Ideas needed- wall mounted hand tool storage cabinet

[John Vernier]

I was looking for pictures of older wall-mounted toolboxes recently and I remembered that Zach Dillinger posted several of them on his blog a few years back, some quite utilitarian and one or two very pretty ones from the early 20th century. Start here:
http://eatoncountywoodworker.blogspo...-tool-box.html
and scroll through his blog for 2009-2010 (it's not too many posts). Nothing which quite rivals the Studley cabinet, but a good idea of what real-world woodworkers were doing a century or so ago. he has some good detail photographs of each one.

[Jerry Olexa]

John, thanks for link..(eaton county)..Interesting blog with good ideas....Still looking that blend/design that will be the 'one"..thanks

[Jerry Olexa]

I applaud your priorities of storage and protection. So many people, influenced by the pretty pictures in the powertool-shill press, build showcases/shrines that perform neither of these functions well.

These sort of cabinets can be quick and dirty and inexpensive and utilitarian, made from painted MDF or CDX plywood, or they can be expensive heirloom pieces made of fine woods with beautiful joinery and luxurious finishes that take both skill and a long time to make. Of course, as with all things, you may choose a middle path in terms of cost, time and quality. My point is that, unless you have done this already, which I can't tell from your post, you will need to give this some careful thought at the early stages of planning.

Unless you intend to lug it around, make it at least twice as strong as you think it needs to be. Plywood is not strong as solid wood. MDF is significantly weaker than plywood.

Swinging doors with sturdy hinges of the kind used to hang architectural doors are absolutely essential, especially if you intend to mount tools to the doors. Cabinet hinges are not tough enough. Assume the hinge screws will eventually pull out of plywood and MDF, and plan countermeasures in advance.

Double doors are probably better than a single door to minimze interference with the area in front and below of the cabinet. If frame and panel, make them very rigid so they won't sag over time. Consider a shear panel.

If you use double doors, add an astragal to keep out dust. Build an overhang or crown that projects over the doors full-width to help keep dust out.

I assume you want this cabinet to last at least your lifetime. If so, future-proofing is important unless you are absolutely certain you will never add to or upgrade the tools stored or mounted inside the cabinet. Instead of cutting and gluing, I suggest you mount shelves and mounting brackets with screws so they can be R&R'd in the future.

Oh yeah, and give careful thought in advance re how you will mount it to the wall, and what sort of reinforcement the wall will need to carry the extra weight and bending moment.

Best of luck.

Stan

Stan, some great practical ideas, thoughts...Its obvious you've done this...sincere thanks.

[Jerry Olexa]

Good info so far. Since I take it you do not already have a version to draw experience from I think there are (at least) two ways to approach this. Build for your immediate function and anticipate a version 2 in your future. Build for form and function and build-in enough versatility to handle some rearrangement.

Using an approach that couples a carcass with internal fixtures allows alteration without a complete rebuild. Your saw till and plane till can be separate inserts that can be removed and modified or replaced. The same can be done for internal swinging panels that can be modified without having to scrap the whole beast.

To this end I went with what is many peoples nightmare due to memories of the past; peg board. I live where the weather is moderate and so an open plane till was the order of the day. The main carcass and its depth relationship to the wings was made to allow the addition of doors if I choose to do so later.

Attachment 349601 . Attachment 349600


Since you have already perused the usual articles I will just say that laying your tools out or using cardboard cutouts to try arrangement ideas is well worth the trouble. The current config is one wing to the left of the carcass. Once I get the north wall rearranged the right wing will come over to join them.

The planes hang from paracord.. The panel that the planes rest against is easily removable for tool rearrangement which has already happened twice. The wings have pegboard panels on the back as well as the inside and outside of the doors. I make tool holders with "L" hooks in the back so that they can be placed or moved easily. This too has already come in handy a few times


Attachment 349602Attachment 349603Attachment 349604Attachment 349605

The lower gallery is a separate fixture that can be easily removed for modification.

Attachment 349606

I figure once I go a year without changing anything it might be time to make another one that is more attractive to look at. For now, I keep morphing the arrangement.

THANKS Glen..Very good insight and suggestions....I'll use your guidance..Thank you

[Jerry Olexa]

Jerry, I started out on a similar quest almost two years ago (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...-Cabinet-Build).
What I like about my cabinet - I'm generally pleased with the plane storage as well as the chisel storage. I made the main cabinet 12" deep so that it could hold a numer of bench planes sitting on their sole. I wanted storage in the doors for chisels and possibly other tools. I made a pretty specific plan for plane storage, and a more general plan for saws and chisels.

I used piano hinges for the doors and would do so again. French cleats to hang the cabinet; if or when I move the cabinet is coming with me. IMHO there is no better choice for wall mounted tool cabinet than french cleats.

What I would do differently - I think we share a tendancy to own more planes than we probably need. Unless you are going to downsize your collection of planes and repent from your trend of growing your collection, you might want to focus on building one cabinet for planes and another for saws and perhaps another for chisels. I'm not thrilled with the 15" depth. While my 3 inch deep doors allow me to store chisels on hinged racks two inches deep, I don't like how far the cabinet protrudes from the wall. I also don't think the cabinet is going to accomdate all of the handsaws I want to store. It has room for a few backsaws, but that's about it.

Search here for plane tills, saw tills and tool cabinets for more great examples. I got some good ideas from this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...r-tool-cabinet

Good luck. I will be interested to see what you decide to do.

Joe, thanks..I will use piano hinges as well as some of your other recos..Thanks Joe
Jerry

[Jerry Olexa]

Attachment 349632

Just a little something I built in my free time with some offcuts.

Acually that picture is of a quick mock up I threw together last weekend as a prelude to my actual project

[John Sanford]

Four words:

Think In Three Dimensions

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Acually that picture is of a quick mock up I threw together last weekend as a prelude to my actual project

Haha- When I posted this I hesitated because I was afraid someone might think I was actually trying to claim it, but then I said, "Who doesn't know the H. O. Studley tool chest? Surely they will get the joke." Anyway, I have to get back to work now, I'm building another tool storage for my good friend, Benjamin Seaton. Quite a fine collection of tools this guy has.

So to get back to reality and give some serious feedback- I do plan to build a wall hanging tool storage like the H.O. Studley cabinet only in that it hangs on the wall, opens up, and has tools in it. I believe that (a hanging cabinet) is a really great way to store tools, and it will go on the wall behind the workbench, within arm's reach. Below that will be a rolling cabinet with a top (Currently using a Husky rolling tool cabinet with wood top) upon which to place tools as I get them set up for the next project. "Hmmmm- I'm going to need the dovetail saw, these two chisels, and this block plane..." (places them all on top of the cart below the wall cabinet.)

My hanging cabinet will most likely carry the most frequently used chisels, mallets, planes, marking tools, etc.- all within easy reach. The less used tools are still right there in the lower cabinet below it. I do believe it was the most recent Fine Woodworking that has a really neat idea for a cabinet where the chisel storage slides out the side kind of like a sideways drawer. I may steal that idea, and that slide-out storage would slide all the way out for carrying to the workbench- especially for the carving tools, because I always seem to need more than a few of those out at one time. I'm thinking about making the doors and any drawer storage the same way- so you can pull them down and take them to the bench.

I believe the saws will end up in their own separate saw till, opposite the end vise, which on my bench is a LN twin-screw 18" vise, and where most sawing and dovetailing will be done. So- that's my other advise- break the tools down by category and place them within reach of that particular task- if possible- in a perfect world. You know what I mean- workflow.

[Pat Barry]

Hi Jerry, Are you putting a saw till into your toolbox? For those that did, and for you in planning, what is the recommended spacing for the saws? I'm thinking 1-1/2" on center would be a good density and easy to grab each saw. I started with a mockup of that distance for a saw till I am working on. Basically just a couple of boards standing on edge with saw kerf slots cut into them approx 2 inches deep. Each saw would then go into its own slot spaced at 1-1/2". What does everyone else use for this type of thing?

[Jerry Olexa]

Pat, probably won't put a saw till in the cabinet...
Right now, the holidays are getting in the way of plunging into the project....I'm getting anxious

[Malcolm Schweizer]

IMG_0558.jpg

This is the one that has the wall cabinet. By the way, the trestle foot on that bench on the cover needs to be arched in the middle underneath so it has feet instead of the whole stretcher being on the floor.

[Phil Mueller]

Pat, here's my current saw till. The kerfs are 1 1/2" on center. That amount of spacing works for me.

image.jpg

[Pat Barry]

Pat, here's my current saw till. The kerfs are 1 1/2" on center. That amount of spacing works for me.

image.jpg

Looks good Phil. Seeing yours makes me think I should leave room for expansion of the collection though. I only have about a dozen.

[Prashun Patel]

Make it as pretty as you wish, but what I appreciate about my open-shelf eye-height cabinet for planes is that they are easy to reach for. They invariably carry some shavings back to the shelf, so an open configuration is easy to clean, Cubbies are a pain to keep clean. They are also an inefficient means for dividing one-piece items like planes.

I keep my #6's and longer under the bench. It's messier, but there's 24" storage under there, vs 14" on my shelves.

[Phil Mueller]

I'm done. Well maybe. If another comes in, one has to go out. That's the plan anyway. I just can't walk away from a decent saw at a garage sale...