Dutch chest? English chest? Wall cabinet? Shaker-style bench? Aaaagh!

[Andy McKenzie]

Hey folks.

I'm reaching a point where I might actually manage to get my garage turned into a year-round workshop this summer, and I'm starting to think about tool storage.

Right now I use a Dutch-style chest, which I quite like. The only problem is that, well, I've gotten some new tools since I built it, and it's really not quite big enough. So I'm looking at a few options, and they all seem to have substantial drawbacks.

1) I'm already planning to build a more or less Shaker-style bench, so there will be a lot of storage there. I'm figuring the base will be somewhere between six and seven feet long, which is a lot of storage space. On the other hand, that storage space is also potentially limited by things clamped to the bench, which might not be ideal. I could certainly put less-used tools in the bench and keep using the Dutch chest, which is likely what I'll start out doing anyway.

2) Build a bigger Dutch chest. I build the smaller of the two sizes from the article, and another shelf might solve the problem. Or it might not... it's always hard to tell. The big downside to this is that I'm not likely to have a good place to put the chest right up next to the bench. It would likely end up on an adjacent wall, five to six feet away. I'm not sure how much of an annoyance that would end up being.

3) Build an English-style chest. Like a lot of other people, I read The Anarchist's Toolchest, and immediately wanted to build a chest. Since my workspace is not quite six feet by six, I really didn't have space for one, but I will in the new shop. It could easily sit on the floor behind me, where I could just turn around and grab something without taking more than a step or two. The downsides, of course, are the time to build it and the fact that my back isn't great, so that much bending might be a problem.

4) Build a wall mounted cabinet to hang over the bench. On the face of it, this currently looks like the best choice to me. I should be able to make it big enough for all the tools I have, plus reasonable expansion space, and I've got about 7 feet of wall space clear, so it could certainly be large enough to hold a lot of tools. I know that I hated working off pegboard, but that was mostly an issue with the pegs coming off all the time, and how dusty everything got, both of which would be dealt with by a cabinet with doors. The probable downside is height: every time I see a photo of someone with a wall mounted tool chest, I find myself wondering if they EVER use the tools mounted high up, or if they just keep them there to look nice. And a shorter cabinet holds a lot fewer tools...


If anyone has thoughts on any of these, I'd love to hear them. I've only ever really worked off pegboard or out of the Dutch chest, so I have no real basis for looking at other options.

Thanks!

[Stanley Covington]

Hey folks.

I'm reaching a point where I might actually manage to get my garage turned into a year-round workshop this summer, and I'm starting to think about tool storage.

Right now I use a Dutch-style chest, which I quite like. The only problem is that, well, I've gotten some new tools since I built it, and it's really not quite big enough. So I'm looking at a few options, and they all seem to have substantial drawbacks.

1) I'm already planning to build a more or less Shaker-style bench, so there will be a lot of storage there. I'm figuring the base will be somewhere between six and seven feet long, which is a lot of storage space. On the other hand, that storage space is also potentially limited by things clamped to the bench, which might not be ideal. I could certainly put less-used tools in the bench and keep using the Dutch chest, which is likely what I'll start out doing anyway.

2) Build a bigger Dutch chest. I build the smaller of the two sizes from the article, and another shelf might solve the problem. Or it might not... it's always hard to tell. The big downside to this is that I'm not likely to have a good place to put the chest right up next to the bench. It would likely end up on an adjacent wall, five to six feet away. I'm not sure how much of an annoyance that would end up being.

3) Build an English-style chest. Like a lot of other people, I read [i]The Anarchist's Toolchest[i], and immediately wanted to build a chest. Since my workspace is not quite six feet by six, I really didn't have space for one, but I will in the new shop. It could easily sit on the floor behind me, where I could just turn around and grab something without taking more than a step or two. The downsides, of course, are the time to build it and the fact that my back isn't great, so that much bending might be a problem.

4) Build a wall mounted cabinet to hang over the bench. On the face of it, this currently looks like the best choice to me. I should be able to make it big enough for all the tools I have, plus reasonable expansion space, and I've got about 7 feet of wall space clear, so it could certainly be large enough to hold a lot of tools. I know that I hated working off pegboard, but that was mostly an issue with the pegs coming off all the time, and how dusty everything got, both of which would be dealt with by a cabinet with doors. The probable downside is height: every time I see a photo of someone with a wall mounted tool chest, I find myself wondering if they EVER use the tools mounted high up, or if they just keep them there to look nice. And a shorter cabinet holds a lot fewer tools...


If anyone has thoughts on any of these, I'd love to hear them. I've only ever really worked off pegboard or out of the Dutch chest, so I have no real basis for looking at other options.

Thanks!

If you are like most modern humans, the of amount junk (or tools, jigs, wood, finishing supplies, etc. in this case) you need to store will naturally and unavoidably expand over time in accordance with the law of sideways entropy to fill all available space. This is a little known facet of the Laws of Thermodynamics that explains why the Universe is expanding, but still doesn't have enough decent storage space. Just ask Scully.

Therefore, if you live long enough, and continue to have the means, you will eventually need to at least test all these storage systems during your lifetime.

I made a shaker-style bench a long time ago. Sorry I don't have pictures. The key, as I learned from others, is to leave a gap between the underside of the bench and the top of the cabinets tall enough to accommodate clamps, dogs, and holdfasts. Without this gap, the utility of the bench is significantly reduced.

Stan

[ken hatch]

Hey folks.

I'm reaching a point where I might actually manage to get my garage turned into a year-round workshop this summer, and I'm starting to think about tool storage.

Right now I use a Dutch-style chest, which I quite like. The only problem is that, well, I've gotten some new tools since I built it, and it's really not quite big enough. So I'm looking at a few options, and they all seem to have substantial drawbacks.

1) I'm already planning to build a more or less Shaker-style bench, so there will be a lot of storage there. I'm figuring the base will be somewhere between six and seven feet long, which is a lot of storage space. On the other hand, that storage space is also potentially limited by things clamped to the bench, which might not be ideal. I could certainly put less-used tools in the bench and keep using the Dutch chest, which is likely what I'll start out doing anyway.

2) Build a bigger Dutch chest. I build the smaller of the two sizes from the article, and another shelf might solve the problem. Or it might not... it's always hard to tell. The big downside to this is that I'm not likely to have a good place to put the chest right up next to the bench. It would likely end up on an adjacent wall, five to six feet away. I'm not sure how much of an annoyance that would end up being.

3) Build an English-style chest. Like a lot of other people, I read [i]The Anarchist's Toolchest[i], and immediately wanted to build a chest. Since my workspace is not quite six feet by six, I really didn't have space for one, but I will in the new shop. It could easily sit on the floor behind me, where I could just turn around and grab something without taking more than a step or two. The downsides, of course, are the time to build it and the fact that my back isn't great, so that much bending might be a problem.

4) Build a wall mounted cabinet to hang over the bench. On the face of it, this currently looks like the best choice to me. I should be able to make it big enough for all the tools I have, plus reasonable expansion space, and I've got about 7 feet of wall space clear, so it could certainly be large enough to hold a lot of tools. I know that I hated working off pegboard, but that was mostly an issue with the pegs coming off all the time, and how dusty everything got, both of which would be dealt with by a cabinet with doors. The probable downside is height: every time I see a photo of someone with a wall mounted tool chest, I find myself wondering if they EVER use the tools mounted high up, or if they just keep them there to look nice. And a shorter cabinet holds a lot fewer tools...


If anyone has thoughts on any of these, I'd love to hear them. I've only ever really worked off pegboard or out of the Dutch chest, so I have no real basis for looking at other options.

Thanks!

Andy,

Your concern about tool storage being some distance for the bench is pretty much right on.

I just finished an English chest. It was meant to be a traveling chest and the size got out of hand . I rearranged the shop so it could set behind the bench, the chest with a couple of additional tills is working well. BTW, with working full time (my full time is really full time...many 6 or 7 day weeks) from first cut to near finish was less that two months. A person with a normal schedule should be able to finish one in a couple or three weekends. It can be a very simple build.

With a Shaker style bench, depending on room, I would want my tills and cabinets on a wall behind the working area and the bench open on both sides. That way if a work piece was blocking the drawer from the working side it would be simple to go around the bench and retrieve the tool from the back side if the drawers were built to open from both sides.

Remember, it is shop furniture and a work bench....As always my mantra is build it heavy, strong, cheaply, and fast....Then go to work building furniture.

ken

[Pat Barry]

If you are like most modern humans, the of amount junk (or tools, jigs, wood, finishing supplies, etc. in this case) you need to store will naturally and unavoidably expand over time in accordance with the law of sideways entropy to fill all available space. This is a little known facet of the Laws of Thermodynamics that explains why the Universe is expanding, but still doesn't have enough decent storage space. Just ask Scully.

Love it Stanley!

[Andy McKenzie]

If you are like most modern humans, the of amount junk (or tools, jigs, wood, finishing supplies, etc. in this case) you need to store will naturally and unavoidably expand over time in accordance with the law of sideways entropy to fill all available space. This is a little known facet of the Laws of Thermodynamics that explains why the Universe is expanding, but still doesn't have enough decent storage space. Just ask Scully.

Therefore, if you live long enough, and continue to have the means, you will eventually need try all these storage systems during your lifetime.

I made a shaker-style bench a long time ago. Sorry I don't have pictures. The key, as I learned from others, is to leave a gap between the underside of the bench and the top of the cabinets tall enough to accommodate clamps, dogs, and holdfasts. Without this gap, the utility of the bench is significantly reduced.

Stan

I'm fond of the Law of the Conservation of Filth: It is impossible to get anything clean without getting something else dirty. Corollary: It is, however, possible to get everything dirty without getting anything clean.

I've actually been reducing the overall number of tools I have, but that's limited... pretty soon I'll have gotten rid of all the garbage I bought when I was starting out (and the few good duplicates I don't want), and I'll go back to accumulating faster than I can get rid of things.

I'll absolutely leave a gap. My current bench is designed to accommodate the Tools For Working Wood holdfasts, and there's no way I'm going to change that. They're fantastic. That's probably going to mean a benchtop of about 3" thick with a 4-5" gap underneath. As a bonus, that's a good place to stash things like a bench hook, small shooting board, and the like. As long as they're not under the holdfast, they're out of the way and easily accessible.

How did you like the storage aspect of the Shaker bench?

Andy,

Your concern about tool storage being some distance for the bench is pretty much right on.

I just finished an English chest. It was meant to be a traveling chest and the size got out of hand . I rearranged the shop so it could set behind the bench, the chest with a couple of additional tills is working well. BTW, with working full time (my full time is really full time...many 6 or 7 day weeks) from first cut to near finish was less that two months. A person with a normal schedule should be able to finish one in a couple or three weekends. It can be a very simple build.

With a Shaker style bench, depending on room, I would want my tills and cabinets on a wall behind the working area and the bench open on both sides. That way if a work piece was blocking the drawer from the working side it would be simple to go around the bench and retrieve the tool from the back side if the drawers were built to open from both sides.

Remember, it is shop furniture and a work bench....As always my mantra is build it heavy, strong, cheaply, and fast....Then go to work building furniture.

ken

So far I've built mostly shop stuff. I've done a few small boxes and two large toy chests. I'm hoping to change that this year and make some end tables and a coffee table.

If I go with an English chest, I'll probably go with the two-day plywood version. I'd rather go with solid wood, but as you say... spend the time building furniture, and make shop equipment fast and inexpensive. (Though where I am, 5/4 poplar is cheap and plentiful, and I could use it to try out the "riveted" technique I've been considering for a new desk.... Hmm....)

[Bill McDermott]

I really like having marking and layout tools on the wall behind the bench. They are convenient to grab and easy to immediately put back in their place.

I have often thought it would be nice to have a versatile rack on the wall for tools in use that otherwise clutter the bench. But I do not have that type of temporary tool rack. If I were rebuilding, I would add that feature.

[Andy McKenzie]

I really like having marking and layout tools on the wall behind the bench. They are convenient to grab and easy to immediately put back in their place.

I have often thought it would be nice to have a versatile rack on the wall for tools in use that otherwise clutter the bench. But I do not have that type of temporary tool rack. If I were rebuilding, I would add that feature.

I've got a small temporary rack on my current bench, and it's fantastic. That's one of the reasons I'm considering the wall mounted chest... I really like having stuff in reach over the bench.

[William Adams]

Struggling w/ this myself, but from a portable-oriented perspective. I thought this blog post https://bridgerberdel.wordpress.com/...n-and-storage/ condensed things down nicely:

Pegboard is the lowest common denominator of tool storage.

Fitted cases are for mature sets of tools....a static system.

Anarchist’s tool chest.....allows for a practical amount of upgrading and rearranging....enforces restraint.

(T)ool rolls....don’t waste space, at least not as long as the tools in them aren’t too awkwardly shaped.

Drawers....Get enough drawers and you start forgetting what’s inside any particular drawer.

[Andy McKenzie]

Struggling w/ this myself, but from a portable-oriented perspective. I thought this blog post https://bridgerberdel.wordpress.com/...n-and-storage/ condensed things down nicely:

Thanks! That's a useful looking post...

[Joe A Faulkner]

If you are committed to placing your workbench against a wall, I would put a narrow tool rack\shelf about 14-16" above your workbench where you can temporarily hold the tools of the hour/day/week ...

Depending on your propensity for organization, this may be the semi-permanent home for some marking tools, layout tools, chisels, saws, and a few hand planes or it might be a place for you to put things to keep the tools off your bench while tuning things. Another option would be to hold the bench off the wall 4 or 5 inches and place the tool rack a little lower. If you hang any cabinets or shelves above the bench, I'd keep it as narrow\shallow as possible.

[Andy McKenzie]

If you are committed to placing your workbench against a wall, I would put a narrow tool rack\shelf about 14-16" above your workbench where you can temporarily hold the tools of the hour/day/week ...

Depending on your propensity for organization, this may be the semi-permanent home for some marking tools, layout tools, chisels, saws, and a few hand planes or it might be a place for you to put things to keep the tools off your bench while tuning things. Another option would be to hold the bench off the wall 4 or 5 inches and place the tool rack a little lower. If you hang any cabinets or shelves above the bench, I'd keep it as narrow\shallow as possible.

That's a thought... While I'm not committed to putting the bench against the wall, it's probably going to wind up there just because there's not a really good place to put it otherwise. The workshop will have to share space with some motorcycles and yard tools, and finding a good space for a big bench gets challenging pretty quickly. One option would be to put the bench up against one of the car-sized doors, but it would interfere with the human sized door if it were more than about five feet long. I'll have to think about it.

Thanks!

[Bill Fleming]

Some good discussion here. I have an old Shaker style bench and love it but am planning a new bench and rather than a full height set of drawers I plan to make them less tall as discussed so clamps and hold fasts work well. Also since I plan this to be a bench in the middle of the shop I am thinking of using Accuride "two-way travel" drawer slides so that the drawers will be accessible from both sides of the bench should one side be blocked due to work. I didn't even know they made such a thing until I started looking at the problem....

Thx Bill

[David Bassett]

I've seen several instances where folks have build bases for their Dutch Tool Chests. E.g. adding a matched one or two shelf base on rollers could be #5 on your option list.

[Andy McKenzie]

Some good discussion here. I have an old Shaker style bench and love it but am planning a new bench and rather than a full height set of drawers I plan to make them less tall as discussed so clamps and hold fasts work well. Also since I plan this to be a bench in the middle of the shop I am thinking of using Accuride "two-way travel" drawer slides so that the drawers will be accessible from both sides of the bench should one side be blocked due to work. I didn't even know they made such a thing until I started looking at the problem....

Thx Bill

I think I'm going to need to do some work with graph paper, see if I can get the bench away from the wall. It might be worth a shorter bench, honestly... I'll have to figure out what will fit where once I've rebuilt the space.

[Andy McKenzie]

I've seen several instances where folks have build bases for their Dutch Tool Chests. E.g. adding a matched one or two shelf base on rollers could be #5 on your option list.

Definitely an option.

Thanks!