Toolbox plans

[Roy Lindberry]

I'm interested in building a "carry around" style toolbox, like an old carpenter/jointer's box. Something that will carry a couple of bench planes, a few hand saws, a set of chisels, etc.

Does anybody have any plans or drawings (or even pictures) of something like that? I need a little design inspiration.

[Rick Rutten]

Tom Fidgen has plans for a toolbox/site workbench in his book "Made by Hand." It is the first project. The book may be had at Amazon or his website if you want a signed copy. Otherwise it may be in the library. I have not yet tried to build that any project from the book.

Rick

[Steve Branam]

Roy Underhill has a great one that I plan to build this summer. He did two episodes of the Woodwright's Shop on it, available to watch for free at http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/schedule/28season_video.html.

This was featured in the June, 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking http://www.popularwoodworking.com/articleabstract?aid=15189. It's also available on their 2009 issue DVD.

[Bill Houghton]

See if your local library carries a Taunton Press book called, "The Toolbox Book." Not sure it's worth buying - after all, any toolbox is, ultimately, just a box - but it will give you more ideas than you'll ever need.

[Jim Koepke]

Maybe you could be a bit more specific about what you are considering.

I have a couple of tool totes that I use. I do not think many pictures other than this were taken.

152500

Mostly the picture shows the beading where I put my initials in Morse code.

There is a piece in the back to slide a saw into and one end has a divider and some dowels to put chisels. If this is what you are thinking, I can take more pictures.

It will hold a couple of planes, saws, chisels boring tools, hammers, mallets and a few other items.

jim

[Roy Lindberry]

Maybe you could be a bit more specific about what you are considering.

I have a couple of tool totes that I use. I do not think many pictures other than this were taken.

152500

Mostly the picture shows the beading where I put my initials in Morse code.

There is a piece in the back to slide a saw into and one end has a divider and some dowels to put chisels. If this is what you are thinking, I can take more pictures.

It will hold a couple of planes, saws, chisels boring tools, hammers, mallets and a few other items.

jim

Yeah, actually that seems to be more along the lines of what I'm thinking. I've seen them before, generally with peaked sides and a handle (often just a round dowel).

I'd like to go with something of somewhat an authentic design that would have suited a carpenter at the beginning of the century. I'm fairly ignorant as to exactly what this might be, and that's really why I'm asking.

[Rye Crane]

Roy,

I found a set of plans and instructions in Woodcraft's Magazine issue Volume 5 No. 26 December 2008- January 2009 page 10 with templates.
It looks like a nice plan, using brass rod to secure the handle and upper
ends of the lid. It has a lift out tray with a accent wood as the handle and divider. The prototype is made out of ash with handles out of zebra wood.

I am thinking of three friends that could use something like this around Christmas time. Just might give it a try.

Good luck,
Rye Crane
Pittsburg, CA.

[David Keller NC]

I'm interested in building a "carry around" style toolbox, like an old carpenter/jointer's box. Something that will carry a couple of bench planes, a few hand saws, a set of chisels, etc.

Does anybody have any plans or drawings (or even pictures) of something like that? I need a little design inspiration.

Roy - Do you mean a toolbox (like your thread title), or a tooltote like Roy Underhill is carrying during the title sequence to the WWS? If you mean a tool tote, Roy has a good description and measurements in one of his books. If you'd like, I can hunt up which book it is, which you'll have to buy or borrow from the Library - it's copyrighted, so I can't copy it for you. But the good news is that these books are very cheap, and should be on every neander's shelf.

[Roy Lindberry]

Roy - Do you mean a toolbox (like your thread title), or a tooltote like Roy Underhill is carrying during the title sequence to the WWS? If you mean a tool tote, Roy has a good description and measurements in one of his books. If you'd like, I can hunt up which book it is, which you'll have to buy or borrow from the Library - it's copyrighted, so I can't copy it for you. But the good news is that these books are very cheap, and should be on every neander's shelf.


Yes, I'm thinking of a tote (sorry, still learning a lot of terminology). What's frustrating me, is that I know I've seen pictures and plans of exactly what I'm looking for, but I can't remember where.

Anyway, I appreciate the help from all of you.

[David Keller NC]

Roy - Here's plans for a basic one (free). Roy's is a bit more complicated as it has one canted side for additional capacity:

http://woodworking.about.com/od/woodworkingplansdesigns/ss/woodenToolbox.htm

[Jim Koepke]

Mine was just nailed together from scrap wood.

The end pieces are the only place where the grain direction has to be considered since it has the handle going through and needs to support the weight.

I have seen totes with a row of drawers at the bottom held closed by butterfly catches.

Here is an image of one that has the same basic design:

152524

The is slotted piece in the center look like it would be good for holding saws.

Most of these I have seen are mostly pretty simple joinery. Of course, one can get as fancy as one wants.

I will try to take some pictures of mine today.

jim

[Roy Lindberry]

Mine was just nailed together from scrap wood.

The end pieces are the only place where the grain direction has to be considered since it has the handle going through and needs to support the weight.

I have seen totes with a row of drawers at the bottom held closed by butterfly catches.

Here is an image of one that has the same basic design:

152524

The is slotted piece in the center look like it would be good for holding saws.

Most of these I have seen are mostly pretty simple joinery. Of course, one can get as fancy as one wants.

I will try to take some pictures of mine today.

jim

Yeah, there we go. If I can find a few of those to steal ideas from, it'll help me design my own.

Thanks Jim.

[Jim Koepke]

One thing that helps the design process is to lay out a few of the tools on a bench.

This will help to determine how much room is needed for the tools and what kind of dividers may be needed.

jim

[Jim Koepke]

On a hunch, I cruised over to finewoodworking.com and did a search on > tool tote <

Found a few things worth looking at including some in the gallery.

jim

[Bruce Haugen]

Bob Le's toolbox (http://daikudojo.org/Archive/daikusan/bob.le/20080703_daikudojo_toolbox/)

[Jim Koepke]

Here are the photos of mine.

This box was made when most of my saws were of the Japanese pull style.
There is just a spline on a shim to hold a saw or two.
On the left there is an area with dowels through the divider to hold chisels, pencils, screwdrivers or any small tools.

152561

It is not long enough to hold most western saws.

The front wall is shorter than the back edge mostly because that is the size of the scrap pieces that were laying around.

152562


The end view shows were a small dowel was inserted to hold the handle dowel in place.

152563

This was designed to be a general purpose tote to haul what ever tools are needed be it electrical, plumbing, wood or mechanical.

As mentioned earlier, it was just nailed together to carry some tools one day. When one of those magical round tuits comes my way maybe a nicer example will be constructed.

jim

[Neil Zenuk]

Just a few shots of the tool box I'm finishing up. It's for my partner for knitting, but I thought I'd toss some tools for looks. The tools on the loose piece (soon to be lid) would be a tray the would fit over the planes.

[Dan Racette]

Bob Le's toolbox (http://daikudojo.org/Archive/daikusan/bob.le/20080703_daikudojo_toolbox/)

I just love this one. Simple, strong contruction. Great practice on dovetails. I think the traditional version of this is actually built with mortise and tenon, which would be stronger.

D

[harry strasil]

Carvers Tote, made for my middle daughters Father-in-law, of 100+yr old clear pine basement shelving from a local clothing store that closed. No metal fasteners of any kind used in the construction.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/bobsbox.jpg

[William Adams]

Neat plan here:

http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/howto/images/e2103toolbox1940.pdf

(I just bought a similar box off Craigslist w/ a Craftsman level, some bits (no brace though), a Stanley chisel and marking gauge and some other odds and ends)

[Staffan Hamala]

Bob Le's toolbox (http://daikudojo.org/Archive/daikusan/bob.le/20080703_daikudojo_toolbox/)

That's a nice one!

I also liked the chisel tray:http://daikudojo.org/Archive/howtos/20071230_woodworking_toolbox_chisel_tray/

[Mike Olson]

I have been toying with the idea of a tool tote for a while. haven't had time though yet. The biggest thing for me was to have the handle set on the very top high enough to use as a saw bench. Also one end of the handle would stick out further from the side in a V shape to use for ripping/coping wood.

[Igor Petrenko]

I like the idea of using outside of toolbox to mount tools - makes them easily found and accessible
206945

[Sean Hughto]

I like the elegance and simplicity of Bob's!

I took a few hours this weekend and cobbled a rough poplar and pine box with a couple dividers to host my Beall threader stuff and trim router all in one place. In the interest of speed, I used cut nails rather than dovetails, so it's not fine woodworking by any means. That said, I kinda like it's rugged practical look. ;-)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6085/6113979445_d61807b87c_z.jpg

[Rodney Walker]

I recommend looking thru Jim Tolpin's "The Toolbox Book". A lot of good ideas in there. Here's an enclosed one inspired by designs in his book that I'm building for my daughter's growing collection of hand tools.

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss308/RodneyWT1180B/toolbox/toolbox002.jpg

Dimensions are 32x16x10, built out of recycled fir barn boards, and maple and mahogany scraps.
Planes will be in the bottom drawer and the lid will hold 4 hand saws when it's done.
My daughter has decided she would like a light blue color on the outside.
Rodney

[john brenton]

Ahh, if they only made all tools as durable as those good old craftsman flat head screw drivers. I bet they'd make a good mortise chisel. I never thought about it before. I know I have put mine through every kind of hell imaginable and it's still holding up.


Here are the photos of mine.

jim

[Bruce Haugen]

Here are some fine examples of Japanese students' toolboxes (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&langpair=ja|en&u=http://www.geocities.jp/hatanokoichi/naisou.html&rurl=translate.google.com)that are all designed around an attache case. They're all highly portable and hold a lot of tools.

It is a Google translation of a Japanese web site, not done by an actual live human being, so be aware of the bad translations.

[Ron Conlon]

Here are some fine examples of Japanese students' toolboxes (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&langpair=ja|en&u=http://www.geocities.jp/hatanokoichi/naisou.html&rurl=translate.google.com)that are all designed around an attache case. They're all highly portable and hold a lot of tools.

It is a Google translation of a Japanese web site, not done by an actual live human being, so be aware of the bad translations.

I love the briefcase style like in this attachment. Fine Woodworking had one on their back page oh, maybe 16 months ago. There's something about this configuration that is more aesthetically pleasing to me than the chunky Craftsman toolbox look.

[Bruce Haugen]

I love the briefcase style like in this attachment. Fine Woodworking had one on their back page oh, maybe 16 months ago. There's something about this configuration that is more aesthetically pleasing to me than the chunky Craftsman toolbox look.

I've started on my own version of the one posted on FWW. It is an intriguing design, and the guy did a superb job. In my job there is a fair amount of down time on weekends and nights and I'm allowed to do some small projects. The trick is paring down my necessary tool list to the point where they can be transported easily. The only difficulty is that this type of design is pretty much dedicated to a particular tool, but if the basic tools set can be defined well enough, that ought to do the trick for most of what I can take to work.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I just love this one. Simple, strong contruction. Great practice on dovetails. I think the traditional version of this is actually built with mortise and tenon, which would be stronger.

The only thing I'd change on these Japanese style toolboxes is to add a couple of (retractable) luggage wheels and a handle.

Pam