Tool Chest

[JayZeus]

I’ve been working on an additional tool chest using some red oak I picked up early in the summer. Not my favourite wood, but the price was right and it’s only for the workshop anyway. I’ll use it to keep my bench and joinery planes and back saws out of harms way when they’re not in use.

It’s a bit of a learning and practicing piece, relearning stuff I used to do quite well also but haven’t done for a long time. Happy enough with it so far and might get it finished next week if I get another day at it then.

Would enjoy seeing other tool storage ideas ye might have, as this is always a work in progress kind of situation and I love how creative people can be with this stuff.

[CelticRambler]

Ah hay-yur ... There I was feeling pleased with myself for finally getting some of my router bits organised a couple of months ago.

Would enjoy seeing other tool storage ideas ye might have, as this is always a work in progress kind of situation and I love how creative people can be with this stuff.

Not much creativity involved here, although in the last couple of years I have started to dedicate one box to each type of tool and its accessories. This is "the router box"



My biggest problem is not having a dedicated workshop, despite having plenty of sheds and barns. Well, I do have one that I call my woodworking shed - but it's just way too small now for the projects I'm working on, which means that all my tools have migrated progressively to ... somewhere else. And the somewhere else changes from week to week.

Oh, and I was almost organised ... until my dad decided to have a wholesale clear-out of his shed and sent six crates of stuff over to me!

[JayZeus]

If it works, it works!

If you ever have some money to burn, have a look at Euro Crates. You’ll probably have them at the nearby big bricólage or whatever. I saw them in Bauhaus when there for work and if I’d had a way to bring a crapload home, I would have. Modular sizes, a range of heights, boxes, slatted sides. Like a sweetshop for organising addicts.

[CelticRambler]

If you ever have some money to burn, have a look at Euro Crates.

Who needs money when you've got a work colleague whose husband works at the municipal recycling/sorting centre! He brings shed loads of crap home to her, and (when I'm up there) she tries to foist it onto me. Earlier this month, she gave me half a dozen such crates, along with a solid wood internal door (slightly loose tenons), a set of seven wooden shutters (complete with fixtures) and two 25m garden hoses.

Once the crates have stopped serving to hold all the stuff I took out of the camper while having some work done on it, they'll be re-assigned to tool-storage. Previously, I'd been using those strong stackable cardboard boxes fruit comes in, but (as always) the tools outgrew the space available.

That kind of open, stackable arrangement works best for me, as I can spread them out around my work space when I need access to what's in them, and I'm more likely to put the various tools back in their right box immediately after use because they're not too organised. And if I need the floorspace in a hurry, then it's quick and easy to make up the stack again. Not that that works for things that don't fit in the box!

[JayZeus]

Got a bit more done on this chest. A few little mistakes here and there and I need to finish the top rail trimwork and give it another sanding after putting on a couple of heavy coats of shellac this evening but it’s turning out nicely I think.

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[JayZeus]

In case the woodworkers are wondering why the bottom skirt and top rail aren’t dovetailed, it’s because I’m making corner straps for it when I’m back at the farm and can fire up the forge. Just going to use some flat bar stock and stick them in well used engine oil to blacken them a bit, then a coat of shellac and a wax will finish the job. I’ll rebate them into the wood at the corners, so dovetails would be a waste of effort.

The next thing I’ll get to is setting up a couple of sliding tills for inside, one for smaller planes and the other for fences and spare blades. There will also be a removable tote/till for my joinery backsaws. At the moment it’s just a big box with some lovely Canadian cast iron arranged Tetris style. Not practical to keep them in this manner, but here’s some tool porn anyway.

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[CelticRambler]

Just going to use some flat bar stock and stick them in well used engine oil to blacken them a bit, then a coat of shellac and a wax will finish the job.

Does that work? Would the engine oil not cause the shellac to flake off, sooner rather than later, taking the wax with it?

[JayZeus]

Yeah, it’ll work. Quench in used oil while red hot and let it cool. Clean any residue with acetone, seal with shellac or lacquer etc.