French Cleat Tool Cabinet

It may sound fancy but a french cleat is simply a sturdy beveled support board a secret that builders and craftsmen rely on to hang heavy items such as large mirrors artworks and cabinets.

French cleat tool cabinet.

Flat area at the point of the bevels. On this cabinet i also screwed the top french cleat the one that s part of the cabinet to the wall also through the pegboard holes for even more strength. Then reset the saw to 45 degrees and adjust the fence to leave about a 1 8 in. I used a hidden french cleat to hang a dovetailed wine rack that i created.

Repeat the process for the accessory cleats but rip them to 2 1 2 in. For the tool cabinet it was easy to screw the spacer cleat to the osb wall. Installing the french cleat. Cut the 45 degree bevels on the strips.

The joint held up well but for a shelf this size it s better suited to hold smaller individual. We tested this french cleat connection and shelf using a 10 lb. So what is a french cleat. Then you put the wall cleat in place based on the location of the cabinet cleat.

Just pick some holes in the pegboard and let er rip. If the mantel is already built and you are thinking of attaching a french cleat to it it will push the mantel away from the wall by the thickness of the cleat. The cabinet portion of the french cleat is glued and screwed to the top and sides of the cabinet. Using a hand plane or similar tool remove approximately 1 16 to 1 8 from the sharp point on both pieces.

How to build a frenchcleat wall in this video i show how i built a french cleat wall for tool st. Accessories box filled with screws. This is so simple i m surprised it doesn t get used more often. The other half of the board that s been cut is then attached to something be it a bracket for tool storage or the back of a cabinet for mounting on the wall.

The cleat is made by cutting a 5 wide piece of 3 4 plywood to fit between the two box sides. Then simply set your table saw blade to a 45 angle and rip the piece in half lengthwise. If you are building a mantel you could certainly build it with a french cleat recessed.