Alan Turner
03-19-2006, 4:57 AM
For the new teaching studio, I needed a bit of a splash on the wall, so instead of being a modern artist and throwing paint, I decided to build three identical wall hung hand tool cabinets. Each is 18 x 36 x 10 (closed), with the door at a 3 inch thickness, O.D. Fronts and backs are painted, 12mm BB for structural reasons. Material is single plank butternut, hand palned to finish, wood defects intact. The following pix show a few construction details, and constitute a thanks to Dave Anderson of Chester Toolworks for the kind assistance of his tools. Note that these cabinets were built in my basement shop and not at the new PFW shop. The new shop is a bit more tidy.
A few pix of the construction follow. I will try to remember to grab a shot of the cabinets, now hung. I have only partially fit out one on the inside. I am still making decisions on which tools go where, which tools travel permanently to the new shop, etc.
1 - Marking out the Federal period style dovetails using a shop made front clamp on my workbench. The front jaw will hold widths up to 23" for carcase work, and the tightening is via 3/8" bolts into nuts captured in the dogholes. The front jaw has a slight curve to it, similar to the bowclamps, but less severe. If I were not a pinfirstian, it would be perfect for marking out the pins from the tails in the traditional manner. But I follow Frid and not Kirby on this issue and others, as will be seen later.
2. A shot of the Andersonian influence inherent in this project. The cabinets are nice, but not as nice as the tools used to mark out the DT's, and remove the primary waste.
3. Proof of the Frid influence. Here I am trimming the pins to the level of the box. Were I to have followed Ian Kirby, I would have marked out leaving the pins shy of full depth so I could plane off the marking gage cuts, but this is not how I learned, and I am too old for new tricks. I don't mind the leftover marks. Note the single wide tail. This was so that when I ripped the cabinet door from the carcase, I would be left with the same regular DT spacing on the door and cabinet portions. I think I made the pins 3/8" wide, and the one to cut was at 5/8" since I use a full kerf blade.
4. Repairing an oops. Must have had an extra glass of wine before this series of cuts. Another Andersonian influence, repaired with another Frid trick. The glue is hot hide glue, so staining was not an issue.
5. Cutting the fourth side of the cabinet apart. I have clamped in a couple of 1/8" spacer blocks as the last cut is made on the TS. While it looks like I forgot to use cauls on the clamps, instead I use a rubberized CA glue and permanently install leather pads to most of my clamps so that separate cauls are usually not needed.
Now the question. I want to put locks on the three doors. My finished wall thicknesss is about 5/8". I would like them tidy, and keyed, and they can be fully on the outside if need be. Don't want to spend a fortune, but do want them to be tidy. A huge hasp and padlock in shiny steel won't look great. Does anyone have a suggestion? I could not see anything at Lee Valley that looked like a fit.
A few pix of the construction follow. I will try to remember to grab a shot of the cabinets, now hung. I have only partially fit out one on the inside. I am still making decisions on which tools go where, which tools travel permanently to the new shop, etc.
1 - Marking out the Federal period style dovetails using a shop made front clamp on my workbench. The front jaw will hold widths up to 23" for carcase work, and the tightening is via 3/8" bolts into nuts captured in the dogholes. The front jaw has a slight curve to it, similar to the bowclamps, but less severe. If I were not a pinfirstian, it would be perfect for marking out the pins from the tails in the traditional manner. But I follow Frid and not Kirby on this issue and others, as will be seen later.
2. A shot of the Andersonian influence inherent in this project. The cabinets are nice, but not as nice as the tools used to mark out the DT's, and remove the primary waste.
3. Proof of the Frid influence. Here I am trimming the pins to the level of the box. Were I to have followed Ian Kirby, I would have marked out leaving the pins shy of full depth so I could plane off the marking gage cuts, but this is not how I learned, and I am too old for new tricks. I don't mind the leftover marks. Note the single wide tail. This was so that when I ripped the cabinet door from the carcase, I would be left with the same regular DT spacing on the door and cabinet portions. I think I made the pins 3/8" wide, and the one to cut was at 5/8" since I use a full kerf blade.
4. Repairing an oops. Must have had an extra glass of wine before this series of cuts. Another Andersonian influence, repaired with another Frid trick. The glue is hot hide glue, so staining was not an issue.
5. Cutting the fourth side of the cabinet apart. I have clamped in a couple of 1/8" spacer blocks as the last cut is made on the TS. While it looks like I forgot to use cauls on the clamps, instead I use a rubberized CA glue and permanently install leather pads to most of my clamps so that separate cauls are usually not needed.
Now the question. I want to put locks on the three doors. My finished wall thicknesss is about 5/8". I would like them tidy, and keyed, and they can be fully on the outside if need be. Don't want to spend a fortune, but do want them to be tidy. A huge hasp and padlock in shiny steel won't look great. Does anyone have a suggestion? I could not see anything at Lee Valley that looked like a fit.