Shop Cabinet

[Dave Richards]

I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the shop cabinet I've been working on.

First, the drawings I used to work from
http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Dave-R1s-Album/shopcab3.jpg
And the cabinet
http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/cabinet1.jpg
Well, the base cabinet anyway. I'm waiting until I have the upper before I start on the doors. I decided to leave the base off because it is already plenty high.

The carcase is 2x lumber I had around. Much of it scraps and salvage from other projects. 2x4s were milled to 1 1/4 x 3, 2x6s to 1 1/4 x 5. In order to get the needed length for some of the pieces I ended up ripping shorter pieces and gluing them together in brick fashion.

The panels are 1/4" lauan plywood--the only thing I didn't have on hand. The bottom shelves are 3/4" MDF one piece was cut from the base for the strongback on which I built the cradle boat for my boy. The upper shelves are 3/8" lauan ply left over from the sailboat I launched last summer. I stiffend the them with scraps leftover from the carcase construction.

The top is a piece of 3/4" oak veneered MDF. I got that for free because it had been dropped and a corner was damaged.

The pull out tray is a scrap of BB ply trimmed with redwood scraps.

It's been fun seeing how far I can get using what I have on hand. I might actually still have enough stuff around for the upper cabinet, too. On the other hand, it's kind of scary to think I've made that much scrap. :eek:

[Steve Stube]

Dave, looks great! I like using up the leftovers when I can too - it's like a freebee. While I like your design, it wouldn't work for me. I'm a "messy" (that's my name for it) and that horizontal space in front of the upper doors would soon become the resting place for unameit, making it impossible to open the doors. I use the separate base cabinet from wall hung cupboards with doors approach but separate them vertically by one "clutter depth" (or about 15" - 17"). In a previous garage shop I used mostly slide-by doors but looking over the top of clutter sometimes made selecting or removing an item from behind a problem. It's just best not to be a "messy" - more space might help

What is the plan for a finish on them?

[Dave Richards]

Thanks, Steve. I have the same problem as you with horizontal surfaces. I even had to clean that one off for the picture! That is why I included the pull out tray.

I have been giving consideration to making the upper deeper so there's less horizontal surface.

[Steve Stube]

Didn't mean to throw you a curve by changing/editing my original post some.

I would like to take more photos of my shop but I don't want all the clutter showing and I don't seem to have enough places to put it out of sight.

Thanks for sharing and understanding the "messy" complex.

Deeper also works!

[Steve Clardy]

I like it. Especially the pullout. Ought to be handy.
As for the upper being made deeper, and less flat surface in front of it, that would be good too. I have a tendency to cover up about every flat surface in the shop also.

Steve

[Tyler Howell]

Dude,

May have to stop in for inspection! I'll be in the area next week.
Love to use up spares and scrap too. Very nice.:cool:

[Dave Richards]

Steve S, no problems on the edit. I'm not sure yet what I'll use for the finish. The lauan finishes up to look like mahogany with varnish or oil. I've got a bunch of cans of paint from various projects I thought I might use up. Then again, I might leave it raw. I think of all the old cabinets and shelves I've seen in shops that have just taken on a patina from age and exposure.

Steve C, I imagine if I make the cabinet deeper, I'll make the doors deep enough to hold some tools or something. We'll have to see.

I'll probably do some drawings and post them for opinions and advice.

[Dave Richards]

Thanks Tyler. Give me a call when you can.

[Ned Bulken]

Dave,
great looking cabinet! Especially since it is from scraps except for the ply. when I built my bench it was from hemlock we had on hand, and then I added onto a pair of laminated benchtops. Now I it just serves to hold piles of stuff, and I work on about 2' square. Oh well, there is wood storage underneath too, so I guess it isn't a total writeoff.
can't wait to see more photos, looks like a nice place to make sawdust!

[Michael Stafford]

Great looking cabinet. One small suggestion, I love shallow drawer/trays on full extension slides for tool and toolbox storage so that I don't have to get down on my knees to look for something in the back. Should serve you well.

[Dave Richards]

Michael, thanks for your comments. I too hate getting on my knees to find things in the back of a cabinet and someday I might do as you suggest. Until I got to mounting the shelves and top there wasn't even a screw in this thing. I'm trying to do it cheap, cheap for now. ;)

[Chris Padilla]

Great looking cabinet. One small suggestion, I love shallow drawer/trays on full extension slides for tool and toolbox storage so that I don't have to get down on my knees to look for something in the back. Should serve you well.
Yep...I think Woodpeckers was having a sale a while ago on a bunch full-extension drawer slides and I went berserk and picked up about 10 or 15 pairs for my future shop cabinets. Gotta get 'em while the gettin' is good, I'm told.

Nice cabinet...look forward to the top.

[Scott Coffelt]

I buy my blum type european slides by the case (about $1.30/pair) of 20 pairs. Best price I've seen anywhere and then you buy the screws in lenghts you need by the 100's.

The best price I've seen for FE is through woodworker's warehouse (I think is the name, I just received a new catalog this week). They have several models and I picked up some for failry cheap that worked out great for my EC project.

[Bob Winkler]

Dave,

Great Sketchup drawing and design as usual. It's ironic that just this week I started building two jewelry boxes from cherry "scraps" that I had around. Turns out I had enough of everything on hand. No wonder my shop seemed so cluttered.

And it's really ironic that in the process of moving some 1x4 "junky"pine to get to the cherry, I realized that I had enough of this stuff to build some decent garage cabinets. So I'll get to use up most of that pine and BB plywood cutoffs that I have.

I knew there was a reason I've been saving all this "scrap". It's especially gratifying to build something for almost nothing.

Bob

[Dave Richards]

Bob, while I was milling the lumber for this cabinet I was kicking myself for giving a bunch of scraps to the neighbor to burn. I was also thinking it's too bad you can't throw a bunch of scraps in a bag, add some glue and shake well, come back tomorrow and you have a board.

Thanks for the compliments guys. I really appreciate them.

Dave

[Gredo Goldenstein]

Dave-

Beautiful cabinet! I always love shop projects because they help me in most every other project from then on. If you have any more scraps that become beauties like these, send them up North a ways :D

Gredo

[Dave Richards]

Thanks Gredo. If I try to make anything this big from the scraps I have left, I'll have to buy a lot more glue. :D

Maybe you can come on down and help me figure out how to use up the rest of these scraps.

[Jerry Olexa]

Great job! Looks good. I also enjoy using up scraps when building functional stuff for the shop. Good work!

[Don Abele]

Dave, excellent cabinet. Like the sketch-up drawing too. Nice to have a good idea of what it's supposed to look like before starting the project. Be sure to let us see the final product. BTW, love the idea of putting scraps to such a good use.

Be well,

Doc

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dave....I like those cabinets :D ........when I get to that point in my new shop.....you should come visit me! :eek: :D

[Dave Richards]

Well, I pulled the front of the upper cabinet out 6" to 18" deep. That gives me less horizontal surface area to pile stuff. Opinions?
http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/shopcab3.jpg

By the way, thank you for all the compliments on the base unit. I was thinking maybe we should have a challenge to see who can build what with the scraps they have on hand. Maybe say there's a $10 or $20 limit on stuff that can be purchased for the project. The rest of the materials have to be on hand in the shop. That means no dumpster diving or construction site picking. :D