All purpose nest/socket design for chisel rack?

[ian maybury]

The wall mounted tool cabinet project has reached the stage where it's time to design some chisel racks to mount in one of the doors - it's the fairly classic shelved out unit to the rear (mostly for planes), with half width/half depth doors hinged at the left and right hand sides that swing open against the wall for access. It's all in 18mm (3/4) marine ply - and while fairly carefully and accurately built it's functional rather than cabinet making art.

Blue in the face from looking at designs on the web. It's unlikely that I can predict my population of chisels with any accuracy longer term, with the result that plenty of capacity and the flxibility to handle lots of different types - Japanese (4 - 36mm), Euro pattern with plastic handles (1/4 - 1 1/2in) , gouges with more carving tools to come, long handle paring chisels to come, awls etc. Screwdrivers etc too.

It'd be possible to go overboard designing custom sockets for each tool, but neither practical or flexible enough. A simple blade slot made from just two strips/rails of say 2x1in on edge glued up over spacers is tempting, but lighter bladed tools with relatively heavy handles will tip over in this situation as a result of their CG being too high. Adding a stepped or tapered bore centered over the slot and extending about 50% of the depth of the rail for the lower end of the handle to drop into (using Forstners) should create a socket/nest for each chisel and add some stability - but before i take a flyer on something like this does anybody have a design for a proven 'accepts everything' socket layout?

Thanks

[David Weaver]

This is my suggestion - 3/4" ply with holes drilled into it at the space you want the chisels, then cut a V into the front of each row and cut straight back.

On the thin side, same thing as the front of the double rows, but only one row deep (the last one being the door).

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[george wilson]

This is one of my chisel racks. Similar to David's,except several rows deep. Note the cross grain reinforcement slips since I did not use plywood,and did not want the yellow pine to snap off between the chisels and carving tools in front.

That's a banjo rim from years ago when I made quite a few banjos. On the left edge is the rear end of my Norris jack plane. A guitar body is down on the right. It has since been finished and delivered.

The veneer cut outs on the right end of the shelf are fret sawn left overs from the fancy peghead overlays of arch top guitars I made some time ago. No use for them,but too nice to throw away!

The black hose is a vacuum drop down to the bench top for sanding dust to get sucked into.

[ian maybury]

Much appreciated guys. Some nice ideas there. (impressed at the double row parking) Guess it all comes down to the specific shape and dimensions of the range of chisels to be accommodated...

[george wilson]

As an aside,I design my shelf knees so that a single curving cut will produce 2 knees exactly the same from one square of wood. Of course,you have to cut on the line to get them to be the same. Saves wood and time. Then,the knees were quickly sanded with the oscillating spindle sander. There is a 2" tall strip of 3/4" pine along the back of the shelves. Into this strip is driven a 2 1/2" wood screw at a 45 degree angle,into pre drilled holes to stop splitting. Then,the top of the shelf is screwed down to the 2" strip. I have never had a shelf fail under some pretty heavy loads,especially in my metal working area,where things can get very heavy.

Before the building was finished inside with dry wall,I went around the whole room,and measured to the center of each stud. added these dimensions to a working drawing. In putting up 400' of shelving,I only missed the stud behind the dry wall 2 times. If you have a building made,it might be good for you to also do this. I also made videos of where all the wiring is inside the walls before they were finished over.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Ian

I'll add mine in as I keep the bulk of my chisels in a cabinet above/alongside the bench. The notable point about the chisels in the door is that they live in holes, not slots. This is to prevent tnem dropping out with the movement of the door. Each hole is sized for a chisel so that it drops in securely.



There is also a a place to store chisels-in-use - a tooltray at the bench ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

You are nearly as big a chisel and carving tool PIG as I am!!!

Chris Vesper stayed here last week before the WIA show.

Back when I started scouring the flea markets in Pennsylvania in the 70's for tools,you could buy a nice carving tool for about $2.50. Now they want more like $35-$40.00 for any old one they can find.

[ian maybury]

Your hinged cabinet door with built in shelving is a slightly smaller version of the sort of door format i have Derek. Stepping the racks in one pitch for each row is a nice move to save space. I used 18mm marine ply, and as a training exercise and because the (heavy) planes will be in the wall mounted section with the spindle moulder cut lock mitres in the corners and rebated in the back panels. Solid wood has advantages though - I couldn't get a decent quality piano hinge locally (made out of brass foil these days it seems..) and ended up forced to trim the leaves on butt hinges (only stock sizes here) to narrow them down to fit. Then had to cut mortices for them which was never the plan and is a b***h in ply - takes a lot of care and very hard on tool edges.

I envy the availability of used tools in the US George - the scene here is simply too small for stuff to turn up in markets except very rarely… (nat pop is only about 4.5m)

[Chris Padilla]

This is one of my chisel racks.

And pray tell what is this funny looking tool, George??

phone.jpg

[Phil Thien]

And pray tell what is this funny looking tool, George??

phone.jpg

One of my friends that is in his late seventies has one just like it, he refers to it as his EarPhone.

[Stanley Covington]

This is my suggestion - 3/4" ply with holes drilled into it at the space you want the chisels, then cut a V into the front of each row and cut straight back.

On the thin side, same thing as the front of the double rows, but only one row deep (the last one being the door).

P1040124.jpgP1040126.jpgP1040125.jpgP1040127.jpg

David:

I see you have at least one really nice chisel there!

The 4th pic seems to show a strip of reddish wood. Is this to retain the chisels?

I like the wedge-shaped mating cleats on the side. Is that to support the leafs when closed?

Stan

[David Weaver]

Just one (nice chisel) stanley! That's all I can afford. The rest of the chisels on the top are ouchi chisels of some vintage (I got them used) and the bottom are iyoroi's kamaji acid etch types. Both together were about the price that either set would be new. I am cheap sometimes, I guess!

Yes, the strip of oak is on the door side to retain the chisels (they wouldn't exactly fly out of the rack, but you never know who might walk into the shop and fling the door open), and the cleat on the side is intended to make sure the door stays properly aligned. I guess it's a little bit of belt and suspenders with a piano hinge on the other side, but the whole thing is very sloppily made with common white pine. I rarely buy crap lumber and was shocked how much the pine moved when I handsawed the box apart to make two halves. I am so cheap (with shop hardware) that I built the whole thing out of resawn hardware store pine instead of buying ply for the panels. I stood on the thing and drilled a hole through the end of the cleats, and I have a small dowel with a handle glued onto the end that I shove in there to keep it tightly closed.

I still haven't really put the kiyotada through any significant paces!! Someday I'll make a bed or something and mortise it with that chisel. I'm just glad to have one chisel from a top maker who worked in white #1. The rest of the chisels are perfectly capable with white 2, but there's something special about makers who intentionally do something difficult and then do it well.

[Stanley Covington]

How is the oak strip attached? I have puzzled about a clever and handy way to do this.

Stan

[David Weaver]

It's got a screw through the end of the far end (oversized hole so it can rotate) and it latches over another screw on the near end. The far end is is curved on the top of the strip at the end so it doesn't butt into the side of the door. The fit on the near end is snug so that it can't get away from the screw that it fits onto. The back end is just loose enough that the band of oak can be moved in three dimensions a little bit, but seems otherwise tight once the close end is latched on.

I didn't have any advanced thoughts while building this thing, I just wanted something quick and cheap and the oak strips were an afterthought - I don't know what they're cuttoffs from because I generally avoid red oak like the plague. It's true hack work, exactly the kind of thing you'd make if you had no plans at all other than how much open space it could occupy....but the expensive chisels don't fall out of it and the total cost to make it was only about $35 including the piano hinge and all of the wood. (I care most that the chisels don't fall out, obviously).

It would be nice to have a second one to put the rest of my chisels in (carving chisels and long chisels), but I don't have any more wall space. I thought when I built it that I'd just sell anything that doesn't fit in it, but that hasn't happened either.

[george wilson]

That is a telephone. I need it so that salesmen and politicians can call the house every single,solitary day and leave messages. Well,one of my wife's friends insists upon leaving messages on it,though we only use our cell phones for friends,etc.. I should be rich by now with all the offers of free vacations,cheap land(that cost much more than houses used to cost. And,right on the water,where hurricanes and floods can help your relaxed country living). And,don't forget the fantastic investment opportunities too.

We never use the house phone for those reasons,but need it since the computer needs the line.