French cleats are the fastest way to build a tool wall you can rearrange in seconds: a board ripped at 45° screws to the wall, and matching cleats on your holders simply hook over it. The hard part is the planning: how wide to cut the cleats, how to set up the saw, how many rows fit your wall, how much plywood to buy, and how to size a holder so the tool can’t tip off.
This free French Cleat Designer does all of it. Configure a single 45° cleat, see exactly how to cut two identical cleats from one double-wide board on the table saw, lay out the whole wall with a plywood count and cost, then design a tool holder that passes the 1:1 stability rule and still lifts off the wall. Change the cleat at the top and every step updates.
How the numbers work
Cutting two at a time is the efficient trick: start with a board 2 × cleat width − thickness + kerf × √2 wide (that’s 2 × width − thickness for a 45° cut), make one rip down the center, and the two halves are identical cleats with a shared bevel, less waste than ripping them one by one.
On the wall, the number of rows that fit is floor((wall height − cleat width) ÷ spacing) + 1, and the plywood count follows from ripping cleat-width strips from each sheet. Sheet sizes are nominal and offcuts are assumed re-used, so round up for mistakes. Always tilt the blade away from the fence, keep the offcut clear, and use a push stick.
For a holder, the 1:1 rule keeps tools put. A holder hangs from one hooked cleat and leans on the cleats below; the lowest one it touches is the last contact. When it starts to tip it rotates about a pivot you can find by hand: the last contact can only lift straight up, and the hooked cleat can only slide along its 45° bevel. Those two constraints put the pivot out in space, level with the last contact and a horizontal distance equal to the supported height away (that’s the 1:1). Keep the tool’s weight (its reach from the cleat face) inside that pivot and it can’t tip; push past it and only friction holds it on. The designer also checks lift-off clearance, the gap between cleats (spacing − cleat width) has to be at least the tool cleat height, or the holder is trapped by the cleat above.
Built by Rhino Frame: durable, Made-in-USA workshop storage.