It's an additction, but I like it.

[john davey]

Well, with my space limitation in my small shop I came to the conclusion bout 6 months ago that hand work will be my thing as I only have room for a few necessary power tools. I actually fell down this slope several years ago and picked up a few planes from Steve Knight. Alas I never mastered them and they were ignored as I kept at it with the power stuff even though I had to move each toll to use it.

For the past 6 months I have been practicing and can now say I am capable of using planes and am starting to get the handle on sawing. Joinery is coming as well.

I have accumulated enough stuff to where the practice is over and I am beginning to build a bench and a cabinet to store these tools. This morning I placed what I had on a table to start designing the cabinet. Ummm I need a bigger table :). I took a few pictures just to document this stuff. 184438184439184440184441

Sorry about the laundry.


I will confess that I have been a flea market/tag sale junkie for years but just looking for cheap chisels. I have about 50 of them now and have less then 2.50 on average in them (most were less than a buck). They are in the 2 boxes along with my Narex mortise set and my blue chips.

The design will be a little tougher than I though. I was thinking of a saw till/plane till and then some drawers to put the other stuff in. I already have a separate storage cabinet with all of my drill bits and another for most of my layout stuff.

The bench I am building is going to be 54" long and will be in front of a wall that is 6" wide by the full height of the basement (I am guessing ~7'). There will be enough room between the bench and the wall/cabinet for me to squeeze my big behind in.

So I think the wall is large enough for my drill bit cab, layout cab, a saw till and a plane till. The chisels will go in a rack like Chris Schwartz had on his blog a few months ago. Basically a few boards with a gap in between. All else I think will just be secured to the wall via french cleat system or something. The wall will be covered with plywood so I can screw to it at will. Maybe something like this but on a smaller scale.:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?4048-Plane-Till-Done-Hung-and-Filled

I'll do an inventory of all this. and try to draw something up and start building. Currently my plane is to use hand tools for all but the ripping. Just don't have a rip saw or that skill yet. I'll try to document all of this but the ripping so other newbies can see the struggles and hopefully the success at the end....John

[Johnny Kleso]

Welcome to THE SLOPE
First man to the bottom wins

[Jim Koepke]

I am sure I will not be the only one looking forward to this.

And don't forget, if you have a door, you can store tools on both sides.

jtk

[Pat Zabrocki]

Welcome to THE SLOPE
First man to the bottom wins

I don't think so, this is like the ski slope.... there's a lift at the bottom and you keep going down this slope over and over again ;)

[john davey]

Well, I have the inventory complete and there are 150 items I need to find a home for in a cabinet or on the wall. This number sounds high but lets remember I kind of have a chisel fetish and have 55 of them. They all fall into this count as will as every layout tool, plane, saw, ruler, sharpening equipment..... So it isn't all that much as things like nail sets and marking knives will take little space. Also drill bits are not in this count.

I have decided on a design that is 4 medium to small cabinets along with many items just hung to the wall. The 4 cabinets are:

Saw till
Plane till
Layout cabinet
Boring cabinet

I know I mentioned having a separate Cabinet already for layout and boring. I have decided they are shot and will make new ones. My current boring cabinet just holds the bits and I want to include the drills in this one.

I will cover the wall this weekend and begin with the saw till. As I mentioned I have around a 6' wide area for this. I am going to put a sheet of plywood up from the right hand side of the wall. Leaving the last 2 studs open. The saw till will be installed into the studs here instead of on the plywood. My current math has me not going past 16" for the saw till so I think building it into the studs is a good Idea.

I'll take some pictures of this process this weekend....John

[john brenton]

I built my shoddy cabinet a couple months ago, and already I see that I'll be needing to modify it a bit.

I didn't try to fit EVERYTHING in the cabinet, just the most used tools that I want to protect and have handy. I have a separate box for all things sharpening, a drawer for layout stuff, a place for brace and eggbeater drills etc etc. I didn't see a need to crowd up the cabinet with every little tool. Not only is it unnecessary, but I wanted to at least leave room for the possibility of adding a few tools to it in the future.

[Dan Andrews]

Sounds like you are going to have very nice tool storrage system going for you. By the way, those are some realy nice hand drills you have.:D

[Jim Neeley]

I don't think so, this is like the ski slope.... there's a lift at the bottom and you keep going down this slope over and over again ;)

I think it's more like the film "Enter the Matrix". There's just the *illusion* of a lift... you just keep going down, to see how deep the rabbit hole goes! :D

[john davey]

Yes they are, they should be the center piece :). thanks again they are great.