Tool Storage
Woodworkers have evolved a lot of ways to store their tools. Perhaps the oldest way still in general
use is the big tool chest that stays on the floor. Some of these are works of art, with marquetry
under the lid, and fitted drawers in movable tills. Fully loaded, these things can weigh hundreds of
pounds. In the old days, when a woodworker traveled from town to town, he would carry his tools with
him in this big chest. The tools would go safely back into it every night.
Nowadays, the word 'masterpiece' describes a person's greatest accomplishment. But it used to be that
a masterpiece was the last project done during a craftsman's training - the thing that would show that
he had mastered his craft, that he was a master. It was not unlike a graduate student's dissertation.
Very often, the tool chest was a woodworker's masterpiece. It was functional, and he carried with him
everywhere he worked, so it showed his skills to potential clients.
I haven't built my masterpiece yet - at least not my woodworking masterpiece. But I do need a place
for my tools.
My first tool cabinet
was loosely based on Frank Klausz's cabinet
as described in Fine Woodworking's collection of articles for the small workshop. It worked
well for me, but over time I began to think of drawbacks to the design. First, I needed
something bigger. Second, I think the two door clamshell arrangement is less space efficient
than a single door. Plus, the doors were getting in the way of my planes. So I gave
my cabinet to my son and built a new one. He has since updated it to hold his own tools,
and it continues to give good service.
My current tool cabinet was designed based on my experiences with the first one.
By this time, I had some notion of where I was headed, and that helped me with sizing.
It's wide enough to hold the Stanley 1-8 bench planes side-by-side, and deep enough so
that the door can hold some tools and the planes in the back won't bump into them when
it's closed. For the height, it had to be mounted so that the bottom of the door cleared
the bench
and the top wasn't too high that I couldn't reach it. My goal was to put all my tools
in it except the large handsaws. It would also serve to limit my collection to what I
could fit in the box.
Over time, I've developed some creative ways to fit in more tools. It looks like it
was designed this way from the beginning, but my design was actually very loose. I have
saved the original story that
I wrote a few years ago. It also has a mapped graphic of the configuration at that time.
I built this portable cabinet so that I could take some basic tools to a job site.
My big cabinet is really too big to be moved around, and I expect it would require two
people to handle it. This one is about the size of a big briefcase, and it weighs around
fifty pounds fully loaded. I sized it to fit into the tool tray of one of our benches -
so that when I'm doing a demo, everything is just where I need it. If you want to know
more, I saved my original story.
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