Thread: Hand Tool Storage Cabinet - Layout Opinions

Originally Posted by nick_b00

Of course you could try something like this instead!

Nick

I hope he gave due acknowledgement to Mr. Studley!

Nick, I toyed with the idea of a Studley-like super-compact chest before making mine, but decided it was too hard to figure out all that nesting, and probably too limiting, in the event I changed my mind about what/how many tools it might need to contain in the future. I could see no downside to having a larger & deeper space (apart from trhe next house move... ) & I'm very glad I did leave some room for expansion, as it turns out.

I used a couple of hinged ramps for my larger planes. One for the #7, and a separate one for the two 5's (well, one is a 5 1/2). The one for the #7 allows a couple of other planes to be tucked in behind, & gets lifted fairly often, but I lift the one behind the 5 & 5 1/2 so rarely I've forgotten what's stored in there...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by nick_b00

To say that I'm being very considered with design flatters me - I just have too little time!

Nick

Nick, you've posted ur cupboard on the internet...that makes it one of those things that we google for!

Originally Posted by IanW

I hope he gave due acknowledgement to Mr. Studley!

Nick, I toyed with the idea of a Studley-like super-compact chest before making mine, but decided it was too hard to figure out all that nesting, and probably too limiting, in the event I changed my mind about what/how many tools it might need to contain in the future. I could see no downside to having a larger & deeper space (apart from trhe next house move... ) & I'm very glad I did leave some room for expansion, as it turns out.

I used a couple of hinged ramps for my larger planes. One for the #7, and a separate one for the two 5's (well, one is a 5 1/2). The one for the #7 allows a couple of other planes to be tucked in behind, & gets lifted fairly often, but I lift the one behind the 5 & 5 1/2 so rarely I've forgotten what's stored in there...

Cheers,

Thanks Ian

Funny thing is that I was just about to PM you to ask you to send me a pic of your cupboard. I see that the first 4 rows of draws are different sizes to the next 2 rows, and different to the bigger last 2 rows. What height draws did you settle on? Or rather, what would you make bigger/smaller?

You might get a few ideas from this one.

WoodNet Forums: Thanks for the motivation, Cian! Finished my tool cabinet (pics)

Toby

Originally Posted by johnredl

Thanks Ian

Funny thing is that I was just about to PM you to ask you to send me a pic of your cupboard. I see that the first 4 rows of draws are different sizes to the next 2 rows, and different to the bigger last 2 rows. What height draws did you settle on? Or rather, what would you make bigger/smaller?

Hi John,
The drawers are actually more varied than they appear (possibly excesssively so!). The top two have 50 mm deep fronts, the next two 55, then 65, then 90, and the bottom 95. The two full-width drawers underneath are 60 and 90 respectively.

The 50mm drawers are adequate for a wide range of tools. I made them conventionally, with slide-in bottoms, & using 7mm ply for the deeper, & thinner ply for the shalllow drawers gives a minimum of about 35mm depth inside - good for chisels and other handled tools. If you look at the bank on the right, you'll see I split the 90mm drawer space into a 40mm and 50mm pair to take rulers, calipers, squares, etc. The deepest drawers accomodate bulkier items like marking gauges, or taller things like scrapers. I re-hashed the interiors of many of the drawers a year or two back, & haven't gotten around to taking any pics, but I could do that for you, if you like, so you can see how I have used the space....

Cheers,

Toby, that's quite a nice chest, alright. However, I don't like the chisel storage. Lifting a chisel out of its slot with all those razor edges hovering above it would take care & focus on the task - something I don't always observe when reaching for a tool in a hurry...

The other aspect I don't like is the way the tools can rattle around when opening & closing the door. In my previous tool chest I hung the chisels in the door, and to minimise rattling & protect myself from myself, I put L-shaped rails in to cover the pointy ends (allowing a generous dust slot so they could be cleaned out easily). Can't remember what prompted me to switch to drawer storage for chisels, but it was partly because I wanted to store saws in the doors, too, and to accomodate everything, I would have needed inner doors. The geometry got a bit too complicated, so I went with drawer storage instead, and am very pleased I did. It really doesn't take any significant effort to open a drawer. But there are advantages; It keeps them more rust-free in my sub-tropical climate, I can store more chisels in a given width, and I can remodel the layout more easily, should that become necessary (which has happened twice already in the dozen or so years since I built the cupboard!).

Cheers,

Originally Posted by TobyC

You might get a few ideas from this one.

WoodNet Forums: Thanks for the motivation, Cian! Finished my tool cabinet (pics)

Toby

Just looking at it - very good but I am confused by the drawer above the marking tool panel? You'd have to be very tall to see into it?

Originally Posted by IanW

The drawers are actually more varied than they appear (possibly excesssively so!). The top two have 50 mm deep fronts, the next two 55, then 65, then 90, and the bottom 95. The two full-width drawers underneath are 60 and 90 respectively.

I was also aiming for drawers outside 50mm, which gives 35-40mm inside, quite a few of them, maybe 6 at 500mm wide and about 300 deep.

Then a couple at 80-90mm front. Wasn't going to have many deeper drawers but I think one at 125-150mm will be useful.

Nick

Originally Posted by IanW

I re-hashed the interiors of many of the drawers a year or two back, & haven't gotten around to taking any pics, but I could do that for you, if you like, so you can see how I have used the space....

Cheers,

+1 for more photos please

Ian can I ask about the drawer runner arrangement you've used as well, and the thickness of the drawer sides?

Nick

Originally Posted by nick_b00

Ian can I ask about the drawer runner arrangement you've used as well, and the thickness of the drawer sides?

Nick

Hi Nick. My drawers are about 340 wide and I think around 400 deep, with sides around 12mm thick. You may find 300mm not deep enough for things like long paring chisels, though you could easily place them cross-wise in 500mm wide drawers,of course. The runners are strips screwed to the frame inside the chest -easy to replace if they wear. None are showing any wear yet, despite many trips in and out every day. The drawer sides are narrower than the fronts (to fit between successive runners).

A couple of pics might be better than a description, so I'll get some tomorrow, with actual dimensions, plus some shots of different drawer layouts for pac man...

Cheers,

OK, here are the promised pics.

Pic 1 is a shot of the runners with the right hand side drawers removed. They are about 18 x 15mm, with a filler strip glued to one side to act as a guide. The ends of the runners for the drawer above act as stops for the drawer below.

How I organise the drawers has changed quite a bit since it was first made. I started out making elaboraate partitions which were pressed into the drawers as in pic 2. For thin & odd-shaped tools like try-squares, I glued dividers to thin ply sheets. But I needed places for things like calipers and dovetail templates, so I used some scrap blocks and dug out holes for these, as in pic 3

I then decided to use blocks with chanels cut out of them for chisels. These are glued up & shaped & fitted to in the drawer as a firm press-fit. The blocks are shaped & cut out to accomodate the tools as efficiently as I could arrange them (pics 4 & 5). Where there are leftover spaces, I've routed or chiselled out places for small tools, or presed in little trays for odd bits like plastic chisel protectors, etc.

There are always odd bits & pieces that defy neat & logical storage, so I have a couple of drawers that look like this: (pic 6).

I hope that I am getting it close to sorted out, after a couple of major re-fits and several minor ones since it was first made. Some of the re-jigging was to make it work better for me, but most becaue I can't stick to my own resolution not to buy/accept/make any more tools!

Cheers,

Ian - yes, I agree - your picture #6 is soooo messy

but I like best your "real man's" mortice chisel, where the bare tang is held in the fist and the fist struck with the hammer/mallet


Cheers,
Paul

Very interesting Ian, thank you. I also note you must have very clean teeth!

Nick

Originally Posted by pmcgee

...... I like best your "real man's" mortice chisel, where the bare tang is held in the fist and the fist struck with the hammer/mallet

Is that not the way eveyone chops a mortise?

Actually, I'd forgotten it was there, Paul! Someone gave it to me years ago, and I made a rough handle for it & tried to use it, but the two of us just didn't click. I suppose I got too used to using the sash mortise type (which I found a great advance after having only BE chisels in my kit for many years). On about it's 3rd outing, the handle split, so I chucked it in the drawer planning to revisit it, someday. Given that I'm starting to run short of days, I should have a serious attempt at giving it a decent handle and find it a home where it will be loved & not ignored.....

Originally Posted by nick_b00

I also note you must have very clean teeth!

Nick - you need something to deal with the bits of coconut from all those darned Anzac bikkies!

Truth is, I have a better-half who replaces tooth brushes at the first sign of a few distorted bristles. Just as a brush starts to wear-in nicely, it gets whisked away & a new one put in its place.

Fortunately, they are very handy for all sorts of uses round the shed after they've completed their oral duties. But I do seem to be acquiring them faster than I am using them up, don't I?

Cheers,