Tool cabinet help

[Kenneth Fisher]

It's about time I built some tool storage, the shelf under my bench ain't cutting it anymore.

I've looked at the usual suspects, Schwarz's English and Dutch chests, French cleat systems, and peg board ideas. Each has its merits but none of them quite fit me.

I think a hanging cabinet would be best for me. Unfortunately everything I've found is either way to small or so massive I would never be able to fill it. I have a basic minimalist/Paul Sellers type tool set and while I will be adding to it, it won't be to much or very quickly.

I guess I'm looking for just a basic tool cabinet. Any suggestions or ideas?

Thanks
Ken

[Ralph Boumenot]

You might try looking at old tool catalogs (Stanley) and their tool cabinet offerings. WK fine tool site has a lot of tool catalogs to look through.

[ken hatch]

It's about time I built some tool storage, the shelf under my bench ain't cutting it anymore.

I've looked at the usual suspects, Schwarz's English and Dutch chests, French cleat systems, and peg board ideas. Each has its merits but none of them quite fit me.

I think a hanging cabinet would be best for me. Unfortunately everything I've found is either way to small or so massive I would never be able to fill it. I have a basic minimalist/Paul Sellers type tool set and while I will be adding to it, it won't be to much or very quickly.

I guess I'm looking for just a basic tool cabinet. Any suggestions or ideas?

Thanks
Ken

Ken,

A Wall cabinet hung on French cleats or screwed to the wall is just a box, same story with a tool chest. English or Dutch it makes no never mind, they are all just boxes that have dividers. It is the same with 90% of your kitchen cabinets and household furniture, it is all just boxes. How those boxes are made can become interesting but that is just details. Shop furniture is a great place to learn to make a box of any size. The mistakes will not matter, It is just a "workbench" or "shop cabinet", make 'em use 'em, learn from 'em, and go on down the road. Most beginning and even some experienced woodworkers get hung up on "what's best",or "how should this be done". The answer is look at it, figure out what size is needed, cut some wood to that size, and put four pieces of wood together by what ever method you know or would like to know be it pocket screws, rebates, dovetails, or even butt joints and screws. It will all work. You will end up with a place to store your tools that should fit your needs and maybe a start on a new skill. It is win, win.

BTW, most of my shop cabinets were made with either pocket screws or biscuits. Quick and dirty, have worked for years and maybe some day I will get around to replacing them with cabinets that reflect my skills as a woodworker. But on the other hand, maybe they already do reflect my skill .

ken

[ken hatch]

You might try looking at old tool catalogs (Stanley) and their tool cabinet offerings. WK fine tool site has a lot of tool catalogs to look through.

Sorry for the hijack but...morning Ralph. You are up early.

ken

[William Adams]

There are two great books on tool storage which I’ve read, Tolpin’s and one which Fine Woodworking put out.

The best bit of advice from either was to lay your tools out on suitably sized sheets of drawing paper and try different arrangements, one for each layer, until you found an arrangement which would suit, then design the storage around traced outlines of the tools.

Still trying to decide when I should cut off my tool purchasing and switch to tool cabinet design myself. I would kind of like a morticing (not mortifying) chisel, a skew rabbet plane, some Spokeshaves, and a few more marking gauges — but I’m beginning to suspect that I would just want even more tools once I get them, so am thinking I should go cold turkey sooner. Though I still can’t get over my fascination w/ Stanley’s Odd Jobs, and desperately want one of them as well....

Anyone got directions for a 12-step program for tool collectors who should instead be woodworkers?

[Jim Koepke]

I would kind of like a mortifying chisel...

Before improving my skills most of my chisel work was mortifying.

Though I still can’t get over my fascination w/ Stanley’s Odd Jobs, and desperately want one of them as well....

My Odd Jobs has served me well for years. Mostly it is used for scribing a pencil line for rip cuts.

I am still pondering better ways to keep my tools organized.

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

Our dump has a spot where kitchen cabinets wind up, for resale. Also, our local ReStore (Habitat for Humanity's thrift store, focused on building materials/tools) has them regularly. If you're looking quick and simple, you might see if you can locate some cabinets that you could adapt.

I will probably be drummed out of the corps, my buttons cut off, my chisels snapped in half, my horse repossessed, for saying such a thing; but shop fixtures aren't what you want to impress your guests/sweetie with, so getting them up and done is often good.

[Brian Holcombe]

I'll be the contrarian. A nice tool cabinet inspires you to do your best work.

That being said my shop fixtures are a bit make shift.

[Mark Gibney]

William Adams - Anyone got directions for a 12-step program for tool collectors who should instead be woodworkers?

Step 1 - recognize you have too many tools. Step 2 - avoid browsing that online auction site and thinking about that tool you were thinking about. Step 3 - remember that tool costs only $60 compared to a new LV or LN, plus a bit of time sharpening. Step 4 - go back and check to see if it sold yet. No, it's still there, calling your name. Step 5 - bid, win. Step 6 - when your wife holds up the parcel and asks if it's another plane, open it and show her how cute it is, and then show her the cost of a new LV / LN. Repeat.

[William Adams]

Thanks. Mortified by the stupid auto-correct.

Mortice chisel, for morticing in mortices.

[Steve Voigt]

Step 6 - when your wife holds up the parcel when and asks if it's another plane, open it and show her how cute it is, and then show her the cost of a new LV / LN. Repeat.

You got step 6 all wrong. Have the tool shipped to your job, or to your own special P.O. box. Then find an inconspicuous way to bring it into the house, perhaps disguised as loaf of french bread.

[William Adams]

Okay. That's it.

I just bought an Odd Jobs reproduction from Jim Bode Tools, a pair of four-fold rules from the extremely big auctiony site, and I'm going cold turkey, until I have a project which actually requires a drawknife or spokeshave, and I've made a suitable clamping arrangement for holding whatever I need to so clamp, or I need to chop a mortice.

I am going to buy a vice (getting real tired of making do w/ a Workmate clone) and a 1/4" T-handle driver (this doesn't count 'cause I messed up my last order and got a Torx driver by accident), but that's it. Really. Until I actually need one.

When I get the new tools, I'm going to spread out all the tools and lay out the tool cabinet and just include a spare drawer for the spokeshaves when I make it (and include a blank space for one more chisel) --- the drawknife will have to go on the pegboard over the tool cabinet.

[Kenneth Fisher]

You got step 6 all wrong. Have the tool shipped to your job, or to your own special P.O. box. Then find an inconspicuous way to bring it into the house, perhaps disguised as loaf of french bread.

So how wrong is it that I've actually done that, and will be doing that with another saw tomorrow night?

[Kenneth Fisher]

Thanks for the replies, sounds like this is one situation where I just need to do it, learn from it and do it again as my skills and needs have changed. Kinda like a workbench.

[ken hatch]

Thanks for the replies, sounds like this is one situation where I just need to do it, learn from it and do it again as my skills and needs have changed. Kinda like a workbench.

Ken,

Yep, you get it....Just like your first workbench build, do it, live with it, correct the mistakes on the next one.

ken