Thread: Chest of drawers for chisels

Looking good so far Enfield guy. Nice that you have enough silky oak for this job ill keep an eye on this one

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

...... As they are for the workshop they need to be distinguished and demonstrate the level of fit and finish I can achieve. Just in case a customer comes around...

Yep, a man is judged by the company he keeps....

I reckon drawers are the best way to store tools like chisels, in our neck of the woods, where rust can be a big headache. Mine have remained a lot cleaner since I've kept them in drawers, that's for sure. I started out hanging my chisels in racks on the tool cupboard doors, as many do, but found it irritating to have chisels rattling about every time the doors are opened or closed. They now live in drawers with Silky Oak fronts, too. The S.O. came from the fronts of a huge bank of drawers that used to be in the old Qld Museum (& were thrown out to rot after the contents were transferred to their new home!). Some folks just got no 'preciation for good wood, have they!?

You may know this already, but the darn stuff is full of tannic acid or something that is a very potent rust-promoter - make sure no S.O. is in direct contact with metal. I found out the hard way. I made some holders for saws from S.O. They were fine until a bout of wet weather, when a couple of nasty rust smears appeared almost overnight where they were in contact with the S.O. The saws still bear slight scars - I couldn't get rid of it entirely by sanding. It hasn't caused any problems otherwise, only where it was in direct contact with steel.

Cheers,

Thanks Ian,

Yep, I am aware of the problem. The drawers are hoop pine sides, qtr sawn. Dividers are Qld Maple and bases will be ply, so no direct contact with the Silky. However, I am a little concerned that the case and drawer fronts are all Silky, time will tell I suppose.

Given that it will have the capacity to hold 64 bench and carving chisels I would like for it to not be a problem. That would be an awful lot of refurbishing.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

.....Given that it will have the capacity to hold 64 bench and carving chisels I would like for it to not be a problem...

Well if it's any comfort, mine have been in their drawers for more than a dozen years now, & no probs encountered, so you should be fine. You could always use some of that anti-rust lining paper, as added insurance, but just keeping them in a nice tight drawer so they experience as few air-changes as possible is a good start.

I read somewhere that the oils in Camphor Laurel are good for tools, so after my little mishap with the saws, I used scraps of that to make 'nests' within my drawers. Don't know if the info was accurate, but so far, there's been no further surprises like the saws:

Rt4.jpg Rt3.jpg

They are a bit this way & that, because I made the drawers the full depth of the tool cabinet rather than to fit the chisels, but all of the most-used chisels are easy to get at.

BTW, when I read you are going to store 64 chisels, I thought that seemed like a lot. But as it happens I have just been itemising what's in my tool cabinet for insurance purposes, and so I counted them all up (there are 2 more drawers with chisels), and I have 65, including everything that looks like a chisel! Wouldn't have thought there was that many, they must've been getting up to something in the dark....

Looking forward to seeing how your cabinets turn out - they should be pretty special. I don't have to impress clients, but I still like to see my tools well-stowed & well-kept, too. Good tools won't necessarily make anyone a better craftsman, but they do have a way of urging you to live up to their potential, I reckon....

Cheers,

I've scattered Silica Gel sachets (the indicative type) throughout all my tool drawers, and storage boxes. No rusty.

http://www.silicagel.com.au/categori...ts-%28Bulk%29/

I purchased a bag of 5g and a bag of 10g.

Yes, 64 sounds like a lot I would agree. However it is funny how they seem to multiply.

Looking at your layout is making me second guess how I will lay out mine.

Maybe I might do away with the divider idea and go with the cradle type arrangement you have in yours. Certainly with the carving chisels I could nest them a bit better and fit in a few more without crowding the drawer. Hmmmm food for thought me thinks.

Cheers
Bevan

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

....I could nest them a bit better and fit in a few more without crowding the drawer. Hmmmm food for thought me thinks.

Hi again Bevan. Yes, I used dividers originally, & spent hours cutting & fitting the darn things into precisely spaced, tightly fitted little compartments. Then I discovered my dividers were a bit deep so I had to get them all out again and cut scallops for my fingers to get around the handles (fortunately, I didn't use any glue, just pressure-fit). Then I found the scallops weren't always in the ideal place, especially if I acquired a new chisel, and so on.

Then one day I was re-fitting a drawer to fit my growing collection of Titan socket firmers, & rummaging through a carton of scraps looking for a piece long enough to slice into 4mm thick dividers, when it struck me I could glue several otherwise pretty useless scraps together in roughly the right pattern & make cut-outs. So that's what I did. Then I just lined up the chisels side by side where they had to be, & traced around the blades, set a router to the required depth & cut trenches. I cleaned & squared the ends of the trenches, & I had to cant the bottoms of some so the chisels could lie flat, but the whole job took far less time than making dividers. There was a bonus, too; I found I could fit in at least one extra chisel per row without dividers taking up space. I try to make all drawer fittings as press-fits - I've learnt the hard way that almost nothing in tool drawers is forever!

Of course you need dividers & compartments for some tools, but the cut-out blocks work well for many tools...

Avagoodone,

Got the drawers dovetailed and fitted into the cabinet over the weekend.

Can you spot the mistake?

I'm not going to worry about it to much. There are two more of these to do and I won't make the same mistake again. I suppose it will be interesting to see how they stand up over time.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

...Can you spot the mistake?....

Dunno about any mistakes, but I can't figure out what those d'tails I can see in the back-boards are doing!


Cheers,

Thanks EG and IanW, you have inspired me to make one - it will solve my chisel storage problem nicely. Thanks for the photo Ian, worth thousands of words.

Mistake? Dovetail joint design back to front for a drawer front that will be pulled; needs dovetails on the sides, pins on the front.

Gee! I feel sorry for you guys who have to keep your chisels in drawers to avoid rust.
When I started reading this post I was wondering why you would keep them in drawers at all until the rust side of things was mentioned.
Although only about 10 klms from the coast here, it is Tasmania so its seldom humid enough to worry about rust. Its great to have them on a big rack just behind the workbench for the general chisels and gouges. Also on a rack just behind the lathe for turning chisels.

Originally Posted by artful bodger

Gee! I feel sorry for you guys who have to keep your chisels in drawers to avoid rust......

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

Arrangement settled on for the top drawer. Still a little space for edge protectors and such like bibs and bobs

Cheers

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.

Rust is a real problem here, with 99% humidity and 30 degC quite common in summer mornings. The worst part is the sweat dripping off your forehead on to the workpiece or the cast iron table. Worst case is when it pools on your glasses, making it difficult to see

In the shed this morning and noticed I was sweating just removing rust and waxing a cast iron router table. Early summer up here in tropical NQ some 1,600km north of Brisbane. Have to this job on the jointer, sawtable and router table every 2months, more frequently in the wet season