a bench vise in a home garage workshop — The panel installed within reach of the main cutting/layout area

Wide view of a home garage workshop wall showing the tool storage panel holding squares and a saw next to a mobile workstation with saw blades and screwdrivers

Wall-mounted tool storage panel in a home garage workshop, holding squares, a saw, and a level, next to vintage Chevrolet and Firestone signage

What It Holds

A large framing/carpenter’s square
A metal straightedge/rule
A coping saw
Smaller layout squares
A torpedo level
A marking gauge

The open-gap design means it isn’t limited to one tool shape or thickness. Anything flat enough to slide into a gap and thick enough to wedge without falling through works, which is exactly the kind of tool that never had a good home before.

Related Shop Storage Projects

This panel is a smaller, more focused cousin of two other shop storage builds on this site: a much larger French cleat tool wall and battery station for hanging a wider range of tools and chargers, and a plywood cordless tool charging station built as a mobile cart. Worth a look if you’re organizing a shop beyond just squares and saws.

Birch Plywood DIY