Plane & hand tool storage?

[Stanley Covington]

Stan,

I've been considering something similar and have a few questions. I'm thinking 7'-8' tall, 4-5' wide, freestanding, on casters. Living in Alaska (think earthquake potential) it'd have to be deep and/or have a lot of weight in the base to ensure it stayed upright in a quake. My issue with depth has been trying to reach to the top / back wall as it get deep (I'm only 5'-11").

I like the idea of the deep doors but would welcome ideas on how to best take advantage of the depth. You mention things such as chisels, rasps and files, each of which are about 1" thick. How do you best take advantage of the depth?

For the body of the cabinet, it would seem like the drawers are only practical to the height you can see into them, perhaps 5' to 5'-6" max? With drawers reaching to the front of the 30" base, how do you handle the space above? You mention an angled plane till and I'm thinking a hand saw till? Since you've been there, do you have other suggestions?

I'd appreciate it if you could tell us more. :-)

Jim in Alaska

Jim:

I looked at the same dimensional issues you mentioned when I designed mine. But it turned out that the self-imposed condition of being able to get it through a standard door ended up governing the dimensions.

The top drawer is shallow (3-1/2"?) and the top edge comes to my bottom lip when open, so I can see inside it and reach all the tools. I am 5'-9". I keep my precision tools rulers and other layout tools in this top drawer.

Tools are heavy, so I encourage you to consider the weight of the tools you will put in each drawer.

Cabinets on wheels perform better during earthquakes than standard free-standing cabinets.

After I made the tool cabinet, I made a reloading cabinet of similar structure and identical dimensions to hold press and components. Brass and lead are even heavier than tools. I learned from the tool cabinet and made some improvements for the reloading cabinet.

I will make some dimensioned sketches and post them within the next couple of days.

Stan

[Stanley Covington]

Kent

I was admiring your setup and saw an idea I may use for renovating my toolchest, with your permission. Photo 3 shows back saws retained by what appears to be a wooden hook of sorts at the bottom horn. Is that hook fixed, or is it hinged or move somehow to secure the saw?

Stan

[Glenn Kotnik]

Kent- Don't you have the leather belt holster for that slide rule?

[Charlie Stanford]

Just interested in hearing some thinking on principles for storing hand tools in the bench area. What in your views works and what doesn't. So far i've used a mechanics tool chest, but want to free up floor space by using a mix of a wall cabinet and wall boards. It won't be fancy - just screwed together ply etc.

Thinking right now it seems to make sense to put easily damaged stuff in the wall cabinet beside the bench - planes, shoulder planes, chisels, dovetail saws and Japanese saws etc. Less sure about marking out and measuring stuff like squares, dovetail markers, marking gauges, scribers, dividers/compasses and the like - certainly the larger items might be better on a board?

Lots of wall cabinets seem to use framed doors of maybe 4in depth with space to hang tools on the inside face - as well as on the back face of the cabinet itself. i.e. they roughly double the storage area. Does this work well? Not sure about having bulky and heavily loaded doors swinging into the work area, but on the other hand....

The classic method of storage using sloped boards to make beds for planes to sit on seems terribly space consuming - think i'll need to find another approach that packs them more tightly while not risking damage.

Another task will be to figure out a format for the holes in some horizontal wall brackets to hold as wide a range of chisels, screwdrivers and the like as possible - something fairly quick to make but secure. I dropped a freshly sharpened chisel once which sliced through the heel of my other hand on its way down - not such a good idea.

Power tools, fasteners, finishing supplies, clamps, machine accessories and the like are in separate wall mounted storage.

Over to you guys...

ian

Stunning wall cabinets and tall chests as proof of ability notwithstanding my motto is storage at a height no higher than the bench top. Falls are almost inevitable at some point. My extraordinarily measly grouping of planes sit on a shelf beneath the bench. My back isn't thrilled about it but I've never broken any cast iron, lateral adjusters, etc. I might be more adventurous if I didn't work atop a concrete floor.

[Matthew Hills]

Kent, what is the material in the slots for your backsaw blades?

Matt

My version of reality.......the wall over my back bench.

The saw/plane board is walnut + QSWO. Angled at about 8*.

Attachment 259445

[Chris Fournier]

An enclosed set of drawers under my bench surface keeps tools out of the hurley burley, easy to reach and away from dust and shavings while adding gravitas to my bench for those rambuctious jobs. Gravity always prevails and a wall hung plane makes me nervous.

[Tommy Martin]

I almost remember how to use the slide rule. The license plate is a good one, I was thinking of that old TV show with the police car 1 Adam 12, but that doesn't seem correct.