Tool chest build
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[quote quote=27555]What a great chest Dave, great job! I’ve seen similar designs with 3 tills running long way, but your design seems to have more utility.
Cheers
[/quote]Sid, thanks. Just to clarify, it’s not my design. Saw the layout in Tony Konovaloff’s book, which is a really good read btw. I took his general layout and changed up a couple things and dimensions. The lid is going to be a challenge!
Drill box glued up and waiting to be cut in half. Dry fitting this thing was funny, got it all together, nice tight dovetails….now how to get it apart to glue?…it took a lot of gentle tapping…sometimes I never think ahead
The idea with this box is to chop it in half then hinge it and install a bunch of tool holders on each size for my braces, hand crank, all my screwdrivers, drill bits, auger bits etc, basically anything that makes round holes in things will go in this box. It will sit in between the two sliding till/trays. Next on the list is a tool tote to slip in the extra space for big items like my sharpening plates etc and other sharpening stuff.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.13 February 2014 at 3:01 pm #27810OK. You have really messed me up now. I have wanted to make this box for two years. I just discovered this thread on the forum. Wonderful work Dave. How thick did you leave the outside walls? What do you have to do to geget a jointer plane off the bottom?
[quote quote=27716]Drill box glued up and waiting to be cut in half.[/quote]
Cool. I call this type of container a “Boring Box”. I have been meaning to make one for a while now. Those braces and hand crank drills are so bulky, they are hard to store except for in a dedicated case. I am looking forward to see how you secure everything inside.
Ron, thanks. This has been a lot of work.
I used 1×12 rough pine for pretty much the entire box and interior tills. I had to scrub plane every thing down and dimension it square and flat.
The exterior walls of the chest are 7/8 inch starting from rough boards of about 1 1/8. These boards are cheap but they are all sorts of cupped, bowed, twisted, crooked, knotty etc. Looking back, going to pre dimensioned boards would have saved me a lot of effort, but the trade off is cost, it would have substantially increased the cost of the chest. In the end, what you see now cost me about 70 dollars total in lumber. Hardware is extra and the hinges for the lid are pricey. The lid on the other hand is going to be made out of walnut and cherry because thats the bit that will get abused and I wanted something that will look nice when the box is opened. This upped the cost.
The chest is near 40 inches wide so access to the bottom through the middle or sides (tills moved to either end) is no problem, simply lift the plane up at an angle and it clears everything. No problem at all really. I have a number 7 stanley and it is easy to remove.
If you want dovetail practice this is it, everything is dovetails, boxes within boxes 🙂 But it has taken a long time and I’m still only about 1/2 complete but I’m in no rush. I just chip away at it when I have time. I think I’m in the plus 100 hour category now.
If I estimate the time tally to date – rough estimate. I’m not in production mode, I’m in enjoyment mode. So I may seem slow.
Dimensioning lumber for main carcass 3 days – (24 hours)
Gluing up the panels, edge jointing etc 2 days – (16 hours)
Flatteing panels – 1 day (8 hours)
Dovetailing the panels – 2 days (16 hours)
Tongue and groove bottom panels – 1 day – (8 hours)
Gluing up carcass and installing bottom and caster wheels – 1 day (8 hours)
Finishing exterior 1 day (8 hours)
Installing till runners and bottom plane storage – 1 day (8 hours)
Dimensioning lumber for interior tills (1/2 inch) – 2 days (16 hours)
Dovetailing tills and drawers and glue up – 2 days (16 hours)
Insert trays and tools holders 1 day (8 hours)I rarely get whole days to work on this and other things which is why its taking me so long.
14 February 2014 at 4:03 am #27831Dave
Yes, anybody who knows anything at all about what we do could guess that this one is a real time hog. I am really looking forward to getting started. I have plenty of cherry and walnut to do the chest. My only issue is the lid. Will I follow Tony’s example or will I find another solution for saws? I am thinking of a separate till. I am going to build the lid last, so I have a while to stew on it. Schwarz advocates pine for the weight issue. I really do not plan for my chest to be very mobile, so that is not a factor for me.
Ron
Ron, I’m following Tonys design for the lid as it’s the only real place I have to store my hand saws. Whatever you do, build the lid last so you can fit it to the box.
I’ve built and glued up the sharpening box this weekend. Will be spending some time finishing it the couple days then it’s sawing the drill box in half and installing the hardware and all the boring bits 😉
Progress is being made slowly but surely. Apart from my hinge issue which I got sorted eventually. Sharpening/misc lift out box is done and fitted. All my sharpening stuff goes is here, diamond plates, axe stone, buffing cmpnd, strops for various tools, saw files in their canvass roll, mill files etc and anything else that hasn’t got a home.
The drill box is done with the handles and latches installed. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out a good way to secure these odd ball shaped braces and hand drill plus the bits and other items related to making holes in wood.
Things I messed up, dovetails too tight again and when applying finish I noticed a hairline crack on the sharpening box emanating from a pin. Second thing was I over estimated the width of my saw kerf when cutting the drill box in half, so now I have a bead running down one half of the box from my marking gauge purposely put there as a decorative feature of course! Third thing was the hinges on the drill box…
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You must be logged in to view attached files.23 February 2014 at 8:20 pm #28229Dave you have go pretty proficient at making dove tails love the work you are doing.
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