Tool Chest storage ideas

[John Erickson]

Going to build a large tool chest in the near future, attached is a photo of a tool chest I found on Pinterest that appeals to me. I would appreciate seeing your creative storage solutions and ideas for keeping for tool chest organized while utilizing space, down to the smallest detail.
Ideas and solutions like hand plane storage, bench/paring/mortise chisels, saws, layout tools, drawers, etc. I like the idea of planes storage vertically leaning from front to back but it seems like a huge waste of space behind the plywood panel.
Thanks in advance for photos and suggestions.

[Laurent Marshall]

Going to build a large tool chest in the near future, attached is a photo of a tool chest I found on Pinterest that appeals to me. I would appreciate seeing your creative storage solutions and ideas for keeping for tool chest organized while utilizing space, down to the smallest detail.
Ideas and solutions like hand plane storage, bench/paring/mortise chisels, saws, layout tools, drawers, etc. I like the idea of planes storage vertically leaning from front to back but it seems like a huge waste of space behind the plywood panel.
Thanks in advance for photos and suggestions.

There are lots of photos around of the insides of people's anarchist tool thest and dutch tool chest builds (both popular plans from Chris Schwarz) - you could get some good ideas from those. You could also search for photos of vintage chests, Schwarz isn't the final authority on tool chests :) For example, Zachary Dillinger had neat blog post (http://eatoncountywoodworker.blogspot.com/2019/09/18th-century-style-tool-chest.html) about his replica 18th century tool chest.

Storing planes vertically inside a tool chest seems problematic considering you probably want to include a saw till, sliding tills, and a chisel rack. I think with tool chests the main priority isn't really space efficiency, but usability - you want to keep tools accessible and reasonably safe from damage.

[Jim Matthews]

"Drawers are where tools go to die." Adam Savage

The tools I use every day are on, or under the bench.
I put them back in the same place, so I don't need to search for them.

Things I often use are on an open shelf in front of me, where I normally face the bench.

The advantage of storing cast iron planes and carbon steel cutting tools (chisels, saws and knives) in a wooden box is proportedly humidity control. If you oil your tools before storage, or don't have a damp shop, it might not be necessary.

To some extent it keeps dust off tools, too.

In my opinion, avoid portable tool chests. Fully laden, they're no longer portable.
Build in a modular fashion, such that drawer height can be adjusted. Stacked cabinets rather than a Studley homage makes more sense, and you might actually finish the project.

If you're over 30, get the heavy stuff over 30" off the ground.

Lastly - take an inventory of the tools you already own. If there's something you have, but rarely use, it doesn't need a storage space it needs a new home.

"It's not people that need big houses." George Carlin

[steven c newman]

From a picture in WOOD magazine a few years ago..
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A bit too large, and fancy for my shop....

[Christopher Charles]

Stan Covington has an excellent series on design for a tool chest on his website that you may find useful.

[Jim Koepke]

Stan Covington has an excellent series on design for a tool chest on his website that you may find useful.

Here is an old post of Stan's on tool chests > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?240099

covingtonandsons (dot) com would be a good start at finding more information.

jtk

[Rafael Herrera]

I work on my own workshop and when thinking of updates to my tool storage I think a cabinet is more appropriate. If space is an issue or one works in a shared space, a toolbox seems appropriate. However, when it's just me in the shop, I think it's more comfortable to pull tools out of wall hung tills and shelves, not to dig through a chest to find the tools I need. This is just my opinion, other people's situations may be different.

[Doug Dawson]

I work on my own workshop and when thinking of updates to my tool storage I think a cabinet is more appropriate. If space is an issue or one works in a shared space, a toolbox seems appropriate. However, when it's just me in the shop, I think it's more comfortable to pull tools out of wall hung tills and shelves, not to dig through a chest to find the tools I need. This is just my opinion, other people's situations may be different.

I like the Husky Industrial rolling tool cabinets. They are IMO a really good value. I also have a lot of stuff on the wall and visible, but for that you may need hanging holes, which some people frown on.

[John Erickson]

445899My apologies guys when I say a tool chest I mean similar to Steven's post. I thought I posted a picture of one I seen on Pinterest but here it is. My idea is similar but will be on a app. 18" h table with tool chest 42" w x 62" h x 20" d.

[Andrew Seemann]

This is mine. It is wall mounted, but could be adapted to sit on a table (especially if it was attached to a wall to keep from tipping:) ). I have another wall mounted case with (most of) the rest of my plane collection.

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[Jim Matthews]

445899My apologies guys when I say a tool chest I mean similar to Steven's post. I thought I posted a picture of one I seen on Pinterest but here it is. My idea is similar but will be on a app. 18" h table with tool chest 42" w x 62" h x 20" d.

24 drawers?

Yikes

[John Erickson]

Andrew,
Nice idea to house your block planes together in the same pigeon hole. Thanks for sharing.

[Doug Dawson]

445899My apologies guys when I say a tool chest I mean similar to Steven's post. I thought I posted a picture of one I seen on Pinterest but here it is. My idea is similar but will be on a app. 18" h table with tool chest 42" w x 62" h x 20" d.

My wife makes super awesome salads. She’s a genius at it, I’m in awe. (She used to do this professionally, BTW.) Every year she tries to grow heirloom tomatoes, and every year something goes wrong, sometimes comically so. I occasionally point out that you can go out and _buy_ these things (of equivalent quality, for a lot less than our sunk costs typically.)

I guess it depends on what you want to do, and what your priorities are in life. I personally would rather make the salad, and leave the tooling to the military industrial complex, they are so good at it.

[Derek Cohen]

I like having tools close to hand, and for the past few decades they have been accumulating on the wall in front of my bench. Dare I say it .. a little more than is comfortable ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/EntryHallTableForANiece2_html_m1dd9ab31.jpg

So, I am now building a cabinet under the bench, into which to store marking tools, chisels, and other delights.

https://i.postimg.cc/Gm8w9M0G/3.jpg


The cabinet will span as wide and high as it can go without being impeded by either hold downs or the sliding deadman.

Dimensions: 660mm x 400mm x 400mm (26" x 15 3/4" x 15 3/4").

Small drawers: 205mm x 70mm (8" x 2 3/4")
Large drawers: 305mm x 95" (12" x 3 3/4")

Most of the drawers will have internal sliding trays, doubling up the storage.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Ben Ellenberger]

Here’s what I use. I don’t have a big set of tools, so I didn’t make a giant cabinet. I like how accessible my saws are, but this method does take a good bit of space. I keep small tools in the cabinet drawers and supplies like coatings, glue, and fasteners in the bottom compartment. I like this set-up, but I may make a chest with drawers I go under my bench one day.

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[Thomas Wilson]

I recognize this tool cabinet in John Erickson’s post as Greg Pennington’s in Hendersonville, TN. http://penningtonwindsorchairs.com He builds Windsor chairs and teaches. It is frequently visible in the background on his web page and Instagram. Someday I hope to take a class from him.

[steven c newman]

Tour of the Dungeon Woodworking Shop...
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Entrance..
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Work bench...
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Door of the handsaw till..
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Inside view....
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Tool chest, and plane til...opened for business...
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and..
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Other than the saw til, everything is within an arm's reach....

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Step 1 is to identify what you use most of the time and those need to stay easily available.

I store most of my planes in a drawer with full extension slides so it pulls all the way out and I can take out what I need. I do store my router planes in a box on a shelf.

I have some drawers in my work bench and I store my small saws there (think dove tail saws). I also have dovetail marking things there.

My chisels I keep in custom made boxes and I take those boxes to the work rather than leaving them out. I have screw drivers hanging on the wall because I use them all the time, same with a few hammers and wrenches.

The first chest of drawers for tools that I built I often cannot remember what is in them. My second similar item that I built has Library fronts so that I can label what is in them so I can find some things faster. Makes it easier when I say "I know I have a bunch or rulers in one of these drawers" and I do not need to open three or four before I find it.

If you want pictures, let me know.

[Mel Fulks]

John, there is a Face book Market Place thing that I look at every day. Bunch of the so yesterday "entertainment centers"
are always there. Yes. I am serious. Some are asking under 50 bucks. You will just have to put a back on it.

[John Erickson]

Andrew I'd appreciate the photos of your tool chest if you can, Thanks. I looked at your link and it is Greg P. tool chest, he did an awesome job.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I essentially created "kitchen cabinets" to start. This picture is a drawer with my hand planes.

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To the right is another cabinet that has a single small drawer and then shelves sized to hold things such as my Kreg jig or a sliding jig for my table saw. The bottom drawer contains some sharpening things such as my larger Arkansas stones, stropping compound, etc. The point is just that sometimes, a drawer is just fine.

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This next picture is built from solid Oak with hand cut dovetails and was meant for tools and only tools. It is sitting on top of a rolling tool chest that has things such as sand paper, drilling bits, and some larger power drills. The drawers on the top are not tall. The top right, for example, I have soap carving tools along with wood knives that I make so that children can carve soap. They are very fast to make and the kids have a great time carving soap. I also have (on the top), things like small prying tools, tape measures, those painting pyramids, files, etc. Of course, which one is which? Start opening drawers until you get to it. The handles are strong so that is good, but, I usually open one or two before I find the one I want. The larger drawers contains..... Screw drivers, saws (like fret saws), hammers, etc. These all use full extension slides on the bottom and the half width just slide in and come completely out.

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I had this heavy duty gorilla metal thing with shelves in it. I removed most of the shelves and then I built two "chest of drawers" that would slide in. I put things such as alcohol and acetone in the bottom. OK, you also see food grade mineral oil and some military "gun cleaning oil" that I use with steel wool to remove rust. Works great.

Notice that all of these have library type card fronts so that I can label what is in there. Bottom lower right I have map gas and similar. The far left is sized for one quart containers of finish in two different shapes. Those use full extension slides. The smaller drawers in the bottom cabinet all just pull completely out. The top cabinet has both full extension slides and I have things such as sharpening stones, axe heads, honing oil, steel wool, what ever.

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This image lets you see that in my "top" cabinet, I have room for me to slide some "chisel" boxes that I can then take to where I want them. Yes, I have four chisel boxes visible. My smallest chisel boxes is on my bench because I am using them, and those chisels are tiny! Well, the smallest is 1/16", but I am building toothpick boxes right now. I think that I made pretty good use of my metal shelf and I can easily pull the drawer chests out if I move. I store miscellaneous things such as my granite flat sharpening plate that I use with sand paper and trash bags. Yeah, I have a thing with chisels in it up there as well. I have mostly pain on the very top, hardly every go there.

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Some of my more used tools are hanging on the wall. I have two mallets on my main woodworking bench.

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I think that the main thing is to figure out what you want to store where and build appropriately. I built a small chest of drawers to hold mostly pocket knives, but also a few "not pocket" knives. I made sure that I had drawers deep, wide, and long enough for what and how I wanted them to sit in the drawer. That explains the bottom drawer on my "knife" chest. I found that I usually do not have enough drawers that are "smaller" in height, and that top drawer is really really small. But I often have a lot of things that I just want lay down without stacking. Sometimes people will build a sliding drawer (or similar) inside of their drawer, I did not do that. Also, for some of these drawers, I chose to simply glue a thin piece of plywood on the bottom for the bottom, not usually a smart decision, but in some contexts it works fine. These are for the smaller drawers where I did not want to loose a bunch of height and not carry a bunch of weight. When I first did that, I expected that I would be replacing them, but they just kept working.

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well, I hope this helps, and if you want to see something else, just let me know.

[John Erickson]

Andrew,
Thanks for sharing the photos, it's very much appreciated. The library card pulls are a nice idea.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Andrew,
Thanks for sharing the photos, it's very much appreciated. The library card pulls are a nice idea.

And the pulls were not expensive... They came with screws, but the screws were very poor quality . Mostly used them..

[Jim Koepke]

And the pulls were not expensive... They came with screws, but the screws were very poor quality . Mostly used them..

Were those the ones often found on Amazon?

jtk

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Were those the ones often found on Amazon?

jtk

I probably paid $15, currently showing $12 for 16 pieces.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0713T75YD

[Dan Grano]

As of right now I'm planning to build Schwarz's "Two-Day Chest", which is plywood/glue and screw version of his anarchist's tool chest (https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/a-two-day-traditional-looking-tool-chest/). I'd like to build something more traditional but I need to get up and running a little faster (I am only now climbing out of the beginner's first workbench build rabbit hole). This chest makes sense for me because it seals really well. I'm working out of a garage without AC or heat in South Carolina, and we have significant shifts in humidity here for much of the year. So I need to have my hand tools protected as much as possible.

[Jerome Andrieux]

As of right now I'm planning to build Schwartz's "Two-Day Chest", which is plywood/glue and screw version of his anarchist's tool chest (https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/a-two-day-traditional-looking-tool-chest/). I'd like to build something more traditional but I need to get up and running a little faster (I am only now climbing out of the beginner's first workbench build rabbit hole). This chest makes sense for me because it seals really well. I'm working out of a garage without AC or heat in South Carolina, and we have significant shifts in humidity here for much of the year. So I need to have my hand tools protected as much as possible.

Chests are nice if you don’t have to bend each time you need a tool. Make a dedicated stool for your chests as your third project :)

In practice, most of your small measuring, marking, boring and chiseling tools will probably sit in the top drawer. The small ones are the ones you need organization for. The big ones you will use for long periods and leave on the bench anyway before putting them back at the end of the day. Saws on the lid, planes on the bottom and all the rest in the middle.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

As of right now I'm planning to build Schwarz's "Two-Day Chest", which is plywood/glue and screw version of his anarchist's tool chest (https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/a-two-day-traditional-looking-tool-chest/). I'd like to build something more traditional but I need to get up and running a little faster (I am only now climbing out of the beginner's first workbench build rabbit hole). This chest makes sense for me because it seals really well. I'm working out of a garage without AC or heat in South Carolina, and we have significant shifts in humidity here for much of the year. So I need to have my hand tools protected as much as possible.

No shame in that. My first storage box for chisels is a real mess in terms of how I threw it together years ago. I expected it to fall apart and it is nothing to look at. Years later, I have built some others for different chisels, but that box with plywood glued on the top and bottom just keeps working so I just keep using it.

A few people gave me a hard time when I used a plywood box for my router plane (https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/tools/routerplanebox), but that box is even nicer than my chisel box. It works, did not cost much, and it works great.

Truthfully, my first "tool box" was purchased from sears. It is a craftsman 5 drawer rolling tool cabinet; just the bottom part. My Father has something similar, but many many years older, and he has both the bottom and the top version. It works just fine for what it is. I also had a heavy duty shelf similar to that below. Just throw some tools into some quick boxes, perhaps even some plastic containers purchased at home depot.

https://images.globalindustrial.com/images/275x275/PG133554.jpg

I built two cabinets (think kitchen cabinets) with drawers and similar. I built things from there (I have pictures in a post above), but, build when you have time and money to do it. I have some pretty cheap things and some really nice things holding my tools. I am of the opinion that your plywood chest will go together pretty fast and will serve you well. Be sure to take some pictures and post your progress. The cabinet that sits on top of my rolling cart is all oak with hand cut dovetails. The cabinets shoved into the metal shelf are made of furniture grade plywood I had sitting around around and then I edged it with oak. The drawers are all hand cut dovetails.

Looking forward to your build post.

[Joe A Faulkner]

This is one of the more inspiring shops I’ve come across. I am not sure what became of Gary Zimmel but I recall his projects always exhibited fine craftsmanship. Here s his post on his tool storage. https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114386-A-Labor-of-Love&highlight (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114386-A-Labor-of-Love&highlight=). Nicer than my custom kitchen cabinets.

[Michael J Evans]

Joe
Thank your for sharing that old thread. It took me to a couple more which I really enjoyed.

[Jim Matthews]

This is one of the more inspiring shops I’ve come across. I am not sure what became of Gary Zimmel but I recall his projects always exhibited fine craftsmanship. Here s his post on his tool storage. https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114386-A-Labor-of-Love&highlight (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114386-A-Labor-of-Love&highlight=). Nicer than my custom kitchen cabinets.

12 - 14 sheets of 3/4 Cherry A1 plywood would cost more *today* than I have paid for all my tools that require storage.