# old fashioned tool cabinet



## pommy (Apr 17, 2008)

Hi guys

im looking at building a new tool cabinet and was wondering if any one had some ideas or plans that they are willing to share with me

with gratefull thanks

andy


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Hi Andy,

Have you searched the site for "tool cabinets"? There are a number of excellent ideas posted here, if you haven't.

Hope this helps.


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## brownkm (Feb 9, 2008)

I don't have any plans to give you… I was just thinking about building a tool cabinet myself. But I do have this book, which has a plan at the end for the fancy Art&Crafts tool cabinet you can see on the wall on page 9.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1558708154/ref=sibdppt##


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## brianm (Feb 16, 2008)

An idea to start is to lay out all the tools you want to put in a cabinet on the floor. Start to move them around in the order you want to store them and decide if you need drawers etc.. I believe this will give you a good starting point and then explore this site or google images for tool cabinets.

This is a good one to start with. )
http://www.civilization.ca/hist/advertis/images/adob8-3b.jpg

Good luck.

Brian


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## Taigert (Nov 20, 2007)

Andy,
I am in the process of planning a tool cabinet to mount on the wall. I found a lot of what I was looking for at FineWoodworking.com, then search for tool cabinet.
Don't forget to think about what else you may want to get in the future?
Good Luck,
Ed


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Good luck on your search and construction.


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## pommy (Apr 17, 2008)

Thanks guys
the wife thinks i'm getting addicted to this site but hey who cares yhanks for all your help

andy


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## matter (Jan 30, 2008)

Search H.O. Studley, check out his tool chest. 300 tools, each with it's own spot.


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Here's one I'm working on… inspired (ahem!) from an episode of New Yankee Workshop…









The cabinet is three feet square when closed. I think I am going to put a metal sheet on one side of the door to attach drawings with magnets. The other door will have shiny laminate so I can write on it.









Open the door and you got six foot of tool space. The slots on the middle cabinet is for drawers to store little things. The tools will be organized by measuring, strinking, and other categories.









Here is the cabinet exploded with some dimensions that I worked out on Sketchup. Will try to build it tomorrow.

The side cabinets attach to the central one using a full wrap around piano hinge available through rockler.com. It hangs from the wall using a french cleat, so you need to remember to leave some space in the back of the cabinet for that


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## jjohn (Mar 26, 2008)

If you can dig it up, Norm did a tool box that hangs on the wall. I liked his design and if needed one would have copied it. If I can find it I will post it.

Found it:
http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct.php?0313


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## gerrym526 (Dec 22, 2007)

Take a look at my hanging tool cabinet in my workshop pics. Not fancy, but it works.

I used the same design technique recommended by BrianM. 
Just cut a piece of drafting paper the size of the cabinet (including doors when opened). Then layout your tools in the order you want to store them. Take pics of the tool layout on the drafting paper with a digital camera, and print it out. Build the cabinet carcass and doors, then tack the pictures you took to the wall of your workshop as a reference when designing the the storage areas of the cabinet.
Have fun. You'll love to be able to open up the cabinet when it's done, and just pull out what you need for the work you're doing at the bench.


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

I learned something this week… I am building the center case of the tool cabinet, and got my new dovetail jig. So I decided to connect the corners with dovetails. The center case also has a dado offset from the back edge to install the back of the case, and the reason the dado is offset is to allow for a french cleat.

So, I learned that on this scale, and with plywood that warps for no reason at all (other than it's chinese crap) it is not a good idea to build cases with all dovetail corners and internal dados. Moh bettah to cut a deep rabbett and slide the case back panel in after the case walls have been assembled.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

I have to admit, this would be such a great contest idea. First you get everyone putting their unique ideas together for the contest itself. Then you get the people that combine the ideas from the original contest to make the projectss even better. Just my thoughts.


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