Hand Tool Cabinet


Eric.

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Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen.

 

Eric shall hereafter be known as Eric O. Studley! That is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, my friend! Tell me, are there magnets, or some other gadget to hold the stuff in the doors in place if you swing them open too quickly?

The only two tools in the entire cabinet that required magnets were the shoulder planes.  Everything else stays put on its own.  The angle of the plane till plus the addition of cleats are enough to keep the rest of the planes in place without assistance.  And you can't really tell from the pictures, but the racks for the rasps and chisels are built so that each tool has to be lifted up by at least a quarter inch in order to remove it from its slot.  If I really slammed the door shut, the two Japanese saws might fly off the dowels even though they're angled slightly, otherwise I have no concerns.  And I'm not planning to slam the doors shut.

 

Really interested in your saw 'rods'.

 

If you're talking about the little posts that the backsaws rest on...nothing special...just two pieces of wood sculpted so that they match the profile of the handles.

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If you're talking about the little posts that the backsaws rest on...nothing special...just two pieces of wood sculpted so that they match the profile of the handles.

Might seem simple to you, but it's a brilliant idea that I'd like to shamelessly steal. If you ever care to share some pics of how they are attached to the case, I'd love to see.

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What finish did you use?

Danish oil then ARS topcoat for the case and doors.  Most of the tool racks/trays/etc just got one coat of DO and they were called good 'nuff.

Might seem simple to you, but it's a brilliant idea that I'd like to shamelessly steal. If you ever care to share some pics of how they are attached to the case, I'd love to see.

Steal away.  Grab a scrap of wood and a rasp and just start shaping until it's right.  I used a block plane to knock it down close to cylindrical before using the rasp.  Takes a little fiddling but it's easy peasy.

The top post that holds the tenon saws is just screwed in from the outside since it will never be seen.  For the lower one that holds the carcass and dovetail saws I used a through M&T since it's visible.

 

DSC_0074.jpg

 

DSC_0076_1.jpg

Edited by Eric.
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All I can say is WOW.  I don't know if I'm more impressed by the construction of the cabinet or the tool collection inside it.  Major tool envy here.

Seriously though, beautiful build.  You really have an eye for getting the details just right - the sliding dovetails, the through M&T for the saw post, etc.  I respect that you take the time to do it right.

Nice work as usual.

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Danish oil then ARS topcoat for the case and doors.  Most of the tool racks/trays/etc just got one coat of DO and they were called good 'nuff.

Steal away.  Grab a scrap of wood and a rasp and just start shaping until it's right.  I used a block plane to knock it down close to cylindrical before using the rasp.  Takes a little fiddling but it's easy peasy.

The top post that holds the tenon saws is just screwed in from the outside since it will never be seen.  For the lower one that holds the carcass and dovetail saws I used a through M&T since it's visible.

 

DSC_0074.jpg

 

DSC_0076_1.jpg

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

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Eric, what's the inside depth of the main body and the doors?

Inside the case depth is 7-1/8".  Usable depth inside doors 2-1/4".  Full depth of cabinet is exactly 12".

 

I caught a little flack for not doing a journal on this build.  The primary reason is that I'm a bit too lazy for journals and I don't like stopping at every step to take pics.  Also, between work, kids, household obligations, and my natural snail's pace in the shop, I feel like my journals drag out a bit too long to keep anyone's interest.  Finally, this particular project didn't really require any techniques that are out of the ordinary or all that interesting, and I personally don't get too excited about seeing another case put together or box joints being made...and I didn't wanna bore anyone to tears.  But perhaps other people enjoy journals quite a bit more than I do and I'll consider getting back to doing journals on some of my future builds...depending on my mood. :)

In the meantime, if anyone has questions or wants more details about any aspect of this project, don't hesitate to ask.

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Inside the case depth is 7-1/8".  Usable depth inside doors 2-1/4".  Full depth of cabinet is exactly 12".

 

I caught a little flack for not doing a journal on this build.  The primary reason is that I'm a bit too lazy for journals and I don't like stopping at every step to take pics.  Also, between work, kids, household obligations, and my natural snail's pace in the shop, I feel like my journals drag out a bit too long to keep anyone's interest.  Finally, this particular project didn't really require any techniques that are out of the ordinary or all that interesting, and I personally don't get too excited about seeing another case put together or box joints being made...and I didn't wanna bore anyone to tears.  But perhaps other people enjoy journals quite a bit more than I do and I'll consider getting back to doing journals on some of my future builds...depending on my mood. :)

In the meantime, if anyone has questions or wants more details about any aspect of this project, don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks.

Hey, I like journals. I always learn something new from them. Your work is always inspiring though, journal or not.

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Sweet sweet tool porn. The cabinet ain't too shabby either. The layout of the tools themselves is one of the most impressive parts to me,

A tool cabinet was one of my first woodworking projects two years ago and I predictably made something, that while not a complete monstrosity, doesn't fit my tool collection. Seeing your cabinet gives me some motivation to make one that sucks a bit less than my first attempt.

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Nice job... I’ve always wanted one, but my tool collection is always in flux, so every few years I build new tills --- I keep them pretty basic... Maybe someday my tool collection will stabilize to the point where I can build a nice cabinet – until then, I’ll just admire yours...

 

==>one of my first woodworking projects two years ago and I predictably made something, that while not a complete monstrosity, doesn't fit my tool collection.

Unless you don't mind throw-away, I'd not attempt a nice cabinet until you've got a fairly stable set of tools... I'm now on my third or fourth set of tills, so I keep them pretty basic... Maybe my tool set will deserve a cabinet in about another ten years...

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Sweet sweet tool porn. The cabinet ain't too shabby either. The layout of the tools themselves is one of the most impressive parts to me,

A tool cabinet was one of my first woodworking projects two years ago and I predictably made something, that while not a complete monstrosity, doesn't fit my tool collection. Seeing your cabinet gives me some motivation to make one that sucks a bit less than my first attempt.

Building a tool cabinet before your collection is - if not "complete" - at least nearly complete, can be problematic.  That's the main reason I waited so long to build mine.  I did make the internals of the case removable (the maple components...shelves and saw till on left, plane till on right) in case sometime in the future I find that my tool collection and workflow has evolved significantly.  I'm not expecting that to happen, but just in case.  See below for more.

 

Permission to be a butt?

Granted...

 

 

Nice job... I’ve always wanted one, but my tool collection is always in flux, so every few years I build new tills --- I keep them pretty basic... Maybe someday my tool collection will stabilize to the point where I can build a nice cabinet – until then, I’ll just admire yours...

 

 

==>one of my first woodworking projects two years ago and I predictably made something, that while not a complete monstrosity, doesn't fit my tool collection.

Unless you don't mind throw-away, I'd not attempt a nice cabinet until you've got a fairly stable set of tools... I'm now on my third or fourth set of tills, so I keep them pretty basic... Maybe my tool set will deserve a cabinet in about another ten years...

For a collection the size of yours, that definitely makes more sense...unless you want to build a cabinet the size of an armoire.

"Now they know how many tools it takes to fill the Albert Hall." - John Lennon, kind of

You are actually partially responsible for me nipping it in the bud and building the cabinet.  My tool collection has gotten to the point where I'm buying non-essentials.  And your talk of Schwarzian minimalism in several threads made me realize it was time to stunt the growth of my collection.  My initial instinct was to build a huge cabinet so I could keep buying more and more tools, but I came to my senses and realized that any tool that can't find a home in a well organized, medium sized cabinet...I probably don't need.

There are sure to be changes in the coming years, decades.  It's inevitable.  But I don't want to spend all my woodworking time rebuilding shop furniture...and my OCD won't allow a homeless plane sitting outside in the cold.  So building the cabinet now is a great mechanism to keep me from impulse-buying tools I simply don't need.

 

 Thanks. How long did you let the DO cure before applying the ARS?

Funny you should ask.  I'll tell you a story about how laziness never pays.

My plan initially was to do one coat of Danish oil then move straight to the ARS, two or three coats and call it done.  But once the first coat of DO was dry (within a day or two), I had no ARS in the shop and it would have required a trip to the store.  Sounds like a lot of work.  So I went ahead and did a second coat of DO, and made a note to self...get ARS the next time you're in the area.

A week went by and finally the second coat of DO was thoroughly dry.  Of course I still hadn't picked up any ARS yet because I had simply forgotten to do it.  So why not...I went ahead with a third coat of DO.

It had been so long since I had done more than one coat of DO that I forgot how long it takes for subsequent coats to dry.  Each coat takes exponentially longer, it seems.  So after the third coat, I waited nearly three weeks for it to fully dry.  I will not be making that mistake again.  Ever.  From here on out, DO is for the first coat only.

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==>and my OCD won't allow a homeless plane sitting outside in the cold.

There's one huge downside to an all-in-one chest that I forgot to mention... If (read as when) you get a new tool, the better half will know that something that doesn't have a home must be new...

As far as tool minimalism, yea... I've shed more then half my saws in the past year and working through my planes... I've gotten rid of most of the big iron and working through the Jacks at the moment... I need to work on improving my skills with a core set of tools...

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