Toolbox Build Journey - Handtools - Lots of Pics

[Nick Stokes]

I recently completed my first “almost fully” hand tool project. It was a totally fantastic woodworking experience. I wanted to share it here.

Brief intro: I thought it would be fun to try hand tools. I bought a Veritas dovetail saw. Got me excited. Found Paul Sellers (I am now a “disciple”); I love this man.

I built his workbench. Which was 1: Incredibly taxing for me physically trying to do all that mess in 1 week during Texas summer. 2: a great experience that gives me an incredible platform to work.

Next I wanted to make something for my dad. I saw a picture of this toolbox on PS website. I decided to make it. At the time, I was not a member. Had no plans or tutorials, and I had never done many of these things before; on a machine even or with hand tools.

So, I got after it….

I used ¾ hardwood oak flooring for the build. For the top panels, and the drawer fronts I used Cherry. Not sure why, I just wanted to… There is not enough contrast in the finished product, so seems silly now, but I really don’t know what I”m doing.


After laminating the panels, it was time for Case dovetails.

New Skill #1 - More than 3 dovetails in 1 corner.
Pic 1: Dovetails started


Pic 2: Dovetails complete



For the toolbox, PS uses a fancy little half lap dovetail. I had no idea how to do this, so I made this one a regular dovetail for the middle draw divider piece.

Pic 3: Case Complete

[Nick Stokes]

Next came the Frame and panel lid.

New Skill #2 - Making a frame.

This was intense. I had no idea what I was doing. I have never done this with machines nor hand tools. I didn’t know at the time that I was supposed to also be cutting mortise and tenons to hold it together… So basically the cross pieces (dont know name) just sit in the groove that was cut for the panel. The little tenons are only as deep as the panel groove… hope it doesn’t break in the next 50 years or so…

I only had a few chisels, a DT Saw, and a 4 ½ at the time, so I had no idea how to cut the groove… I resorted to the table saw; dangit.

Pic 4: Frame Parts

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Pic 6:


New Skill #3 - Raising a panel

Next up was raising the Cherry panel. I most definitely had never done this either. I had a video PS put on youtube that showed the basic process, and using the 4 ½ I went after that sucker…

Well, it was surprisingly easy. Now, the process was easy and fast… but perfectly aligning the corners was challenging… One pass too many made a huge difference, and I had to be careful but eventually I got it done.

The problem then became how do I get that sucker to fit in the groove. It was too Fat. No matter what I did. So, I came to the forum for help, and was suggested that I cut a rabbet along the back… Great, but I don’t have a rabbet plane… I resorted to the jointer; dangit.

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[Nick Stokes]

New Skill #4 - Saw off the lid

Look I had just spend 2 months trying to get to this point. I did not have the confidence to saw this sucker in half with my dull 26” disston from the garage sale. After many more projects, and understanding more how to use a plane to cleanup the edges, I would have no problem doing this today. At the time, I panicked, and resorted to the table saw; dangit.

Pic 11:




Next was time for the bottom panel. I was more confident this time, so I just went to work with the same procedure. This time I used a plywood piece for the bottom.

Pic 12:



After gluing on the bottom panel, this is where I’m at. Time for drawers.
Pic 13:

[Nick Stokes]

New Skill #5 - Half Blind Dovetails

I had so many questions about this. I didn’t know if the drawer front was supposed to be thicker than the sides, or if it mattered. I didn’t know how to space the tails. Heck, on the first drawer, I made them backwards. Such that the tails were super thin and the pins were wide… looks so silly. But, I watched enough youtube to figure it out. They are certainly not pretty, but they are strong enough.

New Skill #6 - Mortise/Tenon Drawer Back

The mortise/tenon drawer back was interesting too. I had no idea how to chop a cross grain mortise… and my layout skills were lacking… But eventually I hacked that sucker through. They got progressively better, and the last one (pictured) appears a good fit.

This picture shows the drawer resting on a piece of ply… after this dry fit, I cut a groove for the ply…

Pic 14:



New Skill #7 - Fitting drawers

Well I sure screwed this up. I kinda figured out a way to glue a strip of oak on the inside of the case to be the drawer slides. Then I wanted the drawers to slide across them. I tried to fit this sucker lots of different ways… and I ended up taking off way more on the sides than I needed too…

After I had already made this mistake I watched some more youtube, and I think it was Cosman that I saw mention that the drawer needs to fit almost zero gap side to side… because the wood won’t expand that way… the extra room is only needed on the top/bottom for expansion concerns… (well stink, because I already took off way to much on the sides)... So the top drawer is far too loose… The bottom drawer fits much better.

Pic 15:



New Skill #8 - Making Drawer Pulls

PS has some shop made drawer pulls on his box that are mortised into the drawer front. I tried to reverse engineer those suckers with some pieces of Bois DArc and ebony… but it failed… so I panicked and went with some wooden knobs.

Last step was to add strips of oak for the plywood bottom of the top shelf to rest on. I did not glue the plywood down in case I needed to get in there later on at some point and fix a problem or whatever…

[Nick Stokes]

Here it is Finished building, before the finish…

Pic 16:



New Skill #9 - Shellac and Wax

Well this was a huge fail. I totally butchered the finish. It is blotchy/streaky, and at some point I must have not gotten all of the sanding dust out or something because there are white streaks and some kind of buildup in the deep pores of the oak. After 3 coats of shellac I applied wax with 0000 steel wool, and then another easy coat later just with a microfiber. The wax makes it feel good, but the color is not even at all.

I would give anything to get all that crap off of there and just rub some oil on it. Anything.

Pic 17: Finished Drawer




Regrets:
- I did a terrible job of grain matching when I glued up the panels… I mean terrible. Some of the panels have both flat and quarter sawn boards.

• The Finish.
• Not sawing the lid off by hand. I robbed myself of a cool experience.
• Using Cherry as the panels and drawer fronts. Not a good contrast.
• Not persevering and making the pulls myself.
• Screwing up the drawer fitting
• Screwing up the half blind dovetails. The 2nd draw was fine, but look at the bottom drawer… The tails are cut backwards.

Overall it was an awesome experience… I have since become a member over at PS site, so after I watched the 10+hours of video on how to build this, I realize I made a lot of silly mistakes… But I learned a ton, and it was a great gift for my dad.

Thank you for all of the input you guys gave along the way to help me solve various projects.... And I immediately want to start building another one...

Finished Pictures:






Don't pull both drawers out at the same time so you can't see the different sized Tails/Pins... LOL

[Dave Parkis]

I think it looks pretty good considering it was your first project with hand tools. Even better, you figured out what you did wrong and learned from it. I suspect your dad loves it.

[Frederick Skelly]

I think it's a nice toolbox Nick. I'd be glad to use it! Thanks for showing us.
Fred

[Pat Barry]

I'm sure your dad will love the tool box. Excellent! By the way, no shame in using the tools you have, even if they are powered.

[Reinis Kanders]

Looks nice and the finish is way better then your description makes it sound. Knobs do stick out though. Something rectangular would be more subtle, I think Sellers chest has some self made ones.

[Jim Koepke]

For a first project on your new bench it is amazing how well you did.

What is more important is how much you learned.

Your father should be very happy with this.

jtk

[James Pallas]

Nick your project is just fine. Looks good and will work good for its intended use. I would guess that it will be around for a very long time. The experience you gained tackling the project is of great value. The next one you build will be easier and better. You touched on most of the woodworking skills all at once. Great job!
Jim

[Christopher Charles]

Looks great to me as well in the photos. Shellac can be tricky for sure, but can be worth it in many cases as I find it can give a depth that is hard to match with oil alone. One of the tricks is light coats and to make sure they are applied evenly. Some runs, blobs can be rubbed out or scraped out, but this can be tricky without messing up the surrounding finish. The knobs look good in form/shape, but smaller knobs might be more balanced to the piece, or small 'post' style knobs.

I'm sure your father's thrilled and kudos for jumping right in to the deep end (and almost no one here completely completes a project without the use of some electrons).

Best,
C

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with all comments. If you look at pics of vintage tool boxes you see a lot of mixed woods ,spots of paint ,mis matched hinges ,and inappropriate hardware. But you get the feeling of 'all business'. I would have confidence in any workman using it ....except maybe a plastic surgeon. Put some small nice tool in one of the drawers as part of the present,inscribe the bottom of a drawer to your dad,sign and date it. Be happy and confident in starting another project.

[Nick Stokes]

Thank you all for the comments. I read back through my post, and noticed the overall negative vibe I was giving...

This wasn't my intention. I loved the project, and very happy with the finished project. I have so much more confidence to tackle a wide range of skills now. I gave the gift on Christmas and it was very much appreciated.

It was a fun, 3 month long process, and I just wanted to share it all with you because you guys helped me along the way.

Thanks.

[Paul Saffold]

Great job, Nick. And a nice job describing your work and workarounds for getting out of jams. Thanks for posting.
Paul