Wood for Anarchist Tool Chest

[Chris Griggs]

Oh yeah? Well listen up pal, I may be coming to the PATINA show. And if I see you there, we are going to settle this like men…



…by exchanging vegetarian recipes.


PS Tony, sorry for continuing to derail your thread. I'll stop now.

Sweet! I'll kick your butt at that too. I'm a level 5 vegan. I don't eat anything that casts a shadow.




So should be get back on topic now, or should we derail into an argument about Chris Schwarz and the merits of tool chests? I'm good either way.

[Steve Voigt]

Stopping Vegetarian recipes is the right thing to do Steve, I totally agree.

Sweet! I'll kick your butt at that too. I'm a level 5 vegan. I don't eat anything that casts a shadow.

So should be get back on topic now, or should we derail into an argument about Chris Schwarz and the merits of tool chests? I'm good either way.

Well, I'm not a vegetarian; I just cook a lot of vegan Indian food. But my wife's out of town for a couple days, so I'm currently on an all-bacon diet.

An argument about CS and the ATC should be good for about 80 posts and at least a couple lifetime bans from the creek, don't you think?

[Chris Griggs]

Well, I'm not a vegetarian; I just cook a lot of vegan Indian food. But my wife's out of town for a couple days, so I'm currently on an all-bacon diet.

An argument about CS and the ATC should be good for about 80 posts and at least a couple lifetime bans from the creek, don't you think?

Yum...I don't care what you are or aren't, "a lot of vegan indian food" sound great to me.

Hmmm, yeah 80 posts sounds about right...lets see if we can get Tony banned...he's always starting controversial threads.

Okay...sorry Tony..sort of...but I'll stop hijacking now...continue...

[Judson Green]

How about butternut? Its been called the poor mans walnut. Not sure if its lighter than poplar. In WI its more expensive than poplar.

Maybe basswood? Its less expensive, probably about the same weight. Has been traditionally used to make crates and boxes.

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[Chris Griggs]

Basswoods an interesting idea Judson. Its pretty light isn't it? I'd be curious to here others thoughts on that.

[Judson Green]

Its light, has kinda weird smell if IIRC, not sure its been a long time since I used it. The dry cubic weight is about the same as poplar. The photo (info) was from this book. Cool book has a brief scientific like description of the tree and then a short story or description of what the wood or tree was used for.

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[Tony Wilkins]

I could use Spanish Cedar and make it a combination Humidor and tool chest. No argument on the Indian food; I'm in.

So the aim is to get me banned is it; well let's at it then: The only correct chest is a Schwarz Anarchist Chest and should be filled with LN tools... or is that LV tools. And since Megan spoke up, the only good woodworking mag is Popular Woodworking.

[Judson Green]

I could use Spanish Cedar and make it a combination Humidor and tool chest.

Yeah but at 70% RH your tools might be rusty.

[Jim Matthews]

Fully loaded, you'll need it to be on wheels to move around.

Make it out of whatever smells nice when you're handling it.
You'll be at this, awhile - it should be enjoyable.

I, for one, don't care for working with South American exotic stuff.

Mesquite is nice, and hand plane/hand saw friendly.
Can you get access to that?

You'll likely need to make lots of small pieces into larger panels,
can you manage a flat glue-up in your shop?

I don't have the consistency to cut so many dovetails, as in the original design.
I would recommend using four "legs" and fitting floating panels if you also hesitate to saw so much.

Go with what's locally available, first.
If nothing suitable is ready at hand, Poplar and Cherry are good choices.

They're not too expensive, heavy or hard on tools.

[Tony Wilkins]

Can get mesquite but at $15/bd.ft. it's a little steep. I'd think that Cherry would be considerably heavier than Poplar and definitely Pine.

[Tony Wilkins]

How about Alder? I can get it for a good price locally and the specs look good on it. Not as familiar with it as a lot of other woods though.

BTW: this would have been a good place to use my book on wood by Becksvoort but it's still in a box somewhere in the house from the move.

[Mel Fulks]

The alder we get here is "abrasive planed" ,so I wouldn't want to hand plane all that grit. If you can get it rough I guess it would be ok.

[Jim Matthews]

The weight of Poplar and Cherry (based on their specific gravity) is similar.

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-...dwoods/poplar/

Personally, I like wood that has been quarter-sawn for large panels and would give preference
to materials that are (in descending order); readily available, sufficiently durable for the case, workable with the tools I now own, and inexpensive.

At $15/bf - that's expensive. I wouldn't want a toolbox that's worth more than my tools.

FYI - I would give serious consideration to at least incorporating a plywood inner shell, if you're using softer woods (like Butternut for example).
Any lumber that has grown quickly, and has broad growth rings may be prone to splitting along growth lines.

I wonder what Acacia hardwoods has, rattling around the back of their yard?
http://www.woodfinder.com/search.php

http://www.acaciahardwoods.net/

If it was me, I would haunt Craigslist for something you can't really get anywhere else...
http://lubbock.craigslist.org/mat/4293238606.html

Pay a little extra and get the supplier to mill the boards close to your desired thickness.
The fun part is fitting the parts together.

[Pat Barry]

The weight of the box itself is relatively insignificant to the weight of the box once you have it loaded. You are going to need a strong box unless this thing is just going to sit somewhere. I echo the idea of putting some wheels under it and, if it were me, I'd build it from white oak. With white oak you can go thinner material to save weight and still have the strength you need. It will look nice - reference the many tool boxes constructed from white oak. It won't look out of place like wasting some exotic species on something so utilitarian as a tool box.

[Judson Green]

Thats true the weight of the tools will most likely make the weight of the box insignificant.