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Thread: Toolchest Lid-Mounted Tools

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Eisenhauer View Post
    Nice box, nice photos and thanks for the ink pot explanation. What do you recon the box weighs when fully loaded out? What do you do with it when shipping it internationally - just close it up and send it away or does in need any type exterior strapping to ensure it stays closed or any interior buffering with soft stuff? Does Customs bother with it?
    David:

    The damned thing is very heavy empty, too heavy and too bulky for one man to move around. Loaded with tools, it weighs more than Aunt Fanny's ebony piano. Ergo the dedicated rolling platform torsion box with industrial casters you can see a bit of in the pictures.

    When shipping, I fill it with lightweight stuff, and pack the heavier tools in other boxes. I leave nothing inside the lid.

    I have moved a lot, and learned the hard way to assume any flat surface will have 2 tons of other stuff stacked on top during transit. I had a beloved steel Kennedy toolbox that was destroyed this way. So I made a plywood and 2x4 cap to cover the toolchest's lid. With this in place, and some sheet foam plastic underneath to protect the lid from abrasion, I wrap the sides in cardboard, and strap the rolling platform, toolchest, and cap together with a couple of wide nylon ratchet straps through the heavy duty rings bolted to the sides. The rings have been used to lift the entire thing, with cap, rolling base, and full of tools, by crane when I stored it temporarily at a highrise jobsite in Thailand. The movers have yet to damage it, knock on wood, and the wheels make it easy to move.

    When not in use, the cap stores out of the way between the chest and the wall, where there is a gap to account for the thickness of the opened lid.

    In my current house in Tokyo, I had to get the thing up some narrow stairs with a 180 degree turn. I had to remove the lid to negotiate the turn, and enlist a helper. Of course, the toolchest was empty and the rolling base was removed.

    I'm pretty sure customs has never bothered to open it. That would take real work.

    Stan
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  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly View Post
    Stan, thanks for explaining that and the links! I enjoyed learning about this.

    Yes, if you have time, I'd like to see that saw till sometime.

    Thanks again,
    Fred
    Here are some pics of the sawtill.

    It will hold around 30 saws max, most of those being the Japanese variety which are not as bulky as Western saws.

    The top well has 6mm plywood dividers to separate saws, and sheet cork on the floor. I have tried using slots to separate the saws before, but found that divided bays allow a LOT more flexibility in how many saws can be stored, and in ease of accessing them. Just my opinion.

    In the top well you can see the handles of a No.12 crosscut, a D-8 thumbhole rip, three LN backsaws, an 1890's Disston dovetail saw, and a Bishop backsaw. There are another ten or so Japanese saws stuffed in there too.

    The bottom drawer holds Japanese saws exclusively, individually wrapped in newspaper for protection, as well as sawfiles and other saw tools.

    Once I set up shop, this sawtill is set off to the side, and is not returned to its home inside the chest unless I am away for a long time. At my current home, it is sitting on a bay window ledge. No bending, no staring into dark spaces.

    The lace curtains were already there when we moved in .

    I really like this style of sawtill because, while it does not make an attractive open-air altar for worshiping the Gods of Handsaws as is now the fashion, it does an excellent job of protecting my saws from dust, and condensation from moist air, a real problem inside a house with showers, rice cookers, and spaghetti boilers. It takes up zero space inside the chest when in use, and it doesn't restrict the movement or reduce the size of the toolchest's trays. And I don't have to bend over to get saws out of the toolchest's well.

    The single downside is that the sawtill cannot be opened while nested inside the toolchest unless I remove the top tray. This means that, in use, the sawtill is effectively a second toolchest dedicated to saws, and one that takes up some extra space. If you have a lot of expensive saws like I do, and want to protect them from dust and corrosion, that is a good thing. But if you only have a few saws, then the extra space requirement would need to be justified.

    I can't take credit for it, but it is an excellent design IMO, and the sawtill is one of the primary reasons I was so attracted to it.

    Stan

    PS: I do have a separate pinewood rack mounted to my steel shelf for holding Japanese saws I use all the time, and don't mind leaving exposed. Mostly the kaeba variety, of course.
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    Last edited by Stanley Covington; 01-24-2016 at 8:07 PM.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    That is a healthy tool addiction Stanley!
    My wife would agree with the term "addiction'" but not the adjective "healthy."

    I doubt I am the only one here that suffers thus.

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Allen Jordan View Post
    Stanley, that is an amazing tool chest and some clever tool holders. What is that neat axe in the bottom of the chest?
    It is a hewing axe I had custom forged for me here in Japan. Laminated steel and cuts like a demon's tongue. This is an older prototype. The newer ones lack the ridge, and are a bit lighter in weight. The eye can be mounted in either direction so the flat is oriented to the user's preferred side.

    Stan
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  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stew Denton View Post
    Stan,

    Beautiful job. By the way, I think you have more tools in the lid of your chest than I do in my two carpenter type boxes. Very impressive, beautiful workmanship, and impressive in the way you stored the tools so they stay in place and are accessible.

    Yes! Please add photos of the saw till if you get time. I hope to learn something from the way you made the till. If and when I ever build a chest, if it is 1/3rd as well organized and 1/2 half as nice I will be extremely pleased.

    Stew
    You are too kind in your praise. You will do a better job when the time comes.

    Stan

  6. #21
    That saw till is neat Stan! Thanks for showing it to us!
    Fred

  7. #22
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    Impressive, the box and the kit.
    Jim

  8. #23
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    Stan,

    Well said, and I too would guess that lots of are in the same situation. The exact term my wife uses is in fact "addiction."

    I have tried to explain why I need more saws than the same ones I have had for 25 to 45 years now (my guess is somewhere between 15 and 25), but mine are all essentially carpentry saws, not fine woodworking saws.

    (Bring up that there are planes that differ from my bench planes isn't good either.) I should look for a good time to bring backsaws up.....scratch that.....there won't ever be a good time.

    The situation is hopeless........lost cause. (This doesn't mean that I will pass on a great garage sale price on a backsaw or specialty plane though.)

    Yep, my take is that a lot of us are in that exact situation.....sigh.

    Stew
    Last edited by Stew Denton; 01-25-2016 at 12:31 AM.

  9. #24
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    If anyone knows of a medicinal cure for tool addiction, please let us know. I assume the same salve will cure my wife of buying new clothes and kitchen gadgets too! That would give me a lot more money for tools!
    Last edited by Stanley Covington; 01-25-2016 at 5:45 AM.

  10. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kees Heiden View Post
    Hope you have some strong hinges!
    I used 5 solid brass interior butt door hinges. From what I have seen, most people use only 2 small, cheap hinges. That strikes me as short-sighted false economy.

    I also used 3" long stainless steel screws the next size up to anchor the hinges, and filled the pilot holes with PV glue before driving the screws home. The glue binds together the wood fibers damaged by the screw's thread forming a very strong threaded hole. This is a door hanger's trick I learned from an old carpenter. The screws will break before they come loose.

    Stan

  11. #26
    We use that trick when mounting ski bindings too in wood cored skis. The skiers claim that the wood glue glues the steel to the wood, but your explanation is much easier to believe. It also helps to seal up the hole, which is very usefull in a wet environment.

  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kees Heiden View Post
    We use that trick when mounting ski bindings too in wood cored skis. The skiers claim that the wood glue glues the steel to the wood, but your explanation is much easier to believe. It also helps to seal up the hole, which is very usefull in a wet environment.
    Kees:

    Thanks for the insight. I suspect boat builders use this technique too.

  13. #28
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    Stanley,

    That is a beautiful chest. I really like the lid and the till. Both sensible departures from Mr. Schwarz's distillation of designs. I particularly like the saw till and may be an approach I use for a small chest under my bench.

    Perhaps you could place your chisels in a rack/tray that slips into the current position, but could be set out while working to provide access to the tools behind.

    I presume that you have your planes stashed in the two bottom drawers?

    Best,
    Chris
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  14. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Christopher Charles View Post
    Stanley,

    That is a beautiful chest. I really like the lid and the till. Both sensible departures from Mr. Schwarz's distillation of designs. I particularly like the saw till and may be an approach I use for a small chest under my bench.

    Perhaps you could place your chisels in a rack/tray that slips into the current position, but could be set out while working to provide access to the tools behind.

    I presume that you have your planes stashed in the two bottom drawers?

    Best,
    Chris
    Chris:

    Thanks.

    A removable chisel rack is a great idea! Significantly better than what I have now. I will take a lot of rework....

    Have you built one for yourself?

    Planes and other tools are indeed in the lower drawers.

    Cheers.

    Stan
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  15. #30
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    Well Stanley, I suppose it is OK .. if you go for such things. I mean, where are the kanna? What do you do on the work site and a Japanese woodworker comes over and asks to hold your kiridashi? I mean, really.

    If that toolchest was Australian, it would have a beer fridge.

    Second rate, mate, second rate ..

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

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