Yet another tool cabinet

[Rick Erickson]

I thought I would post my journey on making a tool cabinet for some of my hand tools. I'm making a slightly modified version of a plan I found on Fine Woodworking. Most of my hand tools currently live in drawers under my bench. I initially thought this was a great idea but after building and using them it is rather inconvenient.

Here is a picture snagged from the Fine Woodworking site on what the final product will resemble.
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I decided to make the cabinet out of some african mahogony I purchased some time back for a blanket chest I was going to make for SWMBO. She wasn't a fan of the mahogany so it sat in my shop for a few years. I'm not really a big fan of it either (difficult to work with hand tools) so it is turning into shop furniture (albeit expensive shop furniture). For the sides, top and bottom I have two 16" W x 8'L boards. The rough dimensions of the box are 37"W x 48"T. In this photo I'm cutting one of the 8'L boards in half for the sides.
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After the four pieces have been cut to size the edges need to be jointed. The handy-dandy LN #8 performs admirably for this task.
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Once all the edges have been straightened and squared (I did the cross-cut squaring on my TS - they are a bit too wide for the shooting board) I put a slight rabbet on the inside faces of my sides (tail boards) - AKA the 140 trick. You've gotta love the cross-grain shavings you can get with a 140. This will later simplify registering the tails on the pin boards when marking.
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Next post will document laying out and cutting the dovetails.

[Gary Benson]

Good progress so far, looking forward to following along.

Gary

[David Gendron]

Rick, good progression! Thank you for taking the time to share that with us!
Look like nice wood, and look like you have a few more wide planks kiking around the shop:0

[Jim Koepke]

Nice looking wood. Hope to see more soon.

jim

[Rick Erickson]

Yeah, the wood in the background is the 'replacement wood' for the blanket chest. I found huge panels of Walnut at my local lumber yard. The tool cabinet is a warmup project. I've never made a dovetailed carcass this large before so I figured I would practice on the tool cabinet. I actually started dimensioning the Walnut (it is thick 4/4) with my scrub plane but it was taking way too long. I bought an old Stanley No. 5 to replace the scrub but have yet to get back into it.

[Leigh Betsch]

I built on like it a few years ago but I used all the power I could find. I'm sure yours of hardwood will be much nicer than mine of baltic birch. I've been spending all my money recently filling it up. Still have a ways to go...

[Rick Erickson]

I built on like it a few years ago but I used all the power I could find. I'm sure yours of hardwood will be much nicer than mine of baltic birch. I've been spending all my money recently filling it up. Still have a ways to go...

Leigh, I will be using some mahogany plywood (the front and back door panels and the shelves). I used hardwood for the carcass so I could practice my dovetailing on a carcass this large. Also, the drawers will be hardwood (birdseye maple faces with mahogany sides). I plan on changing the plan a little here. I want to put in a tall middle drawer for my glue bottles.

I've got the images captured for the carcass dovetailing and installation of front and back panels. I just haven't had time to put it all together yet. My shop time today will be working on the drawers.

[Joe Cunningham]

Great, look forward to your progress. I'm documenting an end table build, but will wait till it is done (to be sure it looks OK) before posting a build thread. :D

Definitely wish there was more of these types of threads rather than tool threads in Neander Haven.

[Rick Erickson]

Great, look forward to your progress. I'm documenting an end table build, but will wait till it is done (to be sure it looks OK) before posting a build thread. :D

Definitely wish there was more of these types of threads rather than tool threads in Neander Haven.

Too funny Joe - I actually thought of waiting until the end as well but figured, Hey it's shop furniture so I can blame my mistakes on that :-). Plus, I welcome the feedback along the way so I can learn from Sawmill experts. If I'm not too far ahead I may be able to change things midstream.

[Eugenio Musto]

Nice beginning Rick.
It's true, mahogany is very hard to plane.I often use card scraper to finish it but a LV BUsmoother or a LV scraping plane is in my wishes list.
What's about the panel saw in the first picture, it's a Wenzloff one?

[gary Zimmel]

Got to love the build threads...
Looking forward to watching the progress Rick.

[Rick Erickson]

It's true, mahogany is very hard to plane.I often use card scraper to finish it but a LV BUsmoother or a LV scraping plane is in my wishes list.
What's about the panel saw in the first picture, it's a Wenzloff one?
Eugenio, The panel saw is a Lie-Nielsen. I've been very happy with it. I'm not a very tall person and don't have very long arms so this length seems to work better for me.

The only LV bench plane I own is the BU Smoother. I bought it for the very purpose of working with this mahogany. I bought a ton of it for the blanket chest(s). I built a doll cradle for my 2 year old daughter out of the same wood and ran into issues. I'm a LN guy but after some research I chose the LV BU smoother instead of the LN equivalent. I’ve been very happy with it. It's not my go to plane but for this wood I've been happy with it.

[Eugenio Musto]

Eugenio, The panel saw is a Lie-Nielsen. I've been very happy with it. I'm not a very tall person and don't have very long arms so this length seems to work better for me.

The only LV bench plane I own is the BU Smoother. I bought it for the very purpose of working with this mahogany. I bought a ton of it for the blanket chest(s). I built a doll cradle for my 2 year old daughter out of the same wood and ran into issues. I'm a LN guy but after some research I chose the LV BU smoother instead of the LN equivalent. I’ve been very happy with it. It's not my go to plane but for this wood I've been happy with it.

Niiice Cradle Rick.I think your daughter will be very happy!!

[Tony Shea]

I know people's tastes differ but I just can't imagine not liking the looks of mohagony furniture. It is truley one of my favorite looking woods especially once finished correctly. Most of it now a days it very bland and straight grained but I still even like the looks of it. But if one is lucky enough to get a hold of some of the real deal honduras mohagony then look out, IMO the most beautiful woods one can use. But that's the beauty of wood, there are so many different flavors of it to fit everyone's tastes.

Anyways, I shall be looking forward to more updates of this page as this is exactly what I had planned for my next project. I also wanted to use hardwood sides to practise large carcass joinery, specifically dovetails. Nice work so far and keep making shavings.

[Thomas love]

looking forward to the pics.

[Rick Erickson]

Part 2: The dovetails:
I've never done a dovetail carcass this large so I'm open to ALL suggestions and comments.

I'm in the tails first camp so that's where I started. I don't usually do so but I created a story stick for laying out the tails. I did this because when the box is completely assembled I will be cutting it in half (so to speak) to form the doors. Thus, I created two half pins and a 1/8" saw kerf near the front of the box - you can see that in the first picture. I ganged both sides together so I could mark them at the same time (something else I don't usually do).
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Just marking out the tails with dividers. I could have just projected the lines from the story stick but I like the divider holes in the endgrain so that when I pull off the story stick I can place my pen in the holes and using my DT marker mark the top and side of the tail at the same time.
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I threw this one in to show the scale of the sides. This sucker is going to be huge.
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All tails on both boards (top and bottom) have been marked out. I was taught to completely mark out your waste to avoid cutting mistakes. It takes a little longer but has never failed me yet.
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There is no great revelation in this picture but I wanted to throw it in so I can justify the quality of the final product. :o It was very difficult to get in a good cutting posture with the boards as tall as they were. This isn't as important when cutting the tails. If you go off your line on the face of the board a little it isn't a big deal. However, when cutting the pins it sure was a challenge. Thus I didn't get any pictures of the tail boards :)
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Just cutting out the waste with a fret saw. My saw was being difficult that day - I snapped 4 blades cutting out the pins and tails. I think in all of the DT work I've done in the last few years I may have broke two blades. I suspect they were getting hot because most of them snapped when I got near the last few tails/pins. Also, I was getting tired near the end and think I was rushing the cuts and putting too much pressure on the saw.
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More to follow - I ran out of available attachment space.

[Rick Erickson]

Part 2: The Dovetails - continued


Banging out the waste between the tails. This took a very long time. I've never been accused of being all that quick at the bench but holy smokes. I was worn out at the end. I had to go back to the stones several times when all was said and done.
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Finally got the waste of the tail boards cleaned out. This is the setup for marking the pins. This is where the 140 trick really comes into play. It made this setup sooo much easier. I just slid the tail board up until it locked into the edge of the pin board. I them clamped it down to the bench. The box of my LN #8 (pictured under the tail board at the back of the bench) was almost the perfect height for supporting the board. Lesson learned - always keep your LN boxes :D.
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The long awaited final product. I forgot to take pictures during the assembly process. That was interesting to say the least. I'm a Cosman graduate so I was taught -no test fitting :eek:. Boy was I nervous. I didn't want to spend 1/2 day cutting out the tails/pins and then I get a massive split during assembly. I bought some Titebond Extend just for this assembly. It worked out well. It's a bit runnier than anticipated but saved my hide in the end. When you are gluing up this many pins/tails you need as much open time as you can get (and I don't have any hide glue).

I'm satisfied with the results - there are a few small cracks here and there but overrall things went together well - no blowouts or splits at the sides.
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Next up will be cutting this huge box apart to form the doors. Unfortunately I took the picture of the finish product after I cut the doors off. That is why you don't see the two half pins next to each other.

[Jim Barrett]

Rick..looking really good...you using 1:7 for the dt's?

Jim

[Rick Erickson]

Rick..looking really good...you using 1:7 for the dt's?

Jim

Jim, I was suppose to but I screwed up. I wasn't paying attention and marked out the first half of board one with 1:6. It was with a pen so I didn't want to go back and change it. I much prefer the look of 1:7.

[Jim Barrett]

Jim, I was suppose to but I screwed up. I wasn't paying attention and marked out the first half of board one with 1:6. It was with a pen so I didn't want to go back and change it. I much prefer the look of 1:7.

Rick,
Can't hardly tell ;)

Jim

[Tony Shea]

Looking great Rick. I sure will be following this one. What did you say the final depth of this tool cabinet is going to be...16"? Boy that's really a nice wide board you ended up with for the project. I was thinking I might have to use glued up panels for a similar project but would much rather come accross some wide stuff like that. How do you like your saw? I see another thread where they are giving Rob super hard time and threw out there that "who would want to own an ivory handled saw." I sure as heck wouldn't in the least mind having an ivory handled saw especially if it performs as well has been stated. Is it the saw with progressivly coarser teeth?

[Rick Erickson]

Looking great Rick. I sure will be following this one. What did you say the final depth of this tool cabinet is going to be...16"? Boy that's really a nice wide board you ended up with for the project. I was thinking I might have to use glued up panels for a similar project but would much rather come accross some wide stuff like that. How do you like your saw? I see another thread where they are giving Rob super hard time and threw out there that "who would want to own an ivory handled saw." I sure as heck wouldn't in the least mind having an ivory handled saw especially if it performs as well has been stated. Is it the saw with progressivly coarser teeth?

Thanks Tony.

1. I would have done glue-ups if I didn't have the wide boards. I didn't want to use ply for the sides (dovetail practice). The total size is 16" but you lose room with the front and back panels. Thus, the overall inside dimension is 12" with about a 2 1/2" inside door dimension. The back has an interesting design where you slide your large hand / panel saws behind the cabinet. There is actually 3-sheets of plywood that define the back. I'll try to document that later in the build.

2. I like the saw(s) a lot. I have the rip and xcut. They don't get a ton of use but for things like this they come in very handy. They are also a good size for my 12-year old son to use when he helps.

3. I'm in the same camp. I like the ivory handle and it is VERY comfortable to hold - and it performs even better than it looks and feels.

4. The saw isn't a progressive saw (better than that). The first two inches have 22tpi and then it immediately changes to 15 (not progressive). You get the best of both worlds. The 22 really helps with starting the cut (especially when you are trying to split the line on the pin boards) and then you jump into the 15 once you are sawing away.

[Rick Erickson]

I know people's tastes differ but I just can't imagine not liking the looks of mohagony furniture. It is truley one of my favorite looking woods especially once finished correctly. Most of it now a days it very bland and straight grained but I still even like the looks of it. But if one is lucky enough to get a hold of some of the real deal honduras mohagony then look out, IMO the most beautiful woods one can use. But that's the beauty of wood, there are so many different flavors of it to fit everyone's tastes.


Tony, I like the look of mahogany. I just don't like working with it (african that is). I have a few boards of honduran saved up for something special. That is a different experience altogether. I'm sure there are those out there that can work it effectively. I'm not that skilled - although I will say the LV BU smoother made it a lot easier. That doesn't fix the chiseling issues I seem to have with it. It seems to chip out very easily. Again that could be me.

[Tony Shea]

Yeah I guess I did know that it wasn't a progressive pitch saw, thanks for the clear up. That sure does sound like a nice detail even compared to the LN progressive pitch saw. I'm actually in the market for a DT saw and just can't decide on brand and more importantly tooth count. My Disston rehabed saw isn't quite up to par and has an ever so slight bow in the blade closer to the handle. I just have to make sure not to use this part of the saw during cutting. I also have a dozuki but have ultimately found I much prefer the Western style back saw. The dozuki is crosscut and works great for shoulder crosscuts.

Another question if you don't mind. What is the plan for the front and back panel joinery? Do you plan to rabbet the sides/tops edges or are you going to create a dado and have a lip or a raised panel?

[Rick Erickson]

Another question if you don't mind. What is the plan for the front and back panel joinery? Do you plan to rabbet the sides/tops edges or are you going to create a dado and have a lip or a raised panel?

All questions welcome (as well as recommendations). The original plan calls for rabbets all the way around. Because it is just shop furniture the plan doesn't call for facing this off. I plan to do so. My doors will end up looking like frame and panel doors when done. In part three I show cutting the rabbets.

[Jim Koepke]

Banging out the waste between the tails. This took a very long time. I've never been accused of being all that quick at the bench but holy smokes. I was worn out at the end. I had to go back to the stones several times when all was said and done.



Looks good and it looks like you are going faster than my project.

My most recent interruption was having to cut a few hundred board feet of wood with a chainsaw, axe, froe and wedges. Still have about half of that tree to go. Then there are all the others that fell down or need to come down.

It's always something.

jim

[Tony Shea]

Thanks a bunch Rick. I will def be watching as you seem to have a great handle on the project techniques as well as a good plan laid out for all the parts. Keep making shavings.

[Andrew Gibson]

I have wanted to make a new tool chest for a wile, but recently I have been contemplating a cabinet. No matter, I'm not ready to make either.

Thanks for sharing, I cant wait to see more and eventually the finished product. I must admit that I Used Sapele for a project this year and was relatively happy with it, but I used mostly tailed tools.

[Jim Koepke]

I have wanted to make a new tool chest for a wile…

When I first saw this it hit me as "a new tool chest for a wife…"

That had some questions swirling around my groggy head.

I am not used to early mornings.

jim

[Rick Erickson]

Looks good and it looks like you are going faster than my project.
jim

Jim, it helps that my DTs aren't in the shape of hearts - I don't know where I would begin. I will stick to the straight lines. They are a lot easier.

[Rick Markham]

Looking good Rick! I am anxious to see how it all turns out! That's an absolutely amazing cradle! Definitely something to be passed down through the family!

I am also glad to see that I am not the only one who uses their LN#8 box for the same thing! When I first glanced at the pic my thought was... is that? lol

Looks like a daunting and amazing task, I am preparing to embark on a similar large carcass so I find this especially interesting. I have already learned something from your experience, I also am not a towering individual (5'7") and I think the first thing I am going to build is a nice sturdy comfortable shop made riser to stand on. I'm sure your shoulders and upper back weren't terribly happy with ya, it doesn't look particularly comfortable from the pics. Cant wait to see the rest! I'm excited to see your take on the interior layout.
---Rick

[John A. Callaway]

Rick. I am watching you close here.... my sketchup plan I did for my chest is 16.25" tall, 16" deep, and 36 1/8 " wide.... the perfect size to fit under my small bench over the stretchers.... I wont be doing a door, more like a chest of drawers.... the bottom drawer being deep enough and wide enough to hold a LN number 8 on its side....( gotta plan for the future ya know :cool: )

I am thinking a walnut case, maybe mixed species for the drawer fronts... poplar or aspen drawer sides and bottoms....

Keep going. I am anxious to see how you work all the details out...

[Rick Erickson]

Looking good Rick! I am anxious to see how it all turns out! That's an absolutely amazing cradle! Definitely something to be passed down through the family!

I am also glad to see that I am not the only one who uses their LN#8 box for the same thing! When I first glanced at the pic my thought was... is that? lol

Looks like a daunting and amazing task, I am preparing to embark on a similar large carcass so I find this especially interesting. I have already learned something from your experience, I also am not a towering individual (5'7") and I think the first thing I am going to build is a nice sturdy comfortable shop made riser to stand on. I'm sure your shoulders and upper back weren't terribly happy with ya, it doesn't look particularly comfortable from the pics. Cant wait to see the rest! I'm excited to see your take on the interior layout.
---Rick

Thanks Rick for the kind words. The cradle was a lot of fun to make and even more enjoyable when my 2-year old came downstairs on Christmas morning and saw it. Priceless. The original plan didn't have the dovetails - it called for wooden dowels. That was the first and only time I had ever cut compound dovetails - what a challenge to layout.

Too funny on the LN box. I thought I was the only one.

The riser is a great idea. I considered a stool but the balance just wouldn't have been right. If the platform is a good size it would work well. I just wouldn't have the space to store it once I was done with it.

I'm working on the inside of the carcass now - should have some pictures up by the weekend. It is slow going because I'm doing the finishing on the inside before I reinstall the back and put the drawers in. My finishing skills stink to say the least.

[Rick Erickson]

I am thinking a walnut case, maybe mixed species for the drawer fronts... poplar or aspen drawer sides and bottoms....


Sounds like a very nice contrast John. Probably needless to say, but, make sure you leave room above your case for your dogs / holdfasts to go down through your top. I didn't do that so I'm limited in what I can use. I'm considering dropping my stretchers to fix this. My drawer cases are Maple / Mahogany (same batch of wood as the tool cabinet I'm making). I think I would have preferred Walnut over the Mahogany.

[Tony Shea]

I thought I notice where you had finished a peice in one of your pics. Good idea as I hate finishing insides of cabinets once the assembly is done, def not the best way to go about it. But due to my lack of enthusiasm about finishing I still always procrastinate till the end of a project and regret it every time. Smart man.

[Rick Markham]

Rick, just a thought... I have very limited space too so storage is a major issue. If you made a riser with knock down mortise and tennon legs you could easily take it apart for storage. Another advantage would be that you could build taller or shorter leg sets when future projects arise that require a different "perspective" :D

[Rick Erickson]

Part 3 - Those wascally wabbits

The box has been put together and now it is time to put the front and back panels on. I had to created a rabbet all the way around the front and back of the carcass. This wasn't at all enjoyable. I'm not a big fan of routers (especially when not mounted in a table). The end result wasn't pretty. Fortunately this will all be covered up with rails and stiles. Balancing the router on such a narrow piece was a challenge. I made a fence to help. You can see the hamster bed being created at the bottom. I had already cut and installed the back before taking this picture. Thus, the clippings were being captured inside the box. My 2-year old daughter saw all the dust and asked me if I was making a sandbox. In this shot I'm cutting the front rabbets. After that the panels just drop in place and get screwed in.
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After closing up the box it's time to cut the front off. This was a challenge to say the least. Keeping things up against the fence proved challenging. I put some feather boards on the saw but the box was too much for them. My 12-year old son was on the outfeed side of the table saw ready to catch it. I started by slicing the top and bottom all the way through. Once those cuts are made I mounted some boards over top the cuts I just made using double-sided tape. (note to self - don't buy anymore tape from Big Lots). This holds the box together so when you cut the sides things don't fall apart. The third side cut easily. The fourth - well - buy better tape next time (or use a glue gun).
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After the front face has been cut off the edges are cleaned up. I then cut the front face in two to form the two doors (picture not shown).
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The doors have been put aside while work gets done on the inside. There will be three columns for drawer at the bottom (the plan has two). I added a narrow/tall middle drawer to hold my glue bottles and oil cans. In this shot I'm cutting stopped dados to receive the vertical dividers for the drawers. The shelf above the drawers will receive the same stop dados on the underside. You start by marking your location and scribing lines with a knife. Then it's simply a matter of sawing down to the required depth. I just clamped an 8/4 piece of maple scrap (cutting board leftover) on the line and using my x-cut saw (Bad Axe Gloat!) sawed away.
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After the outsides of the dados have been formed it's time to clean out the waste. There is no better way to do that than with a router plane. That's got to be one of my favorite tools. I chiseled out the waste at the stop portion of the dado down to depth to prevent blowing out the edge with the router plane. This shot is taken from the back.
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You've gotta love it when you can get cross grain curls like this with a router plane.
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The dados are cut a tad bit narrow so you can sneak up on them with the side rabbet.
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Next up - I spent the day dimensioning the lumber for the shelves and drawers. There will be a total of 7 drawers (mahogany sides and birdseye maple fronts. I'll be using half-blinds on the drawers (sort of). Things are going slowly right now because I'm finishing the inside of the cabinet in the process. I am no finisher that's for sure.

[Phil Thien]

This is a great project, and I'm enjoying reading and learning a lot.

Next time you want to use a router to make a rabbet for a back, you could just get a strip of plywood long enough to span the longest dimension of your back, and use this as a router sub-base with the router mounted on one end. That way you won't have to worry about the router rocking or falling.

Looking forward to watching more progress.

[Tony Shea]

Good stuff Rick, like I said I'm still watching this interesting thread. Thanks for taking the time to layout your steps and snap photos. I was curious how the cutting of the case in two halves was going to go. This is the part that will make me the most nervous about the whole project. There's got to be a better way to do this. I was thinking that maybe just cutting part way through on two parallel sides and cutting all the way through the other two sides might be the way to go. Leave about a 1/16" left on the non through cuts and maybe cut the rest with a razor knife. Then clean these edges up once the case is free. Does anyone else out there have any better advise on how to do this step?

I am also looking forward to what you're doing with the front of the doors to hide the rabbet. Keep up the good work and keep on making shavings. My favorite post on here at the moment for sure.

[Rick Erickson]

Phil, Tony thanks for the encouragement. That's a good idea to use a board for a fence. When using power tools (especially routers) I get very myopic in how to do things. I guess the only downside of doing this would be having to move it to every side. I'm too lazy to do that :)

Tony, cutting apart the box was and will be the least desirable part of this project (finishing is a close second). Not cutting all the way through is certainly an option. You could then take a hand saw and cut the rest (good idea). My approach would have worked fine if the tape I had was of better quality. I've heard that 'turner's tape' is a high quality double-sided tape but man is it expensive. It this case it would have been worth it. Fortunately it is over and I can get back to the fun.

[Bob Warfield]

Rick, quick off topic question. What are those black round buttons on the front edge of your bench?
Tool cabinet is looking good!
Keep Up The Good Work
Bob Warfield

[Tony Shea]

I just hate using double sided tape on wood part on a project. I always struggle getting it off without tearing up a little wood fibers or the tape leaves behind a sticky residue that's a pain to get off. I also would like to know what those black buttons on your bench are for. They almost look like Kreg clamp plates of some sort but don't believe they are.

[Rick Erickson]

What are those black round buttons on the front edge of your bench?Bob Warfield

Those are for the Leigh Hold-Down clamps. I put a few on the front face of my bench to clamp wide panels. I initially bought them for clamping on the top of my bench. I don't have clearance for dogs or holdfasts because of the drawers below the bench. I haven't installed any in the top yet because I'm considering eliminating the drawers when the tool cabinet is done.

Image taken from Leigh's site
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[gary Zimmel]

Great progress Rick.
This is going to be a fine piece of "Shop Furniture"
Thanks for taking the time to do this build thread for us.

[Tony Shea]

Can't you get some dogs that have shorter stems that wont interfere with your drawers. Even the cheap plastic dogs from Rockler should be short enough to not go below the thickness of your bench. Those were some of the first sets of dogs I got and worked fine.

[Rick Erickson]

Can't you get some dogs that have shorter stems that wont interfere with your drawers. Even the cheap plastic dogs from Rockler should be short enough to not go below the thickness of your bench. Those were some of the first sets of dogs I got and worked fine.

I can. I was looking at the Veritas bench clamps. They are tempting but expensive. I was also considering lowering my stretchers to give more headroom. I'm just not a big fan of the drawers in the bench (unless you are going to store non-bench stuff if them). I find myself always needing something from the drawer after a large panel is clamped up and in the way.

[David Colafranceschi]

Cosman strikes again!! Great job!!!

[Rick Erickson]

Cosman strikes again!! Great job!!!

I willingly give him credit for getting me hooked on all things Neander. I was a powertool junkie until I watched a few of his videos. I certainly haven't eliminated them from my shop but the more I use my hand tools the less I want the power around. The mistakes I've made on this project alone (and there have been a few) have all been power tool related. When using them I work too quickly and don't think things through the way I should.

[Rick Erickson]

Part 4 - Shelves and Bays and Drawers - oh my!

Have you ever had one of those days in the shop where absolutely nothing went right? Well today was one of those days for me.

My dust collector bag sprung a leak (presumably when I went to empty it). I didn't notice it until after resawing a bunch of tiger and birdseye maple for the partitions and drawer faces. The shop air was getting thick and I couldn't figure out why. I went over to my dust collector and everything within a 5' radius was covered in fine dust. I cranked it up only to find dust spraying out of the hole. Nothing a little tape couldn't fix but it left the shop an absolute mess. I hate power tools.

When preparing my drawer parts I cut several pieces too small.

When cutting the dovetails I (for the first time ever) cut off my tails on two of my boards instead of the pin waste (even after I marked the waste).

I cut all of the pins on the face of one of my drawers before final dimensioning the board. The board was too wide and I had to start over.

A few of the drawer sides curled up like a pringle chip (seen in one of the photos).

I split the side of one of my drawers when sliding in the bottom.

And to top it off I lost several pictures I had previously uploaded so there is a gap in the progress. Oh well, I guess it's better than no shop time at all.

****
Here is one of the culprits for all the dust in the shop. I resawed 4/4 birds eye and tiger maple for the plane bays and the drawer fronts. Bringing these boards to final thickness is something I don't want to do with a handplane. The drum sander comes in very handy here.
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Here are a couple of shots of the plane and drawer bays. I wanted to get as much space in the plane bays as I could so I went with thin stock here. Hind sight I wish these were a little thicker. The scale just isn't right (1/4" would have been better). Oh well, they will serve the purpose. I made the thin dados about 3/4" apart from each other to allow for some flexibility in laying out each bay. This was done on the table saw. Once the final layout is decided I will line each bay with some thin carpet I picked up at the box store (or may I will leave them alone). The dividers are 1/8" thick tiger maple I had left over from a Christmas project I made for the Mrs. I was going to make them out of the matching Mahogany but thought the contrast (and match of the drawers) would be nice. I have mixed opinions on it. The second shot shows the vertical drawer dividers installed in the stopped dados cut in a previous post. They were also made out of tiger maple (for the first few inches) joined with some popular. Also shown is one of the drawer guides for the bottome drawer. All drawers will run on these guides. And if you look close enough you can see the dust worked its way all the way over to my bench. I was blowing maple dust boogers out my nose when I finally made it inside for the night. Did I say I hate power tools.
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Here, I'm shooting all of the drawer parts in preparation for the joinery. The No. 9 does an admirable job here.
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Pictured are most of the drawer parts (backs not shown). You can see where a few of the boards twisted on me shortly after reshawing. I cut several extra pieces in case of a screw-up (I've already sampled from that pile :eek:). I mentioned in a previous post that they will be half-blind DTs (sort of). The actual construction will consist of through dovetails with a 1/8" front veneer face to give them that half-blind look. I did this because I wanted to bookmatch a birdseye face across all three drawers. I will show that picture in a later post.
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A shot of smoothing the inside of the drawer front. This birdseye maple is one tough wood. I went to my LV BUS and it was up for the job. I don't use this plane all that often because I'm not very fond of the balance/angle/tote. Instead of pushing into the wood at say a 45-degree angle (as with a normal plane) I find myself pushing foward (not enough down). With extremely hard woods like this sometimes the plane wanted to jump along the wood. I'm sure it's more my technique than the fault of the plane - I'm just not use to this style. But in the end things worked out. This wood sure did eat up the edge of the blade quickly.
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Here I'm cutting the grooves for the drawer bottom of the first drawer. I love this plane. It makes quick work of it and is a whole lot of fun to do - perfect results every time (except when I hit the birdseye).
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Next up will be some shots of the drawers (if I don't run out of stock with all of my mishaps).

[Rick Markham]

Looks awesome Rick! Your making great progress in spite of the mishaps. After trying a no 9 and a shooting board today, I am totally sold on it. I like the concept of that Cosman plane you used too, it looks like it is worth the investment in it. I did have a question regarding that and your Dado plane, how hard are they to sharpen the irons? especially the Dado plane.

[Rick Erickson]

I did have a question regarding that and your Dado plane, how hard are they to sharpen the irons? especially the Dado plane.

No problem at all. The drawer bottom plane is just a 1/4" chisel so you would sharpen it the same way. The router plane is a little different in shape (L-shaped) but easily sharpened. You just use the face edges of the stone. There is so little metal that it goes quickly. This is where a good freehand technique comes in handy.

[Tony Shea]

In the pic of all the drawer stock next to your shooting board what are the larger peices of stock? Is it the drawer bottoms? They seem very thick. Maybe you still need to plane them down?

I hear ya about bad days in the shop. I'll usually give up for a while to clear my head. Still looks like you're making good progress though.

[Rick Erickson]

Tony, the larger stock are for the drawer sides and back for the middle drawer. It is 8" tall. The thickness is the same as the other drawer sides (approximately 3/8"). I'm cutting that drawer right now (took a break for lunch).

[Rick Erickson]

Part 5 - Finishing up the drawers

Well I'll start off by saying I did a pretty crappy job of taking pictures of the drawer build. I usually have my son with me and he reminds me along the way. He was off doing kids stuff so I was flying solo. You can get the jist of what is going on but there isn't any consistency to the photos (some shots of a large drawer followed up by a shot of a smaller drawer).


This first shot is of the large middle drawer. As with the carcass, being in the tails first camp, I start there. I ganged both the left and right sides together when marking out (and from what I remember, cutting as well).
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I then move on to cutting out the pin waste in the tail boards. I threw this in just to show off my new fret (jewlers) saw:D I absolutely love this saw. A fellow creeker mentioned it in another post and I had to get one. It has exceeded my expectations. It is super light weight and has a great design to holding and tightening the blade. I haven't broken a blade yet (after about 6 drawers and some very hard birdseye maple).
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Afte cutting out the pin waste in the tail board I mark out the pins on the drawer face. I mentioned in a previous post that these would be half-blind dovetails. I kind of cheated here. I made the drawers as through dovetails and then glued on a 1/8" face to each drawer. I wasn't really trying to avoid cutting half-blinds but instead I wanted to bookmatch the face on each drawer bay. I resawed some birdseye maple and created a 1/8" thick veneer. I then used this for the faces of the drawers. This process will be clearer as the post goes on.
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Just cutting out the tail waste. Did I say that I love this saw?
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Just a shot of the drawer face and two sides. I didn't get any shots of the drawer back (not sure why).
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Here is where I'm gluing on the drawer face veneer. I exhausted most of my small clamps.
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After the drawer has been glued together and cleaned up I cut the grooves in the sides. I made these cuts on the router table and cleaned up the rounded ends with a chisel and small router plane. In the close up you can see how the veneer face creates the halfblind look.
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[Rick Erickson]

Part 5 - Finishing up the drawers (continued)

This is a shot of the drawer runners. They are 1/2" wide by about 11 1/2" long. I cut oversized holes to allow for slight adjustments during the install. That was needed because things weren't perfectly square
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Here I'm attaching the drawer slides. I used spacers between drawers to help with consistency in spacing. Even with these my gaps weren't perfectly consistent.
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A shot of the final product. There is still some cleanup work to do but the drawers are pretty much finished. Each drawer bay has the book-matched face that spans across all the drawers (kind of hard to tell in the photo). When I get a finish on it the matching should really stand out.
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[Joe Cunningham]

Impressive progress Rick. The drawer fronts turned out nice. Most applied fronts I've seen use a half-overlay style rather than flush, but those look really sharp.

I like that jeweler's saw, looks like it would sit nicely next to that new 'Terminator' block plane by Bridge City. I missed where this was mentioned elsewhere, who makes it? My cheapo coping saw needs to be retired...

[John A. Callaway]

Looks really good. Nice work.

[Tony Shea]

Great follow up once again Rick and thanks for keeping us updated. I also would be interested in know where the fret saw came from as it looks like a beaut. My fret saw no longer suits my dovetail needs and is just too rough for me. Also, I really like the choice in wood you're throwing into this thing. Really aren't skimping at all, I mean birds eye maple, they don't give that stuff away. I can't wait to see those fronts with a finish on them as those eyes should really pop and bookmatching to boot. Good stuff man, sure glad I subscribed to this one.

[Rick Erickson]

Thanks all. You can find the saw at knewconcepts.com. It comes in 3" and 5" (mine is the 5").

[Rick Erickson]

Also, I really like the choice in wood you're throwing into this thing. Really aren't skimping at all, I mean birds eye maple, they don't give that stuff away. I can't wait to see those fronts with a finish on them as those eyes should really pop and bookmatching to boot.

The birdseye wasn't that bad in price because I bought 4/4 and resawed it to meet my needs. I think I paid about $25 for the board and it went a long ways. In terms of finishing that is where things go downhill for me. I will most likely just hit it with some shellac :eek:. I want to keep it as clear (read white) as possible. I'm open to suggestions for sure.

[Joe Cunningham]

Rick, for clear as possible, look into one of the water-based products. I haven't used them myself by Peter Gedrys has a vid on FWW (if you have an online subscription). I forget which he suggests but they are supposed to be water clear and non-yellowing.

Super blonde shellac is also a perfectly fine finish. I made a birdseye maple and cherry box for a Christmas present and used super blonde on the maple. I actually used garnet shellac for the first coat and sanded it back so it highlighted the birds eye a bit.

[Rick Erickson]

Thanks Joe - I was considering something just like that (an initial amber sanded back followed by blonde). Thanks for the suggestion.

[Ken Werner]

Fabulous thread Rick, this cabinet is looking great. I like your choice of wood combinations. I think blond shellac would work well. Amber might darken the birdseye too much.

[Rick Markham]

Looks amazing Rick, ya have me on the edge of my seat! I dig your fret saw too, probably time for me to invest in a new one, my coping saw isn't quite "coping" anymore. I have a feeling a bunch of Neanders will be sporting shiny new red saws :D.

For the finish, I have used the Water based Varathane Floor Finish (Crystal Clear) available at the blue box store on my Art Deco 50's furniture I have built. Super freakin durable, and after 9 years not a hint of yellowing. (it's also on my old red oak hardwood floor) It's not the cheapest stuff on the planet, and probably somewhat heresy to mention it on this board, but if you want it to be crystal clear, resist all kinds of bumps, dings, scrapes etc. (like a working cabinet would take) Man, I tell ya what, it has really exceeded any other poly finish I have ever used! Plus if your patient and apply enough coats, you can get a deep (Poured on high gloss acrylic look.) Or just a couple coats and it really preserves the essence and texture of the wood. My coffee table, has taken some serious abuse and neglect over the years, and it's finish looks as good/ and as clear as the day I put it on. (might be just what your looking for)

Keep it coming!!! ---Rick :D

[Tony Shea]

I by no means good at finishing either and really not a ton of experience. But I have done well with the simple BLO first coat followed up with a Shellac top coat of the color wanted, super blonde in your case. I like using the BLO because it tends to bring out figure in most woods. But I have never tried this method on Birdseye therefore you'd have to test it out on some scrap. Again, I'm not real confident in my finishing techniques.

[Rick Erickson]

Thanks guys - I appreciate the words. I really thought I would be done with this by now, but looking at it I've got a long way to go.

Ken,
If I did use amber it would be as a washcoat only. I would then sand it back significantly and top with blonde. I haven't tried that on BE maple but I will give it a shot on some scrap. I'm guessing though it may be too much yellow/orange and i want to avoid that.

Rick,
I will certainly check out that finish Rick. I like the 'close to the wood' finish so a few coats would be all I'm looking for (even though I want some solid protection). I'm thinking this 'shop' piece of furniture will take less abuse than any furniture in my house (read 3-kids) :)

Tony,
My only concern with BLO is that it is an oil and these typically turn white woods yellow. I'm going to try all of these suggestions on a scrap piece though (hopefully). I usually get very impatient at the end of a project and rush through the finish. I hope I don't in this case. Finishing the inside early will help me try to stay consistent in my approach.

[Rick Markham]

Haha! True about the kids!!! I'm pretty sure if I can't permanently damage it they don't have a chance... The phrase "can't have anything nice!" applies to me sometimes LOL

That Varathane floor finish applied in only a couple coats, gives a nice finish that isn't overwhelming, the stuff is really very very thin, and applies in thin coats. It makes the grain stand up after the first coat, and requires some very light sanding, but my experience is most water based finishes do that. It takes me a whole lot of coats (25+) to get the thick glassy look. Like I said, it's a little pricey compared to the other Poly types, but I have never seen anything remotely close to how it preserves the natural colors of the wood and how actually clear it is. Pretty much if you wipe the wood with a wet cloth, that's what it will look like exactly with that finish on there. Too bad ya don't live closer, I'd lend ya my can to give it a test try!

[Rick Erickson]

Part 6 - The Doors

Well I haven't gotten a lot of traction on the tool cabinet for the last two weeks. Mother's day was last weekend and I promised the Mrs. I'd stay out of the shop on Sunday. Also, the LN show came to Atlanta last weekend and I spent most of Saturday there. Anyways I did a good bit of work on the doors today. It took a lot longer than I anticipated to get them mounted. It wasn't easy. I mounted the hinges flush with the door and carcass. I put a shallow rabbet on both the door and carass the thickness of the hinge using my LN 140. Balacing the door while trying to screw in the hinge (by myself) proved difficult. I didn't get a picture of it because I didn't have a 3rd hand to take the shot. So, I got a picture of the finish product (oh well). This first shot shows the overall look of the inside (so far) with the doors attached.

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This second shot show a close up of the flush mounted hinge. I thought going with a flush mounted hinge would be a nice visual touch but it proved necessary (not just cosmetic). Installing a 4-foot piano hinge exactly square to the sides and parallel to its edge would have been impossible (for me) without the rabbet to 'lock it in'. You can also see the dados in the doors 'left over' from cutting apart the carcass. The original plan called for cutting the dados after the box was cut apart. I decided to do it before and thought I could use the dados in the doors. I'm regretting that decision now. Some of them will be useful but not all of them. I will have to get creative to figure out how to use all of them.

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Here is a shot of the outside face of the doors. I used some faux rails and stiles to trim out the doors (to hide the rabbeted inset panel).

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Here's a side shot showing the hinge and door appearance from the outside. Overall I'm pleased with the way it turned out. The doors are heavy but these hinges seem to be holding up well and make the doors easy to open.
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Next up... I'm changing the inside design a bit. I'm not a fan of the swinging panels on the original plan (see first post) so I'm going with a different approach. I have 3 or 4 planes that are too long to fit in the plane bays and I don't want to put them on the top shelf (reserved for the LN #8). I'm going with a plane stand sitting on the second shelf. I stole the idea from Becksvoort's cabinet. This will hold my LN 5 1/2, LN 9, Stanley 5 and a few other miscellaneous tools.

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[Paul Incognito]

That is a very nice cabinet!
PI

[Rick Erickson]

Thank you Paul!

[Tony Shea]

Can you explain what you did for the outside of the doors with the rail and stiles. Are they actually mortise and tenon rail and stiles that are just placed over the doors to hide the rabbet? And if so how did you attach them, with glue on the back side of the rail and stiles right on the face of the doors? That is the only area I really wasn't sure how I was going to go about covering the rabbeted front panel. Is there a profile on the inside of the frame or is it just square to the face of the frame?

My other concern is where your issue with the dado's continuing into the doors arose. Would like to not end up with those dodo's in the doors unless I can figure a way to utilize them for storage solutions. Maybe utilize them for storage bars for chisels, screwdrivers, gouges, etc. We'll see.

All in all though I think your cabinet is turning into a true show of craftsmanship, which is really how I feel a tool cabinet should be. Some sort of testament of the quality of work one is capable of doing while at the same time providing more practise for the simple and complex techniques involved in cabinet and furniture making. I've enjoyed this thread and really appreciate the time you've taken to document your progress. Can't wait to see the inside in its' complete form holding all your tools of the trade.

[Rick Erickson]

Can you explain what you did for the outside of the doors with the rail and stiles. Are they actually mortise and tenon rail and stiles that are just placed over the doors to hide the rabbet? And if so how did you attach them, with glue on the back side of the rail and stiles right on the face of the doors? That is the only area I really wasn't sure how I was going to go about covering the rabbeted front panel. Is there a profile on the inside of the frame or is it just square to the face of the frame?

Tony, I probably should have documented that a little better. I probably would have if my method was as sophisticated as M&T rails and stiles. They are simply 1/4" thick strips of wood glued to the front. No concern about movement as the front is mostly ply. There is no profile on them. Everything about this piece is square so I didn't want to introduce curves to it. They may have been a nice touch though. I could have used my LN beading tool (crap!). On second thought it probably wouldn't have worked all that well. This mahogany is a real bear to plane. I couldn't imaging scraping beads into it.



My other concern is where your issue with the dado's continuing into the doors arose. Would like to not end up with those dodo's in the doors unless I can figure a way to utilize them for storage solutions. Maybe utilize them for storage bars for chisels, screwdrivers, gouges, etc. We'll see.

That was my original thought - to use them for hanging storage solutions. The problem is there are too many of them. I plan to use a couple for that purpose (chisels, etc.) but haven't figured out how to use the rest of them. I have a design for a removable chisel holder that will slide into the dados. I will hold it in place with rare-earth magnets on the back. I can then remove the holder to bring to my bench.



All in all though I think your cabinet is turning into a true show of craftsmanship, which is really how I feel a tool cabinet should be. Some sort of testament of the quality of work one is capable of doing while at the same time providing more practise for the simple and complex techniques involved in cabinet and furniture making. I've enjoyed this thread and really appreciate the time you've taken to document your progress. Can't wait to see the inside in its' complete form holding all your tools of the trade.
Thanks Tony and you are welcome. I am excited about it but feel the easy part has been done. The inside will prove to be a challenge. I talked with a few others that have made similar chests and they are struggling with the inside layout as well. Becksvoort has a good write-up on how he did his. I've been studying that but it sure looks like a lot of work - I'm just not that patient. I've been working on the inside plane till (stand) and will post that next.

[Rick Erickson]

The tool cabinet build moves along (slowly). With the kids out of school and on to the summer activities shop time has shrunk. In my limited time I managed to knock out the the plane stand. This is a knock-off from Becksvoort's cabinet. It isn't well executed and has a lot of flaws but it serves its purpose well. The main reason for this 'accessory' is to house my larger planes that won't fit in the plane till below it (e.g. the LN 5 1/2 and Stanley 5) pictured. I'm not finished dividing out the space yet - not sure what else I want to put there (maybe planes that are too small to fit in the plane till below but too large to put in drawers). Becksvoort's design calls for small strips of leather underneath the toe of the plane. I will probably follow his lead.

The stand is made out of Mahogany, Birdseye maple and Poplar. The sides are 1/2" thick with 1/4" BE Maple laminated to the Poplar. The thin plane separator strips are also BE Maple (all leftover scraps from the drawer faces).

The height of the stand isn't arbitrary (although I almost made that mistake). It has the necessary clearance below the shelf for the handle and blade of the LN 5 1/2 when the stand is open. The depth is also calculated to make sure that when the doors close the blade clears anything that may be hanging on the door.

The inside will house miscellaneous stuff like extra plane blades, plane oils, waxes and other things I don't use that often or that don't store well in drawers.

I think my next step is a removable chisel holder that will live on one of the doors. Unfortunately (for the tool chest sake) I just received a honey-do-list of projects my wife wants built for our 3-year olds birthday coming up. I'm guessing the tool chest is going to take a back-seat for a few months. I'll try to keep it alive with small accessory builds while I'm building my daughters stuff (a small stove, refrigerator, table and chairs) for her bedroom.

Thanks for looking.

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