Show us your tool cabinet.....

[Peter Scoma]

I did a search and found a thread here and there about tool cabinets but thought i'd see if there was any interest in creating a single, more comprehensive thread. I'm planning on building a Studley inspired, wall hanging chest of sapele, ebony and brass that will borrow elements from the original design but always like seeing what others use to store there tools. It seems as though since I have gotten more interested in buying and restoring vintage tools as of late, I want somewhere to showcase the fruits of my hunting and restoration efforts.

Anyway, if anyone has the interest, feel free to post a pic of your storage cabinet.

Thanks in advance for any replies,

Peter

[David Hostetler]

I have 2 tool / supplies cabinets in my shop. They are based on a Wood Magazine plan I got a long time ago. The first one does not include the internal shelves all the way up so I had room for my small parts bins. These took the place of 2 4x8 sheets of peg board on the walls...

Sorry, the photos aren't actually of the current layout, but you get the idea I hope...
http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/33843/2443252590103915817S600x600Q85.jpg (http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2443252590103915817EpZznD)

http://inlinethumb46.webshots.com/20781/2712565160103915817S600x600Q85.jpg (http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2712565160103915817cYfjYQ)

[Dave Mura]

Lookin good David!
http://couponfit.com/img/b052e2e0c0ad1b2d5036bd56e27d061c.gifhttp://couponfit.com/img/7e889fb76e0e07c11733550f2a6c7a5a.gifhttp://couponfit.com/img/d6cf4da5ced8580c991e16fb54faa1b6.gif

[David Hostetler]

Thanks. Since that pic was taken, the one on the right, and the lathe got pushed all the way over to the overhead door. I hated the arrangment you see here, too cramped. The right box has an inner double sided door as well. I mostly keep finishing supplies, and turning tools in that one as it is mounted right over the lathe...

I have more shop cab projects in the pipe, but time and $$ are bad right now. Real bad...

[dennis thompson]

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This is mine ,the pegboard doors slide so the the storage is actually 2/3 larger than the surface is. Originally I had the doors on hinges but I found that as I put equipment in front of them that I couldn't swing the doors open. The sliding doors work much better for me. This was based on a plan from Plans Now.
Dennis

[Cliff Furman]

Not fancy, but it is handy. It's an arms length from my ts. Behind the drawers is a "Golden Rod" dehumidifier rod, to fight moisture.

[Will Overton]

I got the idea from someone else and added the storage on top.
There's also a shallow drawer for owner's manuals.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/Bill_de/Festool-Open.jpg?t=1312246945

[Charles Wiggins]

These pics are from a few years back in the old shop, but I still have the locker. Built it back when I had almost no tools and even less money. The OSB was salvage from a special order door crate. The rest of it is just tubafors and 3/4 ply from the BORG.
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[Dave Cav]

I wanted someplace to keep my planes and chisels handy but out of the way; this was the result. It's mostly made from stuff I had on hand left over from other projects. Cabinet is teak plywood with some solid trim; interior is mostly hem/fir and other odds and ends. I recently overhauled the chisel storage and got a LOT more chisels in there. All of my vintage user chisels and gouges are now where I can get to them without having to mess around with tool rolls.

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[Peter Scoma]

Great examples thus far. Thank you guys for sharing.

I'm not much of a power tool guy Will but that cabinet is seriously cool.

Keep them coming! I love seeing what works for you guys.

Peter

[Sam Joyce]

Mines not so loosely based on TWW' hand tool cabinet. Still room for a couple things including a set of premium chisels, Mr. Lee if your listening *nudge nudge wink wink*


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[Brett Robson]

Here's mine. Like many, it's made mostly from scraps I had lying about. The case is just boring old pine. The inside bits are primarily walnut and some purpleheart.

[Phil Harding]

I built this cabinet last year. I've been hesitant to upload the pictures because of the inevitable comments about my hand plane collection. (Yes, I have a hand plane addiction and I am dealing with it . But, I have and do use every one of them!) The cabinet was made with birch plywood, curly maple and bubinga. I built the six drawer chest below the cabinet earlier this year to house measuring tools, spokeshaves, carving chisels and other small items.

-- Phil

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[Brian W Evans]

Phil,

Those are two very nice pieces - love the design and the wood choices. Don't worry about the planes. If you have to have a problem, that's the one to have!

[Jim Rimmer]

Man, am I glad I followed my gut and didn't post my tool cabinets. :eek: Those are really nice pieces of furniture. :D

[Doug Morgan]

I built this cabinet last year. I've been hesitant to upload the pictures because of the inevitable comments about my hand plane collection. (Yes, I have a hand plane addiction and I am dealing with it. But, I have and do use every one of them!) The cabinet was made with birch plywood, curly maple and bubinga. I built the six drawer chest below the cabinet earlier this year to house measuring tools, spokeshaves, carving chisels and other small items.

-- Phil

Being the kind of guy I am I'll volunteer to take those and help you with that terrible addiction! That is really beautiful. I wish I had more than the 4 I have.

Nice work Phil
Doug

[Doug Morgan]

This is mine ,the pegboard doors slide so the the storage is actually 2/3 larger than the surface is. Originally I had the doors on hinges but I found that as I put equipment in front of them that I couldn't swing the doors open. The sliding doors work much better for me. This was based on a plan from Plans Now.
Dennis

I built one and wish I could have both worlds, the doors to both slide and open. Then I would have more storage with easy access but hey I make mine work for me.

Doug

[gary Zimmel]

I have no lack of storage for my hand tools...
This is part of my shop that is dedicated to the neander world.

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To me you can never have to much storage space....

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This took a little while to complete but was really worth the effort...
These cabinets were built just about to years ago and the cherry has darkened quite nicely.



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[David Hostetler]

You guys are amazing.... My cabinets looked pretty good until... Those aren't shop cabinets, they are furniture!

[Larry Anderson]

Man, am I glad I followed my gut and didn't post my tool cabinets. :eek: Those are really nice pieces of furniture. :D

Me too Jim. Especially Gary Zimmel's, my kitchen cabinets don't look that good!

[Jeremy Milam]

The Woodsmith Shop on PBS did a wall cabinet a couple of years back that was just on this past weekend. Their version had sliding doors and they stressed that it wasn't deep so stuff didn't get lost. I believe the plans are free on their site, woodsmithshop.com. Start of the 3rd season.

[Mark Ashmeade]

How timely, look what I just finished last night. This is based on a Wood magazine plan. They used plywood and different joinery. I had a pile of cheap red oak and insufficient decent plywood. Time to practice with my dovetail jig. In about 40 years, I might be good enough to to do something like Gary Zimmel's!


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[Peter Scoma]

Absolutely incredible work. Nice to see others take excellent care of their tools.

PJS

[gary Zimmel]

Here's one more of my shop cabinets. this one doubles as my small lathe stand.
Lots of lathe tool storage in three drawers with a couple of doors.

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Bonus is the extra space incorporated in the sides of the cabinet.

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As all the other drawers in my shop, these too are hand cut dovetails.

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[David Hostetler]

You used the same plans I did, and I didn't even think of using hardwood. (far too expensive around these parts!)

I might have to make a new pair using oak / dovetails. That looks fantastic...

Mine are BORG cabinet grade ply, and yes, the joinery is sort of a rabbet / butt joint with glue and screws...


How timely, look what I just finished last night. This is based on a Wood magazine plan. They used plywood and different joinery. I had a pile of cheap red oak and insufficient decent plywood. Time to practice with my dovetail jig. In about 40 years, I might be good enough to to do something like Gary Zimmel's!


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[Matt Kestenbaum]

A very Studley design!! (and I mean that in both the lower case and upper case meanings)

[Matt Kestenbaum]

Very nice cabinet...where is the obligatory shot of your drawer construction? I hope the Lee family sent you a personal thank you!

[David Hostetler]

Sorry for multi posting, I found more pics of my cabs, and I wanted to edit my original post, but the forum software won't let me...

http://inlinethumb19.webshots.com/48402/2097406750103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
Both cabinets side by side. I moved the one on the right as this location did NOT work well for me.

http://inlinethumb46.webshots.com/20781/2712565160103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
The one on the left is also the first one I built. The doors are a little tight, but they pass each other, just barely... I left the inner doors completely out of this one as it was always my design and intent to use this cabinet to house my small parts bins. This has really panned out well for me.

http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/45852/2679362350103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
The cabinet on the right, I didn't have the catches finished at that point. I used the inner doors on this one, and it provides a LOT more peg board storage area.

http://inlinethumb05.webshots.com/21572/2802824060103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
Both sets of doors open, Notice how the doors whack into the top of the drill press. This is one of the MANY reasons I moved this cabinet... Where it is now works so much better...

After seeing the cabinet like mine but done with hardwoods and dovetailed. I am SERIOUSLY giving this whole thing some serious thought. I really like the design of this thing, as peg board DOES offer more flexibility than pre-determined compartments. But then again, with designed in / pre-determined compartments, you always know where something should be...

[Mark Ashmeade]

Sorry for multi posting, I found more pics of my cabs, and I wanted to edit my original post, but the forum software won't let me...

http://inlinethumb19.webshots.com/48402/2097406750103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
Both cabinets side by side. I moved the one on the right as this location did NOT work well for me.

http://inlinethumb46.webshots.com/20781/2712565160103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
The one on the left is also the first one I built. The doors are a little tight, but they pass each other, just barely... I left the inner doors completely out of this one as it was always my design and intent to use this cabinet to house my small parts bins. This has really panned out well for me.

http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/45852/2679362350103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
The cabinet on the right, I didn't have the catches finished at that point. I used the inner doors on this one, and it provides a LOT more peg board storage area.

http://inlinethumb05.webshots.com/21572/2802824060103915817S600x600Q85.jpg
Both sets of doors open, Notice how the doors whack into the top of the drill press. This is one of the MANY reasons I moved this cabinet... Where it is now works so much better...

After seeing the cabinet like mine but done with hardwoods and dovetailed. I am SERIOUSLY giving this whole thing some serious thought. I really like the design of this thing, as peg board DOES offer more flexibility than pre-determined compartments. But then again, with designed in / pre-determined compartments, you always know where something should be...

David, thanks for the nice compliment. One change I made on mine was to make the outer doors sit flush with the case. This allows the outer and inner doors to become one large wall of pegboard with the outer doors open. That's at the expense of more depth when closed, but I expect they will never be closed. In the photos of mine on the wall, you can see that the french cleat is approximately a foot wider on each side. Next project will be to add a couple of pegboards (framed in oak :) ) on those side wings.

[Tom Clark FL]

This photo shows three of my favorite tool cabinets. The one on the left uses wooden slides for the smallish drawers. The rest are cheap drawer slides and they work great. I prefer my tools to be organized in drawers so they are instantly available to use with little hassle. Construction is oak plywood with plywood face frames. Very quick to build yet they are still very solid.

[Mark Major]

Mr. Zimmel, as a Canadian I am shocked and dismayed that a fellow Canadian would be so insensitve as to post those pictures of his cabinets. Now, excuse me while I go and burn down my shop.


Sincerely, Mark.

[Bret Johnson]

Here is mine. I believe I used plans from Fine woodworking. It is just plywood and Pecan hardwood edging.
204099http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=204100&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1312458209 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=204100&d=1312458209)204101204103http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=204102&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1312458224 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=204102&d=1312458224)


http://public.fotki.com/bj383ss/

Bret

[Harold Burrell]

I have no lack of storage for my hand tools...
This is part of my shop that is dedicated to the neander world.

203924

To me you can never have to much storage space....

203921

203922 203923

203925

This took a little while to complete but was really worth the effort...
These cabinets were built just about to years ago and the cherry has darkened quite nicely.



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OK...that is just plain wrong.

PLEASE don't let my wife ever see that!

[Ben Hatcher]

Mr. Zimmel, as a Canadian I am shocked and dismayed that a fellow Canadian would be so insensitve as to post those pictures of his cabinets. Now, excuse me while I go and burn down my shop.


Sincerely, Mark.

hahahaha Ya, after I saw his cabinets a while back I lost all interest in attempting to make nice cabinets.

[Richard Bell CA]

My tool cabinet is based on an article in FWW by Tage Frid. I used a lot of his suggestions, along with modifications to fit my own needs. It is built from red oak plywood and solid stock, with south american walnut trim. It is a modular design, each box is 32" X 32" X 20" deep (including 4" deep doors). It is on casters and can be easily moved.

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The doors open a full 180 degrees on piano hinges, and latch on recessed bullet catches. The bottom has cubbyholes for power tools. The top contains rows of trays to hold hand tools. Each tray consists of a solid oak and walnut frame (1/2" stock), with finger jointed corners. The drawer pulls are oak dowels. The bottom of each tray is 1/4" birch plywood, which slides in oak runners. The trays can be pulled out completely to carry to the workbench. The spacing between runners is 1 1/2", and the trays are nominal 1 1/4", 2 3/4" and 4 1/4" high. What I like about this approach is that the drawers can be moved around, or even replaced with different depths as the need arises.

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[David Hostetler]

I failed to mention above, I have a project on the drawing board for a center cabinet / till between the two current cabs. This is to store certain of my hand tools. Specifically my planes. They are cheapies, but I have all Groz, in the major sizes. #4, #5, #6, #7, and a low angle block plane. (I have tuned the snot out of them, and am planning on upgrading the irons / chip breakers to Lee Valley units). I want to also add some spokeshaves, and scrapers, and I also want to provide a proper rack for my chisels and screwdrivers. I will likely not be using peg board for that, although I do have 2 sheets of peg board laying around that I need to do something with...

The right cab is immediately above where I like to have my lathe which is right by the overhead door (I can open the door in fairer weather, and enjoy the breeze while turning). I am thinking about making a rack that I can slip into the peg board for my turning tools as well. Would be nice to have them within easy reach...

[Ray Newman]

Richard Bell: looks nice. Do you know what FWW issue Tage Frid's article was in?

[Hans Braul]

Gary,
My jaw dropped when I saw this! Looks more like a shrine than any shop I've ever seen. Must be a pleasure to work in. Truly awesome work.
Hans

[Richard Bell CA]

Ray:

The Tage Frid article was in FWW issue 11, Summer 1978, pp 80-81. It is not a how-to article, it is recommendations based on Mr. Frids' many years of experience. I hardly ever hear his name mentioned these days, but his books and articles provided a great deal of inspiration and instruction for me.

Richard

[Ray Newman]

Richard: thanks for the information.

I will look for that article. I do not have a complete set of FWW, but the cabinet and the article seems very familiar to me.

Agree with you on Tage Frid. He always struck as being not only an “old world/old school” craftsman, but a gentleman who would gladly share his experiences with anyone who was interested. I would liked to sit down and talk with him over dinner and watch him work. His books were an inspiration to me. And as you say, sadly not much mention is made of him these days.

For those unaware of Tag Frid:
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodnews/tage_frid.htm

[Keith Pitman]

Not as pretty as some, but it works functionally for me right now. I just reorganized the cabinet and have managed to get many more tools inside. Eventually, I plan to build a new and larger cabinet.


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