7 Drawer Hickory Toolchest

Dear Wifey,

I’m off to buy some great wood and tools to make a toolchest, and when I get back I’ll be in the shop for quite a while.

Of course, you won’t have a problem with this because I gave you such a nice case for your scrapbook punches.

Love,
Hubby

Mathew-

Beautiful case. I was wondering are the dovetail on the outer carcass mitered dovetail. Or did you apply a lipping on the front?

-- Kaleo , http://www.kaleosworkshop.com

Wow that is very nice… Very nice craftsmanship….

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

Kaleo, good eye. Yes the front dovetails are mitered. Ian Kirby showed how to do this in one of the recent issues of WWJ. I followed his directions, and they turned out really nice and tight.

I think they dress up the front of the case nicely. Thanks for noticing!

-- When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt! Henry J. Kaiser

Outstanding work on this case! This is right up my alley.

Without visible drawer dividers (with the excpetion of the vertical divider), it appears that your dividers are stopped short of the front, and covered by an upper or lower edge of the drawers…true?

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Matthew -

Very nice work and the ultimate compliment from your wife! Very sharp and crisp work! Congratulations.

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

I agree with your wife. Much to nice for the shop. That’s like hanging a Monet in the closet.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

I agree with Dennis.

-- Jiri

Excellent craftsmanship. I’m impressed.

-- Maplewood, MN

so glad to hear that it made it out of the shop! Far too beautiful to not go into the main house.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Matthew – Nice job! I can always appreciate nice dovetail work. I feel your pain when it comes to the wife scooping your projects too!

-- Kevin -- (http://www.furniturebykevin.com)

Thanks everyone for all the nice feedback!

Dorje, you are absolutely correct, the drawer slides are stopped short of the case front and serve as stops for the drawers as well. I was really trying to maximize the amount of drawer space inside the case so I kept the slides as thin as possible. Notice too that for the smaller drawers in the upper half of the case, I left a lip on the bottom of the drawer front, for the bottom drawer I lipped the top of front.

I realized after the case was already assembled, that it would have been much easier to install the slides if they had a small dado to rest in. I should have done that before gluing the case together. Instead, I used glue and 3 small screws to attach the slides to the side of the case.

-- When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt! Henry J. Kaiser

Mathew, very very nice. Personally I think it would look great in shop.

After staring at it, I finally get how you did the horizontals. The recessed and dovetailed vertical divider is unique. Cool.

And the mitered corners are first class.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Nice.

If it were me, it would have stayed in the shop !

Why didnt you “flock” the drawer interiors?

Nice work!!

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/

So you wanted to learn to handcut dovetails so you built a first class chest with half blinds and mitered through joints. Hmmm. I’d say you learned pretty good. It’s a marvelous chest, for sure.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Just when I think I’ve seen it all here as far as first-class draftsmanship, someone comes along and raises the bar. Fantastic!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Matthew. A first rate job. Nice attention to the details.

Do you have the issue # and date of Woodworkers Journal that had the details of the mitered dovetail joints.

Great salvage job. I wonder how many premium boards end up as refuse.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

This is wonderful. The design and execution are flawless. And the gift to the wife was quite gentlemanly.
Surely this should be an excuse for a better handsaw or other coveted tool. Leastwise, that’s how I’d work it.

My hat is of to you, Matthew.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

She was right, way to nice for the shop. Well done.

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3

Very nice work! Much too nice to ding-up with tools.

Excellent work. you might offer it to your wife as a silver ware box, I agree much too nice for the shop. now you have to match with high end tools. Bridge city?

-- Marty Ohio

Yep, too nice for the shop. Get some old barn wood and nail ‘er up. Baling wire makes nice handles. Best if the wood came from a hog pen. Then your wife will leave it alone. If this is what you did to learn to do dovetails, I can’t wait to see it when you really try to do something.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

That is one nice chest.

Nice save on the wood. It’s really eye candy. Very nice result on the case, Like Roman says , it would have stayed in the shop.

I hope Mot doesn’t start on me to make him one too! <g>

Cheers

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

You did a gorgeous job on your first hand cut dovetails. My first (and only so far) attempt was not quite so successful. That’s a beautiful tool chest.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Beautiful woodworking Mathew.

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

Again, thanks for all the nice feedback everyone! Truly appreciated!

Karson, I went down into the shop again and found that issue of Woodworkers Journal that I followed for making all of the dovetails in this case. It is from April 2003, Volume 27 number 2. The article is on Page 58… Dovetail Details by Ian Kirby. I hope you can find it! It really is a great resource.

By the way, SWMBO is very pleased with the case, as it is sturdy enough to hold her entire collection of punches and the various drawer heights work well with the different sizes of punches she keeps inside. The case doesn’t seem to mind sitting in her scrapbooking studio instead of my shop, its still filled with tools, just slightly different ones than I imagined it would hold when I finsihed building it :)

-- When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt! Henry J. Kaiser

What are you working on currently or what are you going to build next?

You may wish to consider blogging the build for us to follow!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Great job! Don’t let the wife see your next one of you might lose it also.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

That’s a high class piece of work.
I make a lot of dovetails, but not by hand.
That really is a piece to be proud of.

I think you need a “his and hers” set. ...

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Nice job, now as you have figured out how the dovetail joint works you can really go to town on building one for the shop.
I hope the wife gave you something nice in trade. Far too nice for scrap booking!
Whats the next project on the horizon.
I was ust thinking if that was to be the cabinet for the workbench, what does the bench look like.
How about some pictures of the bench??
I must say you did a great job! Not only on the cabinet, but of making the wife happy for the moment. lol

-- Ed Collinge- Edmonds, WA.

Excellent! Really fine!

I have a story about a traditional tool chest that turned into a blanket chest before I got started on it. Love changes our priorities and that’s good.

-- Paul, Texas

This case keeps popping in my mind – I think that really says something – to me at least! When I think about this chest, images of tansu cases, which I really admire, come to mind as well. I said it before, I’ll say it again…this chest is outstanding!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

I hate to revive such an old thread, but I wanted to comment on the dovetail work. Wow! You made good aesthetic choices on the sides, and the wide tails for the drawers are equally appealing. Very nice work. I think you’ve inspired me a bit.

Revive away! There are so many gems on the site – and hey – at this point I haven’t seen this case in 119 days…so thanks for bringing it back up!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Very nice work!

-- jeanmarc manosque france

Wow, This is a wonderful chest! I love hickory, it has such a great grain. Fantastic work… !

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)