| Project by GaryB | posted 160 days ago | 667 views | 3 times favorited | 20 comments | ![]() |
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.
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20 comments so far
SteveKorz
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1335 posts in 196 days
posted 160 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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282 posts in 186 days
posted 160 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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4170 posts in 700 days
posted 160 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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21 posts in 160 days
posted 160 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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1517 posts in 185 days
posted 160 days ago
Great work!
Thanks for the post
Callum
-- Look great, get your TTK merchandise now! http://www.printfection.com/thetimberkid/ Check out my site http://thetimberkid.blogspot.com/
Freddo
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57 posts in 179 days
posted 160 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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253 posts in 587 days
posted 160 days ago
I’d love to see some bigger photos, if you can.
Chris
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1221 posts in 473 days
posted 160 days ago
Very nice work… Was this your own design?
-- Chris
Scott Bryan
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9042 posts in 304 days
posted 160 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 202 days
posted 160 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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8482 posts in 470 days
posted 160 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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21 posts in 160 days
posted 160 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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465 posts in 281 days
posted 160 days ago
Sweeeeeet!
always,
J.C.
-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein
blackcherry
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196 posts in 305 days
posted 160 days ago
Very nice home for a sweet collection…Blkcherry
Safetyboy
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64 posts in 241 days
posted 160 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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1743 posts in 479 days
posted 160 days ago
Super!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
smitty1
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31 posts in 181 days
posted 156 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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191 posts in 154 days
posted 151 days ago
I love it!!! I especially like the tilt on the plane backboard!!
-- Matt, Houston Texas
Texasgaloot
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340 posts in 182 days
posted 130 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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2461 posts in 256 days
posted 85 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