Tool Cabinet

I have an old Disston panel saw that belonged to my grandfather. It came to me via my father after he passed. I also have several other old tools that I picked up at an antiques auction that I used to frequent. Still, others are new, or at least purchased by me as my woodworking evolved. I wanted a convenient place to store both sets. I also wanted some place to pay homage to those old craftsmen and be a shrine to Lie-Nielsen at the same time. This was my attempt to do that.

A lot of the inspiration for this project came from the resources portion of this page. There are some really great craftsmen out there. Thanks guys. On to the build...

Click on any of the pics to enlarge and get a better view...

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Cabinet platform The cabinet platform is a torsion box on wheels. It will be strong enough to hold the cabinet with no problems.

The base (a torsion box)...

I don't have the wall space for a hanging cabinet, and I just never liked the idea of a journyman's tool box. I wanted to be able to move it close to the bench when I need it, and move it out of the way when I didn't. This will be a very stable platform for the cabinet and will hold plenty of weight, but it will be quite mobile when I need to move the cabinet out of the way.

More info can be had on this portion of the build on the torsion box page.

On to the lower cabinet.

Materials and cut list - Lower Cabinet...

For this project, the only thing I'm going to document is the carcass. The drawers, for any given woodworker, would be a personal requirement and probably not be the right "fit" for someone else. I may come back and add them at a later date, but for now...

Item Qty Component Material L W D Notes

A 1 Top Plywood #1

B 1 Bottom Plywood

C 1 Back Plywood

D 2 Sides Plywood

E 2 Dividers Plywood

** Notes **

Plywood is " shop grade.

Dry fit -- © S.C. Rogers Got everything dry fit and starting to tape off all the areas where I expect glue squeeze out. Only thing missing at this point is the trim on the front and the back panel.

Dry fit -- © S.C. Rogers Another view of the dry fit.

Adding the edge banding -- © S.C. Rogers The glue up is complete and I'm getting ready to apply the edge banding.

Edge banding is on -- © S.C. Rogers A little painter's tape is the perfect clamp for adding edge banding.

A little hand work -- © S.C. Rogers A small block plane and a paring chisel is all that is needed to trim the edge banding for a perfect fit.

First coat of varnish -- © S.C. Rogers One down, a few more to go. The little painter's pyramids are great!

Three more coats -- © S.C. Rogers Four coats of a simple home brew varnish and it's ready to bolt to the torsion box. The back is only held by screws at this point so I can fit the slides for the drawers.

Building the lower carcase...

I started by cutting the plywood for the top, bottom, and sides to size. The torsion box was 20" x 40" before the trim was added. The trim is red oak and serves as a bumper of sorts. But, the lower cabinet is set by the size of the torsion box before the trim was added.

I hesitate to say ". With so much variance in plywood thickness these days, just lay out the appropriate lines based on the thickness. Anyway...

I cut a " rabbit along the top and bottom of each side panel. With the weight of the upper cabinet on the horizon, I didn't want to potentially compromise strength by running the rabbit along the top and bottom. Anyway, there's also a "rabbit along the back of the top, bottom, and both sides for the back panel.

Drawers, the beginnings -- © S.C. Rogers Just finished up the glue up on the second row of drawers

Needs cleanup -- © S.C. Rogers Cut the dovetails on a Leigh D4 and they need a little cleanup. A little hand plane work is coming my way.

Another view -- © S.C. Rogers Just another view of the first two rows of drawers before the clean up. Still need to mill all the drawer slides and fit them.

Milling lumber for the other drawers -- © S.C. Rogers Starting to get the rest of the poplar milled for the other drawers.

Millind done -- © S.C. Rogers The next two rows are all milled up.

Milling done -- © S.C. Rogers I still have to cut the top set to final dimension, but I won't do that till the others are fitted in with their runners.

Fitting them in -- © S.C. Rogers Using counter top laminate as shims to space them out. It's not quite that piston fit, but it's okay.

Building the drawers...

The cabinet has a top to bottom opening of 18". It works out perfectly for drawers with heights of 4", 4", 3", and two drawers at 3" each. However, that would have been a perfect fit with zero clearance between any given row of drawers. So, I stayed on script except for the top row of 3" drawers; they were my fudge factor drawers.

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Resources

Lord Nibbo's tool cabinet blog and Flickr Flickr slide show

Fine Woodworking's tool cabinet gallery

Swamp Road Wood Workstool cabinet blog

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