Thread: Underbench cabinets

Hi Ian

It is a fairly straight forward matter to store wheel gauges with specific settings. The arm can extend without affecting, or being affected by, its positioning. The body is locked in place, not the cutter end of the arm.

Picking up the wrong end of a rule? Always! It is the same as dropping a peanut butter open sandwich - it falls on the wrong end. At least with rules, one can turn them around

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Picking up the wrong end of a rule? Always! It is the same as dropping a peanut butter open sandwich - it falls on the wrong end. At least with rules, one can turn them around

I quickly got so fed up with trying to measure from the "wrong end" of my combined metric / imperial rules that I ended up swapping them for ones where all the markings were that either only in metric, or only in imperial

Ian, I find myself now moving almost exclusively to metric. My combination squares are metric, and set up ready for use. The rules in the drawer are my spares.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

.... I find myself now moving almost exclusively to metric...

S'funny, I work almost exclusively in metric now, too, about the only time I find myself digging out the old Imperial rules is if I'm fixing an old piece that was built in Imperial days. It just seems easier to use the scale that was used in the original making, even though my rational mind knows it makes no difference

As I get further & further from inches & feet, I find it harder to visualise dimensions in Imperial - if something is 4 inches, my mind does a little hiccup & says "oh yeah, that's about 100mm", yet I still can only think of my height in feet & inches!

Cheers

I was raised with both metric and imperial, and can switch between the two fairly well. Actually, some measurements in imperial are easier to visualise, particularly longer lengths. However, since having the Hammer A3-31 thicknesser/jointer, which measures in metric, it has become easier if I use this as a base measurement. There is some issue if I use an imperial plough plane. And, then, slaving tool sizes goes out the window.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Drawer #5: french fitted sliding bevels (Shinwa, Stanley and Chris Vesper) ...





Drawer #6:

This one is about the tools ... just because I think that they are beautiful, and I love using them. They give me joy.

All the tools in this cabinet have a story, or a connection. This is one of the reasons I keep them, even though I do not "need" them as I have others. All get used. In the case of the chisels in this drawer, they are my go-to for dovetails and close-up detail work. Mainly because they are all fully bevelled at the sides and have minimal lands. In spite of the absence of hoops, all may be used with mallet. The condition here being that the mallet head is UHMW. This is firm for feedback but yielding to avoid damage.

This is another skeleton drawer. The top tray are home to Veritas PM-V11 chisels. Most here are aware that I have road-tested tools for Lee Valley (Veritas) for many years. Not only are these just superb chisels, but I like the way they feel in the hand, particularly the smaller sizes. For dovetails, these run 1/8" upwards to 1".






The five on the left have custom Ebony handles (they are also round and not shaped with flats). The far right is a fishtail I made from a spare (pre-production) 3/8" chisel. I am sure that Veritas will have fishtails for sale at some stage. This is my design, not theirs (I have no idea what they have in mind).


The lower tray house Blue Spruce dovetail/detail chisels. This was the first set of premium chisels I purchased. Dave Jeske had just begun making them, and I was one of the first to order. In fact, the 3/4" (which is the largest size here) was the first made. I asked Dave for a 3/4". He had made 2, one for another order, and sent me the spare. I sent it back. His idea at the time was to make the steel thicker as the chisels became wider, and the one he sent was 3/16" thick. It felt heavy and clumsy. I requested 1/8", and that is what che then made for me.


My one concern about the chisels, prior to purchase, was that they are A2 steel, and that, for paring, a 30 degree bevel might not be ideal. Then it dawned on me that all the Japanese chisels I had were 30 degrees ... These blades get very sharp. They do not hold an edge as long as PM-V11, and need to be honed more frequently. But that does not detract from the absolute pleasure in using them.





These are light blades in beautiful African Blackwood handles. Sized 1/8", 3/16" and up to 3/4". There are two 1/4" skew chisels. I nagged Dave to make a fishtail, but he was skeptical there was an advantage over the skews (there is indeed a big advantage when cleaning out socket corners). Later he did make them, and I chanced on a sale of tools at a deceased estate in Oz. They had not been used, which brought me some sadness for the previous owner.


Drawer #7. Here is another drawer holding cutting and marking gauges.

This is a drawer intended to be dedicated to wooden mortice and cutting gauges, but does have two wheel gauges that could not be fitted elsewhere.

The mortices gauges fall into these three types ...







Veritas Dual Marking Gauge, Kinshiro, and one of my designs.


The Kinshiro is my absolute favourite, and I was gifted one several years ago (thanks Wiley!). Found another about a year back. They are no longer made by Kinshiro, and no longer available. I have made a number of single-blade cutting gauges in a similar manner to these double-blade gauges. The Kinshiro may be used as single blade gauges as well, plus one can set up a reversed blade as well, which is useful when paring shallow mortice walls, such as here!

The shopmade mortice gauge is in the style of Kinshiro, but uses a cassette to house double-sided blades to match a range of mortice and tenon widths ...






Here is the drawer ...






Bottom right is a cutting gauge from Colen Clenton. This was a prize in an Australian tool making competition in 2009.

The holders are made from Hard Maple ...










Regards from Perth

Derek

Aha! I finally see the wicked plan. You've been fooling us all along calling this a "tool cabinet" when really it is a display cabinet......

Cheers

Ian, a display cabinet for those with x-ray vision!

I have too many tools - even when this build has presented the opportunity to limit them to those that fit in the drawers. I try and use all, because they just beg to be used. The upshot of this is that it is a justification to keep them! So I now hide them in drawers to reduce my greedy guilt .

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Ian, a display cabinet for those with x-ray vision!

I have too many tools - even when this build has presented the opportunity to limit them to those that fit in the drawers. I try and use all, because they just beg to be used. The upshot of this is that it is a justification to keep them! So I now hide them in drawers to reduce my greedy guilt .

Regards from Perth

Derek

“I have too many tools”
Have you considered talking about this Derek,I hear it helps, just not sure in which direction it helps.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

.....Have you considered talking about this Derek,I hear it helps .....

Nah, 'E's in the business, he knows all the answers......

Some conditions are incurable, the only thing we can do is just soldier on & put up with it...

Cheers

Originally Posted by IanW

Nah, 'E's in the business, he knows all the answers......

Some conditions are incurable, the only thing we can do is just soldier on & put up with it...

Cheers

And I struggle along so bravely! Surely that deserves a reward ... what could this be .... ?

I shall be posting some gauges and tools for sale or to give away.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

And I struggle along so bravely! Surely that deserves a reward ... what could this be .... ?

It could be worse Derek. There's no doubt in my mind that you've already reaped the reward, but at least you've made some of them and procured others at the 'right' price. Imagine if you'd had to buy them all at full retail.

Originally Posted by derekcohen

.....I shall be posting some gauges and tools for sale or to give away....

Hmm, I'm about to do something similar - I've made a vow (& even said it in front of my significant other, which is foolish or dangerous or both!), that 2021 is my de-cluttering year. I'd better extract the digit & get it out there before you saturate the market....

Cheers,

Go for it Ian ... perhaps we should create a 12-step de-clutter group?

Regards from Perth

Derek