Tool Cabinet Design

[muthrie]

So I'm designing my tool cabinet for my hand tools. I'm putting in a slanted plane board, cubbies for planes and deep doors for storage. I'd like to be able to make my tool cabinet changeable as much as possible. Right now I have my basic furniture making hand tools but some day I might want to start carving or I might add planes.

I'd love some input and thoughts on my design. For example:

• I made the interior door shelves with sliding dove tails so that I could take them out and reconfigure them.
  
  • I contemplated doing the same with the interior shelves with sliding dovetails, but I also wanted the piano hinges on the interior of the cabinet and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get sliding dovetail shelves out.
    

  [*]I think the front looks plane. I'm thinking about shortening the doors and exposing the drawer.

  Thanks for your thoughts.

  

[Onboard]

Marilyn, if you have a membership with Fine Woodworking online, you might want to check out the article Quick-to-Make Tool Cabinet. It’s a very large cabinet and can hold a lot of tools. You could read the article to determine if you might want to build this cabinet, or just use the article for ideas. You could almost build it from the article, but they do sell full sized plans and a cut list. Just look lower down on the page (Buy Now) before opening the article.

[rmac]

There are exceptions (Marc's gadget station, for one), but the stiles on a frame and panel door usually go from the very bottom to the very top, and the rails fit in between them. That way you don't see any end grain from a normal viewing angle.

-- Russ

[muthrie]

Attaching the sketch up file.

Thanks Onboard! I'll look at the Quick-to-Make Tool Cabinet.

If I shorten the doors, I would bump out the bottom of cabinet much like Shannon's tool cabinet design. Then the doors and the drawer front would be on the same plane.

[muthrie]

Sketch up picture instead of sketch up file.

[mikem]

Have fun with it! I am in the process of designing a tool cabinet as well. The one thing I am attempting to do is to make nothing too permanent for the interior (with a couple exceptions) One thing to keep in mind is our tool collections change over time. What works for you today, may not work tomorrow. As I have been working on designing mine, I have looked at a lot of different cabinet designs, including both of Marc's wall hanging cabinets, Norm's tool cabinet, and of course the Studley tool chest. The Studley tool chest, of course be a piece of art in itself, shows that you can get a large amount of hand tools in a smaller area.

[tombuhl]

Hey Marilyn, two of my recent projects had the door rails longer going across (with shorter stiles). That was for the effect of the grain pattern on the rails was significant to me. In both of those cases the end grain would only be seen when the door opened. My biggest fan and cheerleader likes end grain to show. So not everyone sees end grain as a negative. Depends on your sense of style.

Good to allow for future acquisitions, however, at some point trying to allow for all possibilities just becomes a severe limitation or dictator. So maybe this will be one of a series of tool cabinets.

rock on

[muthrie]

Thanks all for the comments. I actually have the plan for the Quick-to-Make Tool Cabinet and its been very helpful. I'm planning on making my cabinet out of solid wood (cherry) and will use Marc Hanging Wall Cabinet (not the tool cabinet) for the basis of what I end up with. I just finished making this project for the bathroom, now I'm going to up size it for my tool cabinet (even though my sketch up doesn't really show that).

I love the idea of making it flexible, but I agree with Tom that you can try and do too much of that. I'll probably try and break up the front of the doors with something other than cherry for a panel. I think that using sliding dovetails for the small shelves in the door would allow me to remove those shelves and reconfigure them if I wanted, but I've honestly never done it.

[Beechwood Chip]

I'm worried that sliding dovetails would bind and be difficult to remove due to wood movement.

I'd just use a dado, and maybe make the dado loose and put in a little wedge if you want a tighter fit.

[muthrie]

That's an interesting idea! I'm concerned about that as well. Another option would be the tapered sliding dove tail that Shannon did a lesson on in his hand tool school. I was thinking that since the shelf would only be an inch or two wide that it would be doable without taper. But I like the idea of the dado was well.

[Onboard]

It sounds like you read the Quick-to-Make Tool Cabinet article. I was wondering if you were planning on adding the hinged panels in the upper middle section in your version, since it does allow hanging tools on both sides, which increases the storage capacity in the same volume by quite a bit.

To do that, you might have to give up the slanted panel you currently have in your drawing (I assume for long planes), or deepen the case. You could put a single hinged panel on the left side, leaving the slanted board on the right, and still gain some storage space. I see that Jan Zoltowski puts his long planes on the upper shelf. I realize this is a point of personal preference.

[muthrie]

I'm trying to limit my hand tool collection to something similar to the Mr. Schwartz required tool list so a ton of storage isn't needed. AND .. I already have a bigger cabinet for power tools and a very limited place for this one.

For me the slanted platform will hold 4-5 longer planes in easy reach, so I kinda hate to give it up. And I want to hide a few lesser used planes behind it. I'll be building the platform first and taking measurement directly off of it before I finalize my cabinet dimensions.

I saw that hinged panel. I suppose it could also fit in the area to the left of the platform to use that space more efficiently.

[Onboard]

Sounds like you’ve given some good thought to this tool chest design Marilyn and have tailored it to suit your needs. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the final product.

I do have one last thought on the shelves. You had mentioned using sliding dovetails. Have you thought about drilling shelf holes like in a standard bookshelf? That would make resetting the shelf position easy. You wouldn’t need to drill a lot of holes to start, just some holes at the exact height you want the shelves to be in initially, then you could add shelf holes as needed for the new position. You could route (or otherwise) a shallow depression into the bottom of the shelf at each end, to sit over the pins to keep the shelf from sliding forward. This would also let you put shelves in the middle portion and still use your piano hinges for the doors. You could also try sleeves for inserting into the shelf position holes. Just a thought.

[muthrie]

That's a really good thought that had never occurred to me. And I've never used bushing style pins. Hmmm .. must contemplate .. that would certainly be easier.

[Onboard]

One correction Marilyn, even though Woodworker’s Supply uses the word “bushings” in their description, it’s also called a sleeve, and it’s not really a “bushing style pin” per say. Sorry about the misleading name. There’s nothing special about the bushings or sleeves as most call it, but since it is inserted in the holes the pins insert into, it does dress up the bare holes in the wood and adds durability if the pins are moved frequently. I see that Rockler sells them also, although they look a little different. Not sure how it compares to the ones offered by Woodworker’s Supply as far as how heavy duty they are, or any size differences. I did a re-edit to my previous post to correct my fumble.

[muthrie]

No worries! I think it would work regardless.

[muthrie]

Here's another interesting idea.

Here's the site:http://lordnibbo.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/396/

[Beechwood Chip]

Cool! And pretty!

You could make the vertical dividers removable, to give you lots of flexible storage.

[Onboard]

That’s a beautiful tool cabinet Marilyn. What it lacks in depth it makes up for in width. Thanks much for the blog link which I bookmarked for future reference. It would be nice to have a copy of his SketchUp file. If my effort to get a copy works, I’ll put it in your post here, but don’t hold your breath.

By the way, what do you think of the addition of the red felt he put in the back of the cabinet (at the end of the blog)? I like it, but I may be the exception.

[muthrie]

I was going to put .. something, perhaps a rust inhibitor pad in my cabinet. He claims that the red felt helps prevent rust, but I don't know. I thought it dressed it up too.

I'm starting to lean toward vertical divider. I realized that the handles on my plane might interfer with the door or the things on the door once I looked at Lord Nibbo's cabinet.

[Mike M]

I don't like shelves on the doors of my cabinets. The first time you are too energetic closing them, you'll see what I mean. You could add retainer bars (think refridgerator door) but that takes up space and limits flexibility.

I utilize the insides of tool cabinet doors for small tools and bits. Drill and driver bits go in strips of with rows of holes part way thru. Screwdrivers and chisels in strips with through holes and pliers and wrenches on 'L' hooks. They may rattle, but they don't come loose.

[muthrie]

I was thinking that things like marking gauges, dividers, etc. would go in the door shelves. I've gotten very attached to my chisel roll for rust protection and easy laying them all on the workbench within reach. So no chisels in the door or other heavy tools.

[Onboard]

Marilyn, I posted a reply on Lord Nibbo’s site asking if he could provide a copy of his SketchUp file for his tool cabinet. By the way, he posted his tool cabinet blog 2 1/2 years ago. But, he did reply, and here’s his reply:

Lord Nibbo says:

August 4, 2011 at 7:09 am

Your not the first person to ask, but I didn’t keep any Sketchup files after I finished the cabinet

[muthrie]

Bum-mer! Thanks a ton for askin'.

[Darnell Hagen]

Please don't use piano hinges.

They are ugly and unrefined.