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Thread: The beast

  1. #1
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    The beast

    In a recent thread on Plane & Hand Tool Storage by Ian Maybury, (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...d-tool-storage) I described the tool storage solution that has worked best for me. Questions were asked, but instead of burying the answers in the somewhat tangled thread of the original, I am starting a new thread. I beg your indulgence.

    I have relocated residences and personal workshops over 18 times due to the demands of my job. At nearly every location, and within the constraints of time, space, and budget, I have tried to create a space for woodworking. Several times, it was a balcony in front of an apartment. While I was in school in the US it was a VW van. When I was finally able to buy or rent houses, it was in the garage or basement or spare room. Built-in or tacked on shelves and plywood on the walls with hooks and fixtures to hold tools was cheap and easy, but I got sick of having to leave them all behind when I moved. So for tool storage I tried metal file cabinets, custom-made wall-mounted cabinets, multiple tool boxes, and bags, and under-the-bench cabinets. The setup I finally settled on is a large plywood cabinet on HD urethane casters.

    IMG_2317.jpg

    I call it the Beast. This is the only picture I have since it is in storage in Las Vegas while I am currently working overseas. Please ignore the partially disassembled rifle in the foreground. The picture was not taken with the intention of displaying the cabinet, but to clarify a technical problem to a gunsmith.

    The Beast can be moved, while fully loaded, around the shop to make room for different operations. It keeps tools far enough off the ground to avoid moisture. The tools I use most often such as layout tools, squares, butt chisels, saws, hammers, rasps and files are mounted in the doors immediately at hand. Backsaws rest in angled slots visible at the top of the right-hand door. This is extremely convenient, and similar to a lot of tool cabinets that have been published. Planes rest on the angled lid of a dovetailed box with storage space inside accessible from its open front. This also is familiar, but I have not seen the open front elsewhere. Books, glue bottles, and other tools are stored in the open space next to the planes.

    When the work day is done, tools are quickly returned to their designated place, and the doors shut to protect the tools from dust, dirt, humidity, and temperature changes. Very quick, very easy. To lock the cabinet, I padlock a chain that goes entirely around the case and through the handles on the sides. During shipment, a strap used in the same way keeps things securely closed.

    The dimensions are entirely governed by the need to pass through the standard 6’-08”x 2’-06” US residential door opening, with the cabinet's doors removed. The height of the top drawer at 5’-0” is based on my being able to open the drawer and see everything inside (I'm 5’-09”). The height of the bottom drawer is governed by the dimensions of my router and sander boxes. All else is whimsy.

    The cabinet is 3/4” cabinet grade exterior glue plywood (US made), except for the door fronts, which are 1/2”, and the back which is 1/4”. The torsion box at the base is critical to the design’s stability, and is made from 3/4” ply and well-dried 2x4’s. 1-1/2” milled DF is used at the door cross members.

    The doors, when loaded, are terribly heavy, so I used super HD stainless steel ball bearing fire-door hinges left over from a job. The picture shows four hinges, but I show six in the drawing assuming you won’t want to spend the $125 per pair. I would not put hinges in between the one at the shelf and the bottom because they can make the side flex. In fact, I added the cross-piece at the doors at shelf height to handle the hinge load.

    The drawers are plywood mounted with HD ball bearing slides. The slides make it very easy to open the drawers (to easy perhaps), and although they can handle the weight with no problem, the drawers want to rack due to the drawer’s width even if they don’t actually bind. So if I was to do it again, I would make two drawers at each level instead of one wide drawer, except for the bottom drawer which needs to be full width for saws and tailed tools.

    All exposed plywood edges, including the drawers, are concealed by 3/16” maple strips.

    I used bullet catches for the doors, but I think there are better ways to do it.

    What would I do different?


    1. I would glue/screw a 2-1/2” x 3/4” thick hardwood stick around the inside perimeter of the carcase opening, and hinge side of the doors, to provide more meat for hinge screws to bite, and to eliminate the metal reinforcing angles at the lid.
    2. Glue/nail 45 degree chamfer strips at all plywood joints (as far as possible) to provide more rigidity, and to eliminate the metal reinforcing angles at the lid.
    3. Reinforce the floor of the shelf to reduce deflection under the load of planes above. In fact I added the post in the top opening afterwards to pull the shelf up to counter deflection which was causing the top drawer to bind. I think that either two layers of 3/4” plywood with built-in camber (kinda heavy), or a shallow torsion box (with camber) would work.


    I am careful to avoid opening too many drawers because there is a real risk of it tipping forward when fully loaded, especially since the drawer slides will allow all the drawers to slide out uncontrolled once the Beast begins to tip.

    The other shortcoming of the Beast is that it cannot be trucked or shipped while loaded: The acceleration of the tools during loading/transport/unloading will destroy the drawers and doors. When I am overseas, I use a more traditional toolchest which, while not as voluminous or convenient, is a lot tougher, and will fit through Japanese residential door openings.

    I am not suggesting this is the best way to get the job done, but after lots of trial and error, it has proved best for me. I hope you can learn from my few success and many mistakes to make something better for yourself.

    CovingtonToolCabinet.jpg
    Last edited by Stanley Covington; 04-22-2013 at 3:40 AM.

  2. #2
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    I can't imagine having to relocate with all the "stuff" woodworking related. It would certainly require thinning the herd of seldom used tools that many of us seem to acquire. Your tool cabinet is well thought out and meets your needs. No matter how we design and build, in retrospect and with more experience and skills there are things we would do differently. Thanks for sharing. Lots of good info there for someone looking to build a tool cabinet, portable or not.

  3. #3
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    Thanks for this Stanley. I'm also subject to transfers every three to five years and have wrestled with the problem myself. The "beast" has given me a few ideas, and a great base to start with.

    Sorry, I couldn't ignore the firearm in the fore-ground....I never thought of using the wood in the mag-well like that.....It gave me a further solution to a bedding issue I've encountered and will be putting that trick to use soon!

  4. #4
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    Paul:

    You are right about "thinning the herd." I have a written inventory of my tools. You may think a written inventory is silly, but since my wife and I must submit a written list of all our possessions, where and when purchased, and their value, each time our household goods pass through customs in the US or a foreign country, I can't avoid creating an inventory every few years. My inventory is an Excel spreadsheet, of course, and I have a column for "essential" (yes or no) and another column for "frequency of use" graded 1-10.

    It has been helpful in determining precisely what is needed and what is not. The only electrical tools I carry are a couple of drills, a skillsaw, and a small electric grinder. The rest are the best quality, best performing handtools, I have. It is surprising how many useful-but-unused tools one can accumulate in just a couple of years. Good luck with yours.

    Stan

  5. #5
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    Rob:

    The price Brownell's (and others) want for the plastic magwell widget is ridiculous. The wood works just as well, IMO, and clamps in the vise nicely. Good luck with your tool cabinet, and may all your groups be bugholes!

    Stan

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    and may all your groups be bugholes!
    Amen brother....sad part is I have a better chance at the bugholes than I do getting the chest done anytime soon....and don't get me started on Brownells and the current import laws....

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    It is surprising how many useful-but-unused tools one can accumulate in just a couple of years. Good luck with yours.Stan
    This is the effect exerted by the specific gravity of malleable iron, brass and steel in a confined space.
    A subtle magnetic field is generated, inversely proportionate to the distance and expense of the object from the others.

    (The further away, and more it costs, the stronger the compulsion for it to join the others.)

    I've got a similar open cart in my shop, for smaller power tools/drill bits and etcetera.
    It's amazing how much etcetera gets pushed to the back, and how the useful stuff falls out the front every time I move the cabinet.

    I hesitate to make a similar inventory, lest I find out how many hammers I actually own.

    "It's not people that need big houses, it's stuff that needs big houses."

    - George Carlin

  8. #8
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    Excellent post, Stanley. Thanks for sharing.

    Jacob.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Matthews View Post
    This is the effect exerted by the specific gravity of malleable iron, brass and steel in a confined space.
    A subtle magnetic field is generated, inversely proportionate to the distance and expense of the object from the others.

    (The further away, and more it costs, the stronger the compulsion for it to join the others.)

    I've got a similar open cart in my shop, for smaller power tools/drill bits and etcetera.
    It's amazing how much etcetera gets pushed to the back, and how the useful stuff falls out the front every time I move the cabinet.

    I hesitate to make a similar inventory, lest I find out how many hammers I actually own.

    "It's not people that need big houses, it's stuff that needs big houses."

    - George Carlin
    Ah, the wisdom of George Carlin, the wisest man to ever stand on a Las Vegas stage!

    Stan

  10. #10
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    I believe there's also a corollary;

    If you want to learn how to pack, watch a military family.
    My roomie in Taiwan was an Air Force brat (6 appointments in 10 years).

    He traveled light.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Matthews View Post
    I believe there's also a corollary;

    If you want to learn how to pack, watch a military family.
    My roomie in Taiwan was an Air Force brat (6 appointments in 10 years). He traveled light.
    I know what you mean. While living in Guam until November of last year, My wife and I were friends with families in the Air Force and NCIS. Both of those big families could pack like hermit crabs!

    Stan

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