Thread: Chest of drawers for chisels

The box within the drawer is the one that came with the chisels. I made the drawers with the intention of including it. I figure, why reinvent the wheel.

The rebates for the rest were cut by hand, the larger ones with the aid of an old stanley hand router plane.

The main purpose for the drawers, by the way, is not so much for rust prevention, that will be an added bonus, but to get them all into some sort of logical order for ease of use and to free up some shelf and cupboard space.

My H&S pig stickers came in a case that will not fit into this chest and will therefor live within another I will do to take other handtools, shoulder planes, block planes, etc.

Going to give the case a sand up today and possibly fit the drawer fronts.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Dengue

Ah bodger do you have a heater in your shed in winter? Do the frozen tools stick to your skin? Do you have to warm the glue, or wait weeks until it gets warm before a glueup? Horses for courses, I suppose. I don't suppose you have the risk of your shed being blown away in a cyclone. But then, being only 10km from the coast, you wouldn't have these cold climate (Canberra, Orange etc) problems.

And

Originally Posted by IanW

Nah,bodger we feel sorry for you blokes who have to live in the Antarctic to avoid rust.....

Thats pretty funny you guys. Sounds a bit like your itching for a sort of "State of Origin" woodworking verbal stoush!.
Seriously though Dengue, yes I do have a thumping heater in my shed for the winter. And yes sometimes the glue does take longer to set.
Your spot on about the horses for courses thing and I'll leave it at that. Didn't mean to change the subject.

No competition intended , AB, it is nice to have some light comic relief

I have lived in both extremes, Orange where it gets to minus 6degC, and Townsville with high humidity and rapid changes in humidity, so you just adjust to the environment and get on with it.

Never get in to a SoS stoush with Qlders. We have beaten NSW in rugby league 8 years running, to the extent they have to give away tickets in NSW to get anyone to come and see a match in Sydney

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

I had a look in my skip dressed stock and found enough Silky oak to make the case

I also dragged out some old Silky that used to be louvres in a fire station door and machined it up for the drawer fronts

Now I needed to find some stock to make the drawer dividers from. Further sifting among my pile yielded some Qld Maple that used to be part of a church pew

Geez EG can I come & "drag out" some stock from your skip. It sounds like Dr Who's Tardis

All I have in my pile is radiata pine, plywood & some tassie oak. Oh and don't tell Ian but I also have some mdf.

There is a difference between glue (PVA) drying and setting, on the wrong day here it eventually dries to a white powder that does not hold anything.
DAMHIK
Regards

Proposed layout for my carving chisels. A bit of space left for expansion, we all know how these things breed!!!

That will leave the bottom drawer for the paring chisels and some measuring and marking as well as a few hand tools like screwdrivers.

Thoughts

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

....Proposed layout for my carving chisels. A bit of space left for expansion, we all know how these things breed!!!.... Thoughts

My thought - definitely expect expansion.... I'm only a very occasional (pretend) carver, but have still managed to acquire a drawer-full of the darn things. And they are awkward when you buy them here & there over the years, as I've done - the different breeds had all sorts of large & small handles. So I've re-handled most of them, partly to get the style of handle I like, & partly to get them more compact. As you can see. I've had to slew them this way & that to pack them in:

Rt1.jpg

It looks like you have a fair bit of depth in your drawer, so if the collection outgrows it's home, & you have enough room, you could fit a lift-out tray to sit over the bottom layer, and start another lot. I like to be able to take all of the carving tools to the job, anyway - never seem to know just which ones I need for the job....

Cheers,

Ian, the drawer depth is 50 mm so no room for a second layer. However, there is room for expansion should the need arise. I suppose it will evolve of it's own accord over time. The cradles are easy enough to change and add to.

I got the drawer fronts fitted today as well as a couple of coats of finish on the case.

Reasonably happy withe the margins, might be able to adjust a little.
Cheers

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

Ian, the drawer depth is 50 mm so no room for a second layer....

Ok, in the pics with the chisels sitting in it, it looked deeper than that. Fifty mm is just not quite enough to get two layers in, for sure, unless you go in for very small-diameter handles.

Fronts look pretty good to me, with gaps nice & even. Couple of mine were off a smidgin, which annoyed me no end, but after a dozen years of reasonably heavy use, they've all changed a little with settling & weather cycles, and seem to have averaged out pretty well. Not much you can do about wooden drawers on wooden runners, is there? You either get them right first time, or live with any inaccuracies. About the only adjustment you get is to plane a bit off 'em if they swell & bind.
You can see why metal runners with their wide tolerances & range of adjustment are so popular.

Cheers,

Thanks Ian. Yeah the margins are ok, I keep telling myself.

I got a coat of finish on the drawer fronts today. Photos don't do it justice.

Cheers

In situ. Handles are just some that I had on hand but look pretty good I reckon.

Cheers

Very nice

Very nice mate, well done

Give job. Very impressive. Thanks for posting