Tom Clark FL
05-24-2013, 3:36 PM
Show us your shop-made toolboxes!
Having spent my career working in machine shops, my machinist toolbox was always at my side, and now that I am retired I still have the old roll-around machinist chests in the shop, over by the mill and lathe. Since taking up woodworking 30 years ago, I have always planned to make my own toolbox, but somehow building shop workbenches and other shop cabinets always seemed to take precedence…
For years years every time I saw a magazine article or photo of something I liked, I cut it out and added it to my shop notebook. In the early days I tried to save the magazines, but soon found out that with a pile of hundreds of magazines laying around, the articles you wanted to keep were never to be found again, so now they are clipped out and put into a shop notebook. The articles are divided into projects you admire and would maybe like to build one day, how to guides, furniture ideas, finishing tips, and many more catagories. One of them was all those beautiful home-made toolboxes woodworkers had built for their shops. I had planned on getting around to doing one for my shop one of these days.263023
What finally got me moving on my own project was when I found five sets of drawers slides left over from other projects, and the wood rack was over run with left over 1/4" plywood scraps that were too big to toss, and perfect for drawer bottoms. Anyway, I was in need of a shop project, so I spent a few days this week and built a large roll-around tool box for my shop. The main idea on my design was to make the box so that it would fit in with the 20 or so other shop cabinets in the shop, use up all the materials on hand, and just have a relaxing time spending time on my favorite hobby.
Having spent my career working in machine shops, my machinist toolbox was always at my side, and now that I am retired I still have the old roll-around machinist chests in the shop, over by the mill and lathe. Since taking up woodworking 30 years ago, I have always planned to make my own toolbox, but somehow building shop workbenches and other shop cabinets always seemed to take precedence…
For years years every time I saw a magazine article or photo of something I liked, I cut it out and added it to my shop notebook. In the early days I tried to save the magazines, but soon found out that with a pile of hundreds of magazines laying around, the articles you wanted to keep were never to be found again, so now they are clipped out and put into a shop notebook. The articles are divided into projects you admire and would maybe like to build one day, how to guides, furniture ideas, finishing tips, and many more catagories. One of them was all those beautiful home-made toolboxes woodworkers had built for their shops. I had planned on getting around to doing one for my shop one of these days.263023
What finally got me moving on my own project was when I found five sets of drawers slides left over from other projects, and the wood rack was over run with left over 1/4" plywood scraps that were too big to toss, and perfect for drawer bottoms. Anyway, I was in need of a shop project, so I spent a few days this week and built a large roll-around tool box for my shop. The main idea on my design was to make the box so that it would fit in with the 20 or so other shop cabinets in the shop, use up all the materials on hand, and just have a relaxing time spending time on my favorite hobby.