Plane & hand tool storage?

[ian maybury]

Just interested in hearing some thinking on principles for storing hand tools in the bench area. What in your views works and what doesn't. So far i've used a mechanics tool chest, but want to free up floor space by using a mix of a wall cabinet and wall boards. It won't be fancy - just screwed together ply etc.

Thinking right now it seems to make sense to put easily damaged stuff in the wall cabinet beside the bench - planes, shoulder planes, chisels, dovetail saws and Japanese saws etc. Less sure about marking out and measuring stuff like squares, dovetail markers, marking gauges, scribers, dividers/compasses and the like - certainly the larger items might be better on a board?

Lots of wall cabinets seem to use framed doors of maybe 4in depth with space to hang tools on the inside face - as well as on the back face of the cabinet itself. i.e. they roughly double the storage area. Does this work well? Not sure about having bulky and heavily loaded doors swinging into the work area, but on the other hand....

The classic method of storage using sloped boards to make beds for planes to sit on seems terribly space consuming - think i'll need to find another approach that packs them more tightly while not risking damage.

Another task will be to figure out a format for the holes in some horizontal wall brackets to hold as wide a range of chisels, screwdrivers and the like as possible - something fairly quick to make but secure. I dropped a freshly sharpened chisel once which sliced through the heel of my other hand on its way down - ;) not such a good idea.

Power tools, fasteners, finishing supplies, clamps, machine accessories and the like are in separate wall mounted storage.

Over to you guys...

ian

[Jim Koepke]

Another task will be to figure out a format for the holes in some horizontal wall brackets to hold as wide a range of chisels, screwdrivers and the like as possible - something fairly quick to make but secure.

There are a few ways to do this.

One that I have used is to run a strip on spacers horizontally. The chisels can be placed in the slot formed. Make the slot small enough so the chisel's socket (if you have socket chisels) will not slip through. Then get accustomed to picking up chisels by the socket and not the handle to avoid a chisel slipping off the handle.

If your handles are big, you may want to make this out of two long pieces with multiple spacers to move the slot away from the back board.

jtk

[Mark Dorman]

I kind of like this style of plane storage.

[Matthew Hills]

Chris Gochnour's shop is occasionally profiled in FWW articles.
He hangs his bench planes vertically, with a tether looped over the knob. Not sure how often he checks the integrity of the tether...

You can see his planes hanging in the background here:
http://www.chrisgochnour.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tool-chest-300x200.jpg

and a tour of his workshop:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/workshop/video/shop-tour-chris-gochnours-expanded-garage-workshop.aspx


My impression is that tool cabinets with stuff in the doors are often left open...

Matt

[Jim Belair]

My cabinet has the framed doors about 4" deep. I don't have heavy stuff on the doors but chisels, saws and layout tools. And they are closed except for access as my shop is very small and they're in the way when open.

[Matt Ranum]

I kind of like this style of plane storage.

I thought I had some pics of my setup but can't find them right now. I'm getting too many tools for not enough spots for them so I am thinking of a change, however my current setup is similar to this in that my #8 & #5 are verticle with the same type of mount, then I have shelves that are mounted with pocket screws and my planes lie on their sides on the shelves. My chisels and a couple squares are mounted similar to this as well. Small saws sit in a grooved board in the bottom of the cabinet. Layout tools & misc. small tools are kept in an old small machinist box on my counter along the wall.

[Lornie McCullough]

I use a mechanics chest and every other kind of storage, shelves, drawers, etc....

But with a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood cut into 9 equal pieces, and 9 pair of hinges, I turned 15 square feet of wall space into 64 square feet of hanging storage.

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I did not invent the idea, but it was easily one of the best improvements to my work area.

Lornie

[John Sanford]

So much of this depends on how you work, and your tool acquisition habits.

Do you work in such a way that a tool is either in your hand or back in it's place? If so, then you need to make sure that it's VERY easy to grab and replace the tools. On the other hand, if you're the sort who pulls the tool down, uses it, sets it aside, does something else, picks it back up, uses it, and doesnt' put it away until you're DONE with it, then Easy Grab isn't as important.

Another consideration is how clever you want to be with storage options. As an example, you could build a classic sloped vertical plane till while having some means of accessing the space inside the triangle for storage as well. Wait a few weeks and hopefully I'll have an example of what I have in mind.

Finally, there's the matter of acquisition habits. Do you have, or at least know, all the planes, chisels, etc you plan to use? How flexible do you want to be when it comes to adding new acquisitions? Remember, the tradeoff for flexibility is invariably wasted space.

[Jack Curtis]

...But with a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood cut into 9 equal pieces, and 9 pair of hinges, I turned 15 square feet of wall space into 64 square feet of hanging storage. ...

Now that's the cleverest storage unit I've ever seen. Among other things, it's extensible to the wall space. Consider it stolen. :)

[Jim Matthews]

I use a mechanics chest and every other kind of storage, shelves, drawers, etc....

But with a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood cut into 9 equal pieces, and 9 pair of hinges, I turned 15 square feet of wall space into 64 square feet of hanging storage.
I did not invent the idea, but it was easily one of the best improvements to my work area.

Lornie

This is an excellent way to do this.
I've similarly hung my most commonly used tools along the wall immediately behind me, when facing my bench.

That way, if I need something, I just turn around.

The advantage to Lornie's solution is that there are no shelves for things like woodscraps to gather.

Clutter in my shop has been moved from my bench top, to the cheapo shelves I installed.

I don't like the idea of having planes on a moving door, I'm too clumsy to trust that.
I put my handplanes in the drawers beneath my bench. Longer items are in a deep cabinet, next to the wall shelves.

If you're shop is like mine, cast iron and steel need to be oiled EVERY time you put away a tool.

[Bob Jones]

Please excuse my laziness, but I have written a bit about tool cabinets on my blog. The address is in my signiture. Feel free to look around the sight.

[ian maybury]

Ta guys, lots of inspiration there.

The spacer and strips method for chisels sounds practical - nicely machined cut outs are fine but seem likely to be labour intensive and less able to handle differing sizes.
Planes it seems are just 'plane' awkward. Tempting to drill holes in the soles for hangers, but a big step....
Think will have to find a way to use the doors (but not for planes), space is tight - but don't think i can fit in your very effective layout Lornie.

I've been a deep litter style worker, but have hopes of maybe moving to a become a replace after use worker with better storage.

Thanks for it all guys, feel free to keep it coming. Off to play with some layouts now

ian

[Don Kingston]

I have been thinking of something like this lately. I had thought of thesheets hanging and rolling on track like a garage door. Do you have pictures of different angles of this system?
Thanks
Don

[paul cottingham]

After trying a bunch of different types of storage, I have settled on a cabinet just for my planes, and a hanging tool rack for chisels, rasps, screwdrivers, and the like. Both are located above my bench. I placed the rack across my window, so it acts a little like window bars, to boot. I have a very small shop, so this works very well, as it has the smallest footprint. I am fortunate, the RH in my shop is low, so rust is not a problem. I am going to eventually build a toolchest, as I think that is the best way to store tools.

[Todd Burch]

I have a perfect storage solution.

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Oh, but you probably want to have access to yours!

Todd (in the process of moving...)

[Pat Barry]

Lornie, I plan to make one of these before your patent gets published. Thanks for the brilliant idea. I love the expandability of this concept.

[Harold Burrell]

I use a mechanics chest and every other kind of storage, shelves, drawers, etc....

But with a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood cut into 9 equal pieces, and 9 pair of hinges, I turned 15 square feet of wall space into 64 square feet of hanging storage.

259342

I did not invent the idea, but it was easily one of the best improvements to my work area.

Lornie

Wow...cool!

So...the panels are around 10 1/2 X 48???

[John W Johnson]

Fwiw Jim Tolpin has an excellent book about toolboxes and storage. I was given the New Traditional Woodowrker as a gift, but felt like I was past the fundamentals of hand tools. So i set it aside, unread. I ran into a problem a year or so later, stumbled over the book, and found a solution. It was great, read the whole thing, and made most of the projects. I also ordered his toolbox book on my own dime, and it, too, was a good read with lots of great ideas for storage.

[Mark Roderick]

My personal opinion is that I do not want to hang anything as valuable as my planes up on a wall, or any other high place. I know, I just know, that if I hung my planes on a wall I would do something stupid and drop one.

Instead, I built some simple cabinets with drawers that sit on the stretchers of my workbench. I keep planes, chisels, etc. in those drawers, where they are immediately available and can't fall.

[ian maybury]

I guess that kicks in the under bench storage or not discussion Mark - but it's a fair point.

To ask another question. I'm keen to keep my planes in a cabinet for security reasons, but a wall panel is potentially very convenient for lots of stuff including chisels. How big a deal is dust and debris build up and the like on a peg board or equivalent wall panel tool rack?

Rust is certainly an issue, but as already will probably be linked to % RH and oiling - and a cabinet is probably not going to prevent it. (?)

ian

[steven c newman]

I have been using an old chest of drawers, or rather, what was left of it259406259407259408259409of course, there was only three drawers to work with. Dresser came from a trash day pick up. Not sure where the rest of the drawers were. Price was right, though...

[Lornie McCullough]

Wow...cool!

So...the panels are around 10 1/2 X 48???


16 by 32..... the blocks at the top leading edge are to slide past each other, (while not entangling the hanging tools) when you push one sheaf aside. I keep the edges of those blocks waxed as needed.

Lornie

[Harold Burrell]

16 by 32..... the blocks at the top leading edge are to slide past each other, (while not entangling the hanging tools) when you push one sheaf aside. I keep the edges of those blocks waxed as needed.

Lornie

Hey, thanks!

I'm not sure I follow you as to the function of the blocks, though...:confused: (You'll have to excuse me...I'm no too bright.)

[Lornie McCullough]

Hey, thanks!

I'm not sure I follow you as to the function of the blocks, though...:confused: (You'll have to excuse me...I'm no too bright.)

Hi Harold.... the blocks I'm referring to are the horizontal pieces at the top front of each panel. Without those blocks, pushing one panel aside to get at a tool on a neighboring panel would tangle the tools and perhaps knock them off.

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The size of the block gives "depth" to each panel, and allows you to move all of the panels aside by pushing on one. I keep the edges of those blocks waxed, and they push against each other nicely.

It added so much 'wall space' that a few of them are still empty....

Lornie

[Jim Matthews]

Low relative humidity in Victoria?

Not for long...

[paul cottingham]

I don't know about the rest of Victoria, but my shop has low RH. My house has a heat pump, so that helps.

[Roger Bell]

My setup involves strategic placement rather than novel, creative or classy storage ideas.

My planes are stored on cheap, ordinary veneered particleboard bookshelves. The shelves are at my back and behind me when planing at my bench. I simply have to turn around to grab one. The shelves have additional shelving or sub-shelving (narrower shelving placed in between shelves) added for smaller planes. The most used planes are directly at my back. The lesser used planes may involve turning and taking a step to grab. I have a one wall of six shelves @ 36" wide x 72" high or 18 lineal feet of storage along that wall with hand tools stored closest to the hand tool bench. At my back. I have a secondary bench located further down the wall for assembly and other work with tools associated with other work more proximate to that bench.

For chisels, they are stored in old dental cabinets having many small drawers. These are located a few (as in three) steps away from the planing and primary work bench and near the end of the primary bench. A variety of other handtools tools are stored in those cabinets as well.

More common tools (hammer, screwdriver, squares, rules, clamps) are stored on the other side of the planing and secondary benches on a wall setup for when more ordinary work is done. Again, to my back when working at the bench and one step max away from the bench.

Just a simple and reasonably organized setup that focuses on placement of benches and tools to each other....like a good kitchen "work triangle" idea.

[Harold Burrell]

Hi Harold.... the blocks I'm referring to are the horizontal pieces at the top front of each panel. Without those blocks, pushing one panel aside to get at a tool on a neighboring panel would tangle the tools and perhaps knock them off.

259419

The size of the block gives "depth" to each panel, and allows you to move all of the panels aside by pushing on one. I keep the edges of those blocks waxed, and they push against each other nicely.

It added so much 'wall space' that a few of them are still empty....

Lornie

OK...yeah...I get it.

For some reason, when you mentioned waxing them, I thought that they must slide on the top "rail". I see now that you wax the edges so that they slide against each other.

[Kent A Bathurst]

My version of reality.......the wall over my back bench.

The saw/plane board is walnut + QSWO. Angled at about 8*.




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[John W Johnson]

Very nice Kent, I am stealing your ideas for plane and saw tills.

[Lornie McCullough]

Kent,

Your shop is as close to a 'perfect man cave' as I can imagine!!! Such a wonderful space to work and spend time in.

Seeing the slide rule gave me an extra thrill. I keep two in my shop, and use them often. A lost skill for sure.

Lornie

[Jim Neeley]

My version of reality.......the wall over my back bench. The saw/plane board is walnut + QSWO. Angled at about 8*.

I really like your calculator storage, Kent!! :-)

[Mike Allen1010]

Kent your shop looks awesome!

I love these shop pictures, especially for Neanders who use primarily hand tools-- I can barely function with a computer but I think this might be the basis for a good thread...

My shop is a two-car garage That still has to fit the cars at the end of the day. I like to have the tools I use most often - Layout, planes and saws hanging on on the walls so they're readily accessible. My shop design philosophy to be summed up in one word -- pegboard!
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Come on guys, let's see some shop pictures!

All the best, Mike

[Steve Barksdale]

Ok, Kent, I have a question. Do you build rockets or stuff out of wood?

259566

I'll bet real money there are people on this forum who have no idea what that is.

Nice shop by the way!

[Mike Cogswell]

Well, now I know why there's a hand saw shortage - most of them seem to have wound up in Mike Allen's garage!

:)

[ian maybury]

Keep it coming guys - much appreciated. All sorts of ideas popping up - and nice anyway to see how the other guy lives.

It's notable that you guys in the US seem to have lots of wall space - maybe it's because a lot of my double garage workshop wall is tied up with ducting drops for machine dust collection etc....

The slide rule brings me back - physics class in what we call 'secondary' school. Calculators appeared just as I was about to head for engineering school. I can remember paying lots for my first one - the first 'scientific' i'd seen....

ian

[Kent A Bathurst]

Kent,

Your shop is as close to a 'perfect man cave' as I can imagine!!! Such a wonderful space to work and spend time in.

Seeing the slide rule gave me an extra thrill. I keep two in my shop, and use them often. A lost skill for sure.

Lornie

I found it during an archeological excavation through a couple boxes. All I can remember with it is 2 x 3 = 6. But, back in the day in Thermo, etc - I could move it with the best.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Very nice Kent, I am stealing your ideas for plane and saw tills.

You are more than welcome to them. My mistake, of course, was that I "knew" I had all the saws and planes I "needed". No expansion slots. Plus - on the far right is a #6 that has been sold, and replaced by a Keen-Kutter K7. My cleverness in attaching the toe-holds via screws through the back of the till came back to haunt me - I have to take everything off, take the till down, and move the toe-hold at the top of the #6 to accommodate the K7. It's been 18 months, and counting...the K7 sits on the bench top.

My mission in my professional career is factory layout/design and production process efficiency - I can't help myself when it comes to my shop. I always try for a grab-and-go position, so that I pick it up in the same orientation needed to use it. OVer-the-top, but as I said - I can't help myself.

So - having said that - here are close-ups of the detail for holding the saws, the shoulder plane, and the Stanley #80.

The dowel plate is sitting in a slot that opened up when I sold my unused LN small chisel plane. That slot now holds an LN skew-block.


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[Kent A Bathurst]

Ok, Kent, I have a question. Do you build rockets or stuff out of wood?

259566

I'll bet real money there are people on this forum who have no idea what that is.

Nice shop by the way!

:D :D Nope - just there for ornamentation...all the mortise chisels have to come down, and then I have to pull a screw, if I wanted to use it.

I'll see you and raise you - I'll bet real money there are very, very few people that get the reference in my old Michigan license plate #.

Thanks for the kind comments.........

[Stanley Covington]

A few things you may want to consider about tool storage.

Effective storage methods must protect your tools from dirt/dust, damage, and rust, and maybe even theft. Easily achieved. But accomplishing these things while keeping your tools accessible can be difficult. So how many tools do you need at hand and how much time goes between each usage of those tools, and how much time are you willing to spend maintaining them (cleaning/oiling/storing)? And is the environment where they will be stored friendly or harsh?

If you use your tools everyday, your workplace environment is not too harsh, theft is not an issue, and you are willing to clean and oil at the end of the workday, storage on shelves or wall-mounted boards works best since your tools will be immediately at hand.

If the environment is harsh, or days go by without using/maintaining your tools, then protecting them from dust/dirt and airborne water is critical. Dust and dirt soaks up the oil protecting steel surfaces causing it to evaporate more quickly, leaving the bare steel unprotected. Soil particles in dust are also harder than steel and will scratch and dull them. And dust may contain salts which will accelerate rust. Of course, you know what high humidity can do to tools, but many don't realize that condensation is a more serious threat even in dry climates. To prevent condensation from forming on tools, you need to protect them from sudden changes in temperature. Even the inside of your house may experience large swings in temperature depending on how you use your AC or heating. And while you may think your home has fairly constant humidity, it ain't so. Homes experience large changes in humidity, like when the heater is running in the winter, or when you have a pot of spaghetti noodles boiling on the stove, or when the bathroom door is left open after a shower.

I have tried many solutions over the years, including shelves, wall cabinets, boxes, bags, etc. An enclosed toolbox or cabinet of some sort is the proven solution since it keeps out dust/dirt, and protects tools from sudden changes in temperature and humidity.

The solution I finally settled on for home is a large cabinet made from 3/4" cabinet-grade birch/maple plywood (1/4" back) about 6' high by 48" wide by 37" deep built on a 3/4" ply and 2X4 torsion box at the base. 4 large (6"?) urethane locking casters are mounted to the base for portability. The two 8" thick full-height doors are mounted on 6 super heavy duty stainless steel ball bearing hinges. When the doors are removed, it will just fit through a standard 6'-8"x30" US residential door opening. The tools I use everyday, including most saws, layout tools, hammers, a set of 10 pc set of butt chisels, rasps and files mount inside the doors for speedy access. With the doors open, the center space of the cabinet has an open space at the top with a diagonal hinged board for handplane storage. The rest of the cabinet is drawers on ball bearing sliders. This varies little from the tool cabinets used by others. I think the only significant differences are the two full-height/1/2 width deep doors and the big casters supporting a torsion box base. Easily moved around, easy to use and provide pretty good protection for the tools. Sadly, I don't have a picture of it (without a gun in the foreground) since it is in storage with my brother in Las Vegas while I have been living and working in Guam and Japan.

Two problems with this beast. First, it is too bulky for shipping/using overseas. It surely won't fit through Japanese door openings, and its just too darn big and ugly to keep indoors. Second, and this is a shortcoming common to every tool cabinet I have ever seen, is that when full, it can't be shipped or transported without busting the drawers, or without jumbling the tools. So the solution I came up with twenty years or so ago was a classic toolchest based on a design I found in an old moth-eaten woodworking book in a Japanese university library. I don't remember the title. Its very similar to Chris Schwarz's Anarchist thing, but is built of dovetailed mahogany, is a bit bigger, and has 1-1/8" thick walls. In addition, the lid is not a flat frame-and-single-panel, but has a top of three floating panels, and 6" (?) high sides so I can mount tools inside the lid including hammers, layout tools, butt chisels and a couple of slicks. The lid never ever warps. No dust boards where the carcase meets the lid either, but a 5/16" thick lip inside the chest to seal the connection and keep the lid and carcase tightly aligned when the lid is closed. I mounted the lid with 5 brass butt hinges intended for hanging doors. I am particular about using lots of big, solid, hinges.

It has three sliding trays half the width of the opening. The idea of using 1/3 width trays and loosing almost 17% of that precious storage space seemed silly. With the trays all pushed to the back, there is precisely enough room to accommodate my saw till which rests on the bottom tray runner. The sawtill is the best feature of the toolchest since it is an independent 3/4" thick solid mahogany dovetailed toolchest with a space on top under a hinged 2 panel framed lid with space and thin dividers to hold longer/bigger saws. A drawer at the bottom of the till is sized for kataba Japanese saws and sharpening supplies. It currently holds 22 saws including a D-8, a No.12, 5 back-saws, and other saws.

The downside is I must lift out the sawtill to get at the saws. The upside is I don't need to keep the sawtill in the toolchest all the time since it works fine all by itself. I just set it on the floor on a couple of stickers, and only replace it in the toolchest when I need the floorspace or when I am shipping the toolchest. I also built a torsion box on large urethane casters for this toolchest so even my tiny wife can push it out of the way. And when the toolchest is strapped to this base, and protective plywood top and side protection taped in place, it is very tough. I have yet to have a mover do any worse damage than scratch the paint on the baseboard.

I originally varnished the toolchest, but last year after reading Chris Schwarz's book, I repainted it with milkpaint a very dark red (appears black except in bright sunlight). Its working alright so far, but the jury is still out.

This toolchest is not as convenient or roomy as my tool cabinet, but has proved very useful. When I have room back in the States, I shift most of my tools to my larger cabinet, and keep the toolchest in the house for storage of odds and sods. The distressed milkpaint finish has made it a lot more presentable, so even now, the wife puts a doily and a vase and pictures of the kids on top so guests think it is furniture.

I combine this toolchest with chrome-plated wire shelving unit on casters with cardboard layed down on the shelves to prevent my tools from touching the steel shelves. I can store tools that won't fit into the toolchest in cardboard and plastic boxes and keep them handy on this shelf. I keep the middle shelf empty except for the tools I am using that day. This shelving unit is very tough, relatively lightweight, can be easily moved out of the way even when fully loaded, and breaks down into flat pieces easily shipped.

http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/01/76/41/24/0001764124605_180X180.jpg

I originally varnished the toolchest, but last year after reading Chris Schwarz's book, I repainted it with very dark-red milkpaint (appears black except in bright sunlight). Its working alright so far, but the jury is still out.

Another advantage the toolchest has over cabinets is that dessicants and mothballs, useful for preventing both rust and bugs, are more effective in the tighter-sealing and well-like carcase of the toolchest because humid air, being lighter than drier air (I know that's counter-intuitive, buts it's true), will settle into the bottom of a toolchest, but flow out of a cabinet. Likewise, napthalene gas (or whatever it is mothballs gas-out), is heavier than air and will likewise settle inside a toolchest, but will leak out of a cabinet.

I can take some pics of the toolchest and post them if there is interest.

Stan

[Todd Burch]

Interest here Stan.

[David Paulsen]

Yes please do, a lot of interest!!!

[Jim Koepke]

I always like pictures.


jtk

[Stew Hagerty]

Ok, Kent, I have a question. Do you build rockets or stuff out of wood?

259566

I'll bet real money there are people on this forum who have no idea what that is.

I still have mine from High School (class of 77). In fact I just saw it the other day when I was moving around some old boxes. Funny thing... I tried it out and I still remembered how to use it.
Senior year I got my first hand held "scientific" calculator. It did squares, square roots, and it even had a Pi button! It was a Casio.

My Chemistry teacher used to tell a story about when he was in college. He had a professor was known for giving extremely difficult tests. Well he announced the final exam, and told the students that it was going to be the hardest that they had ever taken. Naturally they all started asking if they could bring this or that to the test: books, notes, slide rules, etc. After a few minutes of this, the professor stopped them and said "I tell you what... This test is going to be so tough that you can use anything that you can carry through the door. Well the next day comes and you could see the students coming into the class carrying stacks of reference books and notes along with their slide rules of course. Well then here comes one of the football players into the room. He had no books, no notes, and definitely no slide rule. No, he was carrying a grad student!

[Tom Vanzant]

Steve... I cheated a little, but the Lotus 7 was quite a car. I never had a chance to drive one, but did three laps in an 11. It was like a loosely controlled rocket... if anything, too quick in steering. Think turn and it turned. Keeping it running in a straight line was pure work.
Very nice tool storage... open storage here in Houston (garage shop) isn't possible, so my tools live in a variety of closed cabinets.
FWIW, I took a slide rule to the office recently... very few even knew what it was, let alone how to operate it.

[Jim Koepke]

Never became proficient on a slide rule, but could use the simpler functions. Still own 3 or 4. One is a tie tack that actually functions.


I'll bet real money there are very, very few people that get the reference in my old Michigan license plate #.

Maybe "The Prisoner" who made it knows something.

jtk

[Stew Hagerty]

:D :D Nope - just there for ornamentation...all the mortise chisels have to come down, and then I have to pull a screw, if I wanted to use it.

I'll see you and raise you - I'll bet real money there are very, very few people that get the reference in my old Michigan license plate #.

Thanks for the kind comments.........

Ok Kent, does the plate read: KAR(EYE)20C or KAR(ONE)20C?

[Stanley Covington]

Yes please do, a lot of interest!!!

I will takes some pics tonight and post them here tomorrow. Sorry I did not do that the first time, but for the last month or so SWMBO has had the house in a state of readiness for a surprise visit by the Emperor (or at least you would think it was the Emperor coming to call the way she has been such a clean-house Nazi lately). Of course, my position has been that the Emperor, or whoever was coming to visit, would surely want to see my tools, so leaving my toolchest open and tools spread all over the living room would make for a more pleasant visit. But she stubbornly rejects my reasoning. Girls are weird.

Also, I have been redoing the tools mounted in the lid so they have been removed awaiting the conclusion of the Emperor's visit. I would be very interested in hearing of suggestions from yous guys about how to mount tools.

Stan

[Stanley Covington]

Here are a few pics. The last pic is of a hammer I just re-handled in a very unusual wood called kurokaki, meaning black persimmon. I have heard wonderful things about this wood, and had always wanted to use it, but it is rare, and more expensive than even ebony and rosewood. I found a piece last week and gave it a try. Nice stuff and feels great in the hand. About as hard as rock maple. Will have to wait to see how it holds up.

As I mentioned before, I have been redoing the fixtures mounting tools to the underside of the lid. I have tried rotating toggles, super-magnets and bungee cords, but the results have not been up to dealing with the forces of opening and closing the lid. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Stan

[Stanley Covington]

Three more pics.

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[David Paulsen]

Wow Stanley, that is a very nice chest. But, if you don't mind my asking, why do you have your tools in a chest? Do you travel with your tools, or do you just prefer to store them like that? Don't you get tired of bending down to get at them?

Second wow... The kurokaki wood is truly stunning, and I love the subtle arc of the handle. Truly a beautiful tool. Must give you a lot of pleasure to look at and use.

At the moment I am looking at how I myself should store the tools and I am contemplating a wall hanging cabinet. But, as it is now, this is my basic setup for the tools I use the most:
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Combination squares, 4 chisels that see a lot of use, a marking knife and the basic hand planes.

Also I have my saw till just next to the bench:


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I really need to do something about that basement space I stand in. Fix the walls and floors, and then make a proper tool cabinet. Life is sweet!

[David Weaver]

Here are a few pics. The last pic is of a hammer I just re-handled in a very unusual wood called kurokaki, meaning black persimmon. I have heard wonderful things about this wood, and had always wanted to use it, but it is rare, and more expensive than even ebony and rosewood. I found a piece last week and gave it a try. Nice stuff and feels great in the hand. About as hard as rock maple. Will have to wait to see how it holds up.

As I mentioned before, I have been redoing the fixtures mounting tools to the underside of the lid. I have tried rotating toggles, super-magnets and bungee cords, but the results have not been up to dealing with the forces of opening and closing the lid. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Stan

Fabulous Stanley, just great!

[Stanley Covington]

Wow Stanley, that is a very nice chest. But, if you don't mind my asking, why do you have your tools in a chest? Do you travel with your tools, or do you just prefer to store them like that? Don't you get tired of bending down to get at them?

Second wow... The kurokaki wood is truly stunning, and I love the subtle arc of the handle. Truly a beautiful tool. Must give you a lot of pleasure to look at and use.

At the moment I am looking at how I myself should store the tools and I am contemplating a wall hanging cabinet. But, as it is now, this is my basic setup for the tools I use the most:
260308

Combination squares, 4 chisels that see a lot of use, a marking knife and the basic hand planes.

Also I have my saw till just next to the bench:


260309

I really need to do something about that basement space I stand in. Fix the walls and floors, and then make a proper tool cabinet. Life is sweet!

I had a similar arrangement in my first garage workshop. A good place to start.

To answer your question, I keep my tools in a chest because it is the best compromise I have found between cardboard boxes, which while cheap, lightweight, and portable, are miserable to work out of and provide little protection, and a very useful but bulky and more easily damaged 200cm x 122cm x 72cm tool cabinet. My work requires me to move a lot between the USA mainland and Asia/Pacific locations, and the big cabinet doesn't ship well or work in small residences, but this toolchest is small enough and tough enough to work. As to bending over, when the toolchest is on its torsion box base as you can see in the pictures, the edge of the opening is 80cm above the floor, and since I am 173cm tall, the bending over is no worse than my big cabinet. The base alone adds 20cm to the height, so without it, bending over might be a problem. But not so far.

Cheers

Stan

[Pat Barry]

Hi David, I like your saw cabinet. It would fit my needs pretty well. Better than the nail in the wall method I am using now. I also like your method of keeping the dust off your tools in the third picture.

[David Paulsen]

Hey thanks Pat, It takes some strong "rare earth" magnets, and it is very important to only switch the gravity field, once you have left the room. My electricity bill is enormous, but finally, I am dust free,.. free I tell you!

[David Paulsen]

Hey Stan, thank you for your answer. I see, when traveling, a chest is the way to go. I guess it's also just what one gets used to using. Seems as if, there is as many different routines as there are woodworkers. An interesting thing about the way I am set up at the moment with only the basic stuff, I am able to produce alot of things without having to move about very much. Amazing how much you can do with a plane, a chisel and a saw.
Must say, though, I am looking forward to making some proper wall storage and having drills, braces, paring chisels, etc. handy.

Thank you so much for posting the pictures, a real treat

Regards

[Stanley Covington]

Hey Stan, thank you for your answer. I see, when traveling, a chest is the way to go. I guess it's also just what one gets used to using. Seems as if, there is as many different routines as there are woodworkers. An interesting thing about the way I am set up at the moment with only the basic stuff, I am able to produce alot of things without having to move about very much. Amazing how much you can do with a plane, a chisel and a saw.
Must say, though, I am looking forward to making some proper wall storage and having drills, braces, paring chisels, etc. handy.

Thank you so much for posting the pictures, a real treat

Regards

David

You are welcome. The nice thing about taking pics to post is that I now have a record. I have almost no photographic record of the woodworking, both personal and professional, I have completed over the years, but at least I will have some of the toolbox.

You can indeed do a lot of work with a few tools. I don't know your circumstances in Copenhagen, but if you don't move, shelves and wall-mounted tool-boards will be useful regardless of what type of tool-storage system you finally settle into when you have enough tools to need serious storage. For a long time (6 years) as a poor young married man with a wife and three babies, and working as a carpenter during the summer and cabinetmaker during the winter to pay for tuition, books, rent, and beans, with the exception of my skillsaw, framing square, and an old D-8 ripsaw (all bought at flea markets or pawn shops), nearly all my tools would fit into a single used canvas soccer ball bag I bought for 50 cents. Those were good times. It is surprising to recall what I was able to accomplish back then with those limited, second-hand tools.

Over time I got more and better tools which allowed me to do more work. During the years in school I worked out of a 1966 Volkswagen van and found Japanese methods and tools ideal for working without a workbench to build doors, shoji, tsuitate, counters, and cabinets in the customer's backroom or storage room or parking lot, or even in a clearing by the side of a mountain road in the Wasatch mountain range when weather permitted. My toolbox was an old rough-sawn wooden box with a hinged lid originally made to hold the rocket motors used in rocket sleds. I still have that old thing. My bench was a 36" x 22" x 2.5" laminated maple cut-off from a tabletop shuffleboard. My planing beam was a 10'x6"x6" Douglas Fir beam set up Japanese style. All sturdy, and effective, but extremely portable.

Nowadays I have too many tools, partly because the kind of work I can do (as a hobby now) is greater, and partly because I like good tools and feel unsettled without them. The demands of my work require me to move every 1.5-4 years. I got sick of putting up shelves and boards in the garage or spare room I used for a workshop only to have to leave them behind. Hence, the "beast." But while it is very useful, it is too bulky for shipping overseas, and it can't be shipped full of tools, so I built the toolchest, and combine it with the metal wire shelving. This has worked very well for me, as it has for woodworkers for hundreds if not thousands of years. Nothing new under the sun. You will arrive at your own solution, but having been down the road before, it is easier to predict the twist and turns to expect.

I am so happy with that kurokaki wood I may post some more pics and describe how to make a Japanese hammer handle properly.

May your chisel always be sharp, David, and your hand always find plumb!

Stan

[ian maybury]

Ta guys, there's always great ideas and inspiration in seeing how the other guy does it. I'd have to say that the wall cabinet i'm planning something a bit more functional/less of a showpiece Stanley. There's somthing very attractive about the patina that a well made but used item in wood like your chest takes on....

ian

[Stanley Covington]

Ta guys, there's always great ideas and inspiration in seeing how the other guy does it. I'd have to say that the wall cabinet i'm planning something a bit more functional/less of a showpiece Stanley. There's somthing very attractive about the patina that a well made but used item in wood like your chest takes on....

ian

Ian:

Glad you liked it. I am sure whatever you make will work well. In the case of my toolchest, however, the patina is entirely artificial. I repainted it 8 or 9 months ago using three colors of milkpaint topped by two coats of flat wiping varnish. And I am willing to accept any challenge you might present regarding effectiveness. Tools per unit volume? Speed in extracting a tool from toolchest? Protection from dust/rust/damage/theft? Protection of tools in transit? My only problems with it are that it won't hold as many tools as my rolling cabinet back home, and that the trays are not as voluminous as the drawers. But it's a lot better looking and will still be a nice attractive functional piece of furniture long after my cabinet is a broken pile of veneer, and when my great grandkids inherit it.

There is a difference between woodworking as a hobby and making things from wood for, and in front of, customers. The former need only please himself, while the later can profit from impressing his customer with the quality of his tools and the care he takes of them. This can cause a man to make more effort to make his tools and toolboxes a bit more decorative (i.e. dovetails, a bit of molding, and a nicer paint job), but that does not mean they perform any better than plain Jane ones. But the idea of a traditional-style toolchest cobbled together from plywood and screws offends my sensibilities like a classic car with wooden bumpers and painted with latex house paint and a power roller.

Besides, Japanese houses are small, and without a garage, and so my toolchest is located in plain view in our living room (or equivalent thereof) and can't be too ugly or SWMBO will take punitive measures.

Stan

[Jim Neeley]

The solution I finally settled on for home is a large cabinet made from 3/4" cabinet-grade birch/maple plywood (1/4" back) about 6' high by 48" wide by 37" deep built on a 3/4" ply and 2X4 torsion box at the base. 4 large (6"?) urethane locking casters are mounted to the base for portability. The two 8" thick full-height doors are mounted on 6 super heavy duty stainless steel ball bearing hinges. When the doors are removed, it will just fit through a standard 6'-8"x30" US residential door opening. The tools I use everyday, including most saws, layout tools, hammers, a set of 10 pc set of butt chisels, rasps and files mount inside the doors for speedy access. With the doors open, the center space of the cabinet has an open space at the top with a diagonal hinged board for handplane storage. The rest of the cabinet is drawers on ball bearing sliders. This varies little from the tool cabinets used by others. I think the only significant differences are the two full-height/1/2 width deep doors and the big casters supporting a torsion box base. Easily moved around, easy to use and provide pretty good protection for the tools. Sadly, I don't have a picture of it (without a gun in the foreground) since it is in storage with my brother in Las Vegas while I have been living and working in Guam and Japan.
Stan

Stan,

I've been considering something similar and have a few questions. I'm thinking 7'-8' tall, 4-5' wide, freestanding, on casters. Living in Alaska (think earthquake potential) it'd have to be deep and/or have a lot of weight in the base to ensure it stayed upright in a quake. My issue with depth has been trying to reach to the top / back wall as it get deep (I'm only 5'-11").

I like the idea of the deep doors but would welcome ideas on how to best take advantage of the depth. You mention things such as chisels, rasps and files, each of which are about 1" thick. How do you best take advantage of the depth?

For the body of the cabinet, it would seem like the drawers are only practical to the height you can see into them, perhaps 5' to 5'-6" max? With drawers reaching to the front of the 30" base, how do you handle the space above? You mention an angled plane till and I'm thinking a hand saw till? Since you've been there, do you have other suggestions?

I'd appreciate it if you could tell us more. :-)

Jim in Alaska

[Stanley Covington]

Stan,

I've been considering something similar and have a few questions. I'm thinking 7'-8' tall, 4-5' wide, freestanding, on casters. Living in Alaska (think earthquake potential) it'd have to be deep and/or have a lot of weight in the base to ensure it stayed upright in a quake. My issue with depth has been trying to reach to the top / back wall as it get deep (I'm only 5'-11").

I like the idea of the deep doors but would welcome ideas on how to best take advantage of the depth. You mention things such as chisels, rasps and files, each of which are about 1" thick. How do you best take advantage of the depth?

For the body of the cabinet, it would seem like the drawers are only practical to the height you can see into them, perhaps 5' to 5'-6" max? With drawers reaching to the front of the 30" base, how do you handle the space above? You mention an angled plane till and I'm thinking a hand saw till? Since you've been there, do you have other suggestions?

I'd appreciate it if you could tell us more. :-)

Jim in Alaska

Jim:

I looked at the same dimensional issues you mentioned when I designed mine. But it turned out that the self-imposed condition of being able to get it through a standard door ended up governing the dimensions.

The top drawer is shallow (3-1/2"?) and the top edge comes to my bottom lip when open, so I can see inside it and reach all the tools. I am 5'-9". I keep my precision tools rulers and other layout tools in this top drawer.

Tools are heavy, so I encourage you to consider the weight of the tools you will put in each drawer.

Cabinets on wheels perform better during earthquakes than standard free-standing cabinets.

After I made the tool cabinet, I made a reloading cabinet of similar structure and identical dimensions to hold press and components. Brass and lead are even heavier than tools. I learned from the tool cabinet and made some improvements for the reloading cabinet.

I will make some dimensioned sketches and post them within the next couple of days.

Stan

[Stanley Covington]

Kent

I was admiring your setup and saw an idea I may use for renovating my toolchest, with your permission. Photo 3 shows back saws retained by what appears to be a wooden hook of sorts at the bottom horn. Is that hook fixed, or is it hinged or move somehow to secure the saw?

Stan

[Glenn Kotnik]

Kent- Don't you have the leather belt holster for that slide rule?

[Charlie Stanford]

Just interested in hearing some thinking on principles for storing hand tools in the bench area. What in your views works and what doesn't. So far i've used a mechanics tool chest, but want to free up floor space by using a mix of a wall cabinet and wall boards. It won't be fancy - just screwed together ply etc.

Thinking right now it seems to make sense to put easily damaged stuff in the wall cabinet beside the bench - planes, shoulder planes, chisels, dovetail saws and Japanese saws etc. Less sure about marking out and measuring stuff like squares, dovetail markers, marking gauges, scribers, dividers/compasses and the like - certainly the larger items might be better on a board?

Lots of wall cabinets seem to use framed doors of maybe 4in depth with space to hang tools on the inside face - as well as on the back face of the cabinet itself. i.e. they roughly double the storage area. Does this work well? Not sure about having bulky and heavily loaded doors swinging into the work area, but on the other hand....

The classic method of storage using sloped boards to make beds for planes to sit on seems terribly space consuming - think i'll need to find another approach that packs them more tightly while not risking damage.

Another task will be to figure out a format for the holes in some horizontal wall brackets to hold as wide a range of chisels, screwdrivers and the like as possible - something fairly quick to make but secure. I dropped a freshly sharpened chisel once which sliced through the heel of my other hand on its way down - ;) not such a good idea.

Power tools, fasteners, finishing supplies, clamps, machine accessories and the like are in separate wall mounted storage.

Over to you guys...

ian

Stunning wall cabinets and tall chests as proof of ability notwithstanding my motto is storage at a height no higher than the bench top. Falls are almost inevitable at some point. My extraordinarily measly grouping of planes sit on a shelf beneath the bench. My back isn't thrilled about it but I've never broken any cast iron, lateral adjusters, etc. I might be more adventurous if I didn't work atop a concrete floor.

[Matthew Hills]

Kent, what is the material in the slots for your backsaw blades?

Matt


My version of reality.......the wall over my back bench.

The saw/plane board is walnut + QSWO. Angled at about 8*.

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[Chris Fournier]

An enclosed set of drawers under my bench surface keeps tools out of the hurley burley, easy to reach and away from dust and shavings while adding gravitas to my bench for those rambuctious jobs. Gravity always prevails and a wall hung plane makes me nervous.

[Tommy Martin]

I almost remember how to use the slide rule. The license plate is a good one, I was thinking of that old TV show with the police car 1 Adam 12, but that doesn't seem correct.