Pine tool cabinet

[john brenton]

I have some 11 3/4 x 3/4 (finished dimension) pine boards that have been sitting around...I actually was using them as a lumber rack. As I had used up a bit of the wood on the rack, and needed to make some space I figured they'd be good for a saw till and/or cabinet. I laid out all my tools and can pretty much fit everything in a 22" x 11" box, with only a batten board or bridle joint door.

I am concerned about how the wood will hold up, but the question is whether or not people who have built their cabinet out of pine are happy with them. I'm kind of talking myself into being lazy because it's pine. I had big dreams of dovetails and through tenons, and now I'm thinking butt joints.

So...your pine cabinet. Keeper, or starter cabinet??

[george wilson]

As long as you don't beat the tools on the cabinet,it should be fine. My old style tool box has a pine exterior,like many old ones,and a mahogany interior.

[Bruce Haugen]

I wouldn't use butt joints - although pine is a bit harder to cut dovetails, it's still good practice. Besides, dovetails are ever so much stronger than butt joints. Just use sharper tools and be careful.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with pine. My wall cabinet is poplar, just one step up. One benefit is that you won't cringe when you have to make a modification.

[john brenton]

With my little plan there are really only two joints that it would make sense to dovetail, on both sides to hold the bottom, which I could do in a couple of hours. That's not an issue. I had planned for quite a few shelves and was considering half dt'ing or through tenoning the shelves in, which is what I was really mulling over. If I had a router I wouldn't even think twice, but I've gone down the less travelled road with the hand tools only to wish I had kept it simple stupid. In fact, that's kind of my MO. So I thought screw it, it's not a show piece I just need to get my tools in a box. I don't know. Now I'm thinking of going with a different plan altogether. I need to just pick the best design and go with it from there.

[Zach Dillinger]

John,

Here's an idea. I stumbled across this plan in a 1924 edition of the Popular Mechanics Handbook for Farmers. It is a little bigger than your stated dimension but still looks neat and uses pine 1" x 12" for construction. I had planned to make one with frame and panel doors but haven't find a Roundtoit yet. Enjoy.

Zach

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[Bruce Haugen]

Ah, you're talking about the interior shelves. In that case, cut dados to support those shelves. Glue and screw or nail them in place and it'll be as stout as you need. Easy peasy. And if you want to do it sans power tools, get yourself a 71 router plane to ensure that the dados are all the same exact depth. Besides this job, they're pretty handy to have.

[john brenton]

Zach,

Although I won't use the drawers for hardware, and my planes will be standing up as the 24" jointer is kind of in the driver's seat when it comes to the design, that's perfect. I pretty much have a barn style set up in the garage shop with the pole lathe and shave horse. I really didn't want a classy English or yuppie looking tool cabinet anyway. I was thinking about putting hexagonal interior frames like the ones you see on sheds.

Thanks for the image!

[john brenton]

Sure, I mean really, I could do it all with butt joints. Hell, I could just make a box and put it on the floor or leave everything on shelves and peg boards. I have a router plane, rabbet planes...all that stuff. I have a full on basic neander shop. The difficulty with shop furniture, for me at least, is whether you make it utilitarian, or a showcase of joinery/design/etc. I'm no slouch, but I do want to make sure that I don't aim so high that I don't complete the project, or execute it poorly. I'm going to be looking at that cabinet for a long time and don't want to shrug everytime I see it.

[Brander Roullett]

I tried my first dado's using only hand tools the other day, and it was way easier than I thought it would be.

Dado's for shelves is the way to go.

In attempt to work on my writing skills, I also wrote up a full blog post on how I did it here: http://www.badgerwoodworks.com/2011/01/how-i-cut-a-dado/

As for the original question, I've done a number of dovetails in pine and poplar and they work just fine. You have to be careful when paring to the line, but other wise it's the same basic concept. I'd say go for it, if nothing else it will help you decide what you really wanted in a tool chest. ;)

badger

[Greg Wease]

Sure, I mean really, I could do it all with butt joints. Hell, I could just make a box and put it on the floor or leave everything on shelves and peg boards. I have a router plane, rabbet planes...all that stuff. I have a full on basic neander shop. The difficulty with shop furniture, for me at least, is whether you make it utilitarian, or a showcase of joinery/design/etc. I'm no slouch, but I do want to make sure that I don't aim so high that I don't complete the project, or execute it poorly. I'm going to be looking at that cabinet for a long time and don't want to shrug everytime I see it.

Traditionally, tool chests were often utilitarian on the outside but showcased the craftsman's talent on the inside. Would this solve your dilemma?

[Jim Koepke]

Stopped dados are pretty easy to cut with chisels and a Stanley #71 or equivalent.

You can make them look a little better by rounding the corners of the shelves.

I have done them without the router plane, it is just a bit easier with one.

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The images show the difference. If you ever have visitors to your shop, they may be looking at the details of your work.

Make something to be proud of and you will not regret it.

jtk

[Andrae Covington]

I'm in the process of building a traditional tool chest using the same dimension pine. I haven't started the dovetails yet, but I did practice them in the same material. I made my best effort to avoid the worst knots and sap pockets in laying out the pieces, but it seems impossible to avoid them all. I obsessed for a while about replacing them with butterfly patches and other elaborate schemes but eventually I decided it just doesn't matter for a tool chest. I am going to paint the outside with milk paint, and the trays and things that will actually hold the tools will be made from something else, probably cherry.

[James Taglienti]

geez the stuff in my shop is cobbled together with sheetrock screws.... its lucky if it gets predrilled or glued!

maybe i ought to step it up

[Don C Peterson]

I've got a small pine end table that was made by my great grandfather in 1935. It has not been treated with kid gloves either. I still use it.

Pine isn't hard, but it will last for generations if you use solid construction techniques.

[Tom Scott]

John,
Sure pine can be used. Not quite as glamorous as mahogony and cherry, but I use it all the time. This is a tool cabinet I made, and is still in progress (still need to make some drawers and figure out how I'm going to organize left side).

Tom

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[Russell Sansom]

I've made a good deal of shop furniture from pine and even some of redwood. It's all hanging in there after 30-some years. If I were you, I would not pass up the opportunity to use those foot-wide boards to make a basic dove-tailed box for a cabinet. Pine is a treat to work with...at one edge of the spectrum in a way, but use your paring chisels where you might otherwise use dovetail chisels and keep them sharp. Knife marks will go very deep, so plan for that. Don't work in knots; they'll chip your chisels and possibly your plane irons, and there's an hour wasted putting steel back in order.
Pine dovetails are easy to repair if you goof one up. It's a good place to practice sawing to the line and getting a good fit right off the saw without paring. If you're ever going to do real hand wood work, then the basic operations of dovetailed box, paneled doors, and sliding dovetailed shelves are a large percentage of what you'll be doing. I generally dovetail at least one shelf. A tightly-fitted dado will work, especially if you dowel it in from the sides. I don't think it's a crime to screw and glue the shelf in then replace the screws with dowels or even decorative square pegs.

One more thing. Tom's cabinet above is quite handsome, and is an excellent way to go. This isn't self-evident, but for a "proper" cabinet that won't rick, you need a cornice or a plinth ( a stiff box that's part of the structure ). There are several ways to sneak the equivalent in. In Tom's design, the pigeon holes will almost work if they're rigid enough. With all that weight, you don't want a cabinet that's sagging around its mounting points or gone diamond-shaped on you so he doors won't close.

[Jake Rothermel]

I've always used the Roubo/Schwarz rule of thumb for most shop furniture: Use what's cheap and easy to get hold of (I am, of course, paraphrasing that). Sure, pine's a soft wood so it's harder to chisel and will ding and dent easier than, say, oak; but who cares? It's a TOOL CHEST. You put your TOOLS in there. Like you said, you'll be the only person to really have to look at it. I, personally, go along with Bruce's MO and use a lot of poplar in my home shop but that's more a personal preference for the wood rather than a desire to avoid pine. My humble opinion is to pick a design that you'll be happy with and decide if pine can handle the structural requirements of that design. If it can, go for it.

[Dan Andrews]

I made these for my collection and for use in the shop
The tall saw till has a dovetail drawer at the bottom.
The wall saw till is for users in the shop.
The plane "hangar" (it is for planes after all), has a dovetail drawer.
The tool box was made by my grandfalther a boat and barn builder. It is at least 70 years old.

As you can see I like to keep it simple but decent in appearance. :)

[Matt Radtke]

The only 2 cents I can add to this is consider the opportunity for practice.

It's the perfect place to try out the quituple-blind-sliding-mitred-and-pegged-sliding-dovetail-tenon (what? you're not familiar with that joint? Amatuers :D )

If it goes horribly, no big deal--it's just shop furniture. If it goes well, you have another trick in your bag.

If you don't want/need to learn a new trick, can anyone honestly say they are so good that they don't need more practice on something? I personally dovetail anything and everything I can even if it's overkill, just a storage box, etc etc.

[john brenton]

Thanks for all the replies, although most of them zeroed in on my dovetail comment, which really wasn't the point. In the end I found a simple German cabinet made by either ECE or Ulmia that I really like and will be doing that one.

[Rick Erickson]

geez the stuff in my shop is cobbled together with sheetrock screws.... its lucky if it gets predrilled or glued!

maybe i ought to step it up

Shop furniture is a great place to build skill and practice new techniques. I make my mistakes there before doing it on real furniture.