Woodturning tool chest

[Dave Schell]

Thought I would return to my flat woodworking days for a bit to make a woodturning tool chest. Below are the results. I'm pretty happy with it. Plenty of room in the drawers for the turning tools and accoutrements.

[Jim Rimmer]

Nice looking tool chest. The paint you used makes it look like a metal tool chest in the pics.

[Stephen Saar]

I'm actually looking at making something almost exactly like that for various tools, and as a cheaper alternative to a traditional mechanics rolling tool chest. If you don't mind me asking how much did it cost you to make?

Also I really like the design and the handles. It looks really nice, what type of wood did you use?

[David Walser]

If you're going to make your own chest (or buy one for that matter), consider how wide you'll need to make it to hold your bowl gouges. On the spur of the moment, I bought a scratch & dent unit on sale at Sears in hopes it would serve to hold my turning tools. My spindle tools fit just fine (similar to the way the tools in the picture, above). However, my bowl gouges and Oneway Termite would only fit on the diagonal -- which meant I could only fit one or two bowl gouges per drawer.

[Dave Schell]

Stephen, compared to the what a store bought metal one of this size would cost, I was able to make this one fairly reasonable. The priciest items were the drawer slides - I used heavy duty ones and had seven drawers - they were about $15 for a set - so about $105 for those. The next most expensive item was the drawer handles and those were $10 each - so about $70. Add $25 for the four casters. I built a frame out of 2x4s and skinned it with 1/2" MDF panels. The drawers are 3/4" pine with 7/16" OSB for the bottoms. I used 1/2" MDF again for the drawer fronts. The green trim is oak which I probably wouldn't have used at the time if I new I was just going to paint it later. So I would estimate about $250 for everything.

The size is 2' x 3' and 41" tall. So the drawers are plenty wide for a very long bowl gouge. The top 4 drawers are 3 inches tall, the medium drawers are 5" and the bottom drawer is 7".

Thanks for the comments.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking tool chest. Well done.

[David E Keller]

Very cool. Been thinking about doing something like this but can't seem to stop turning things. Plus, I'd have to clean off my tablesaw.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nice work Dave! Functional AND color coordinated!

[Mark Elmer]

Very nice indeed. You sure had me fooled into thinking it was a metal toolchest. A great way to have sharp tools and a way to protect them and keep them handy.

[Aaron Wingert]

When I first saw the picture I thought this guy forgot to include his wood tool chest in the pictures. Not what I expected! Looks awesome and like Steve said, nicely color-coordinated.

[Anthony Diodati]

Nice looking tool chest. The paint you used makes it look like a metal tool chest in the pics.

Yeah, looks store brought.
Thanks, Tony

[Rusty Smith]

I dunno, seems way to neat and tidy to me....

Nice work, well actually outstanding..