| Project by GaryB | posted 578 days ago | 1069 views | 11 times favorited | 21 comments | ![]() |
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Just finished my latest tool cabinet. I am fairly new to hand tools, and I set out to cut all of the joinery for this cabinet with hand tools. I found the cherry for the carcass to be very unforgiving when cutting through dovetails by hand, so I switched to box joints on the table saw for the main case (they also proved to be tougher than I expected). I did, however, manage to cut the dovetails for the drawers by hand.
Thats it for the confession, now for the details of the cabinet. It is 32” high, by 32” tall with doors shut. It totals about 11” deep also with doors closed. The main carcass, doors and top are cherry. The door panels and back panel are baltic birch ply, and I added maple veneer to the outside of the doors. The interior tool wells are made from bb ply and cherry. The drawers have cherry fronts, aspen sides and back, and bb ply for the bottom. The door and drawer pulls are cocobolo.
I tried to leave some room for expansion in the future (both in the doors and left side of interior). The missing plane spot is for a low angle jack, that has since been added. I have also added a good combo square and a tenon saw to hang inside the doors.






























21 comments so far
SteveKorz
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2030 posts in 614 days
posted 578 days ago
Wow!! that is very nice. You’ve done a fantastic job, that is a great way to store all those nice tools. Did you dream this design up, or are there similar plans somewhere? It looks great!
-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †
gator9t9
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295 posts in 604 days
posted 578 days ago
Its a Beauty ….great job …pix are very small and hard to get a real good view ….
thanks so much for sharing
-- Mike in Bonney Lake " If you are real real real good your whole life, You 'll be buried in a curly maple coffin when you die."
CharlieM1958
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7696 posts in 1118 days
posted 578 days ago
Looks great! We could stand for the photos to be a little larger, though. :-)
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
GaryB
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27 posts in 578 days
posted 578 days ago
Thanks for the kind words. I just combined lots of other cabinets I have seen and fit it for my tools. I’ll repost the pics in larger format. I’m working on a matched lower chest for under the bench, and will post pics soon.
thetimberkid
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1944 posts in 603 days
posted 578 days ago
Great work!
Thanks for the post
Callum
-- For wood working podcasts with a twist check out http://thetimberkid.com/
Freddo
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57 posts in 597 days
posted 578 days ago
Awesome job – enjoy your piece! I started really using hand tools in the last few years (I mean really using them to fine tune and fit parts). Once you learn to keep them sharp and use them accurately, you’ll wonder how you got along without them. PLUS… there is truly a wondeful thing about working wood with hand tools (i.e., without power and the extra noise). I hope this doesn’t start a rant thread – I’m NOT an anti-power tool user…just love a sharp chisela nd hand plane :)
I wish I had the wall space for a cabinet like that. Maybe one day…
-- God bless! Freddo (Northern - NJ) Our Creator designed us to create - so use WOOD!
Jon3
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439 posts in 1005 days
posted 578 days ago
I’d love to see some bigger photos, if you can.
Chris
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1469 posts in 891 days
posted 578 days ago
Very nice work… Was this your own design?
-- Chris
Scott Bryan
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20828 posts in 722 days
posted 578 days ago
This is a wonderful storage area for your tools. Congratulations on the dovetails that is a major hurdle for most woodworkers.
Nice design and you chose a nice combination of woods.
Thanks for the post.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
WudWrkr
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21 posts in 620 days
posted 578 days ago
That’s a beauty GaryB and it looks like you have a nice selection of hand planes to keep it company.
-- Steve - "Dang, no matter how many times I run it through the planner it's still too thin!"
GaryK
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9555 posts in 888 days
posted 578 days ago
That’s very nice. I could use something like that also.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
GaryB
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27 posts in 578 days
posted 578 days ago
Ok, new larger pics are up, will also add more with “another tool cabinet” post.
Thanks for the positive feedback.
Gary
jcees
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553 posts in 699 days
posted 578 days ago
Sweeeeeet!
always,
J.C.
-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein
blackcherry
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731 posts in 723 days
posted 578 days ago
Very nice home for a sweet collection…Blkcherry
Safetyboy
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87 posts in 659 days
posted 578 days ago
“Fairly new to hand tools”, and you already have a full complement of planes & saws? I’d say you’re doing all right!
I was just thinking I need to make a tool cabinet myself – thanks for the inspiration (though right now I’m thinking I’m just going to rough one out of ply to get started, see what kind of space I need, etc, and then later on build the “ultimate” cabinet…)
-- -- Kevin in Mentor, Ohio
Dorje
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1767 posts in 897 days
posted 578 days ago
Super!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
smitty1
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33 posts in 599 days
posted 574 days ago
Very Nice work Gary and a good start on the hand tool collection. I can tell you from experience, once you start down the Neanderthal Path , storage expansion will be an ongoing project.
Keep up the good Work,
Smitty
-- Smitty, Alabama, http://www.firstdesignwoodworking.com/
matt garcia
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733 posts in 572 days
posted 569 days ago
I love it!!! I especially like the tilt on the plane backboard!!
-- Matt, Houston Texas
Texasgaloot
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467 posts in 600 days
posted 548 days ago
Have you been given the secret Galoot handshake? (It’s kind of hard to do, what with our knuckles all botched up from dragging on the ground…)
You catch on fast, Grasshopper…
Excellent work!
-- There's no tool like an old tool...
ND2ELK
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6240 posts in 674 days
posted 503 days ago
Hi Gary
Great looking tool box. You are my kind of guy. Everything has a place and everything in its place. You did a beautiful job on this piece. Thanks for posting.
God Bless
tom
-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa
Chris
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300 posts in 258 days
posted 255 days ago
Very nice cabinet, and you have a bunch of good looking tools for someone new to hand work.
-- Chris