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Thread: Tool Chest storage ideas

  1. #16
    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.
    Last edited by Thomas Wilson; 11-30-2020 at 1:10 PM.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
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    Tour of the Dungeon Woodworking Shop...
    Shop Tour, May 2020.JPG
    Entrance..
    Shop Tour, May 2020, sander stowage.JPG
    Work bench...
    Saw Til Project, door hanger.JPG
    Door of the handsaw till..
    Saw Til Door, another 2 saws.JPG
    Inside view....
    Shop Tour 2020, Opened for business.JPG
    Tool chest, and plane til...opened for business...
    Shop Tour 2020, ready for work.JPG
    and..
    The Five Cent Tour, opened front.JPG

    Other than the saw til, everything is within an arm's reach....

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    Columbus, Ohio, USA
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    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.

  4. #19
    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.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
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    Port au Port, NL, Canada
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    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.

  6. #21
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    Apr 2007
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    I essentially created "kitchen cabinets" to start. This picture is a drawer with my hand planes.

    IMG_20201130_174908.jpg

    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.

    IMG_20201130_174946.jpg

    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.

    IMG_20201130_175059.jpg

    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.

    IMG_20201130_175344.jpg

    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.

    IMG_20201130_175356.jpg

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

    IMG_20201130_175505.jpg

    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.

    IMG_20201130_182550.jpg

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

  7. #22
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    Jan 2016
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    Port au Port, NL, Canada
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    Andrew,
    Thanks for sharing the photos, it's very much appreciated. The library card pulls are a nice idea.

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Erickson View Post
    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..

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew Pitonyak View Post
    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
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  10. #25
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    Apr 2007
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    Columbus, Ohio, USA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    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

  11. #26
    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/w...ng-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.
    Last edited by Dan Grano; 12-01-2020 at 1:53 PM.

  12. Quote Originally Posted by Dan Grano View Post
    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/w...ng-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.

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Grano View Post
    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/w...ng-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.



    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.

  14. #29
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    Jan 2010
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    Lafayette, Indiana
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    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. Nicer than my custom kitchen cabinets.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    springfield,or
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    644
    Joe
    Thank your for sharing that old thread. It took me to a couple more which I really enjoyed.

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