Heirloom Tool Cabinet
Introduction: Heirloom Tool Cabinet
Over the years I've amassed a collection of traditional woodworking tools. When I was in town I always visited the Jamestown flea market vendor and found very nice locally sourced tools from the NC furniture industry, but that vendor has been gone for 10-15 years at this point. Some of these tools I bought new myself, or received as gifts. Some came from my grandfather and great uncle. One from my father-in-law. Some were gifted heirlooms that belonged to my friend <PERSON>'s grandfather and great-grandfather. Given the personal connection, I felt somewhat obligated to keep them safely stored and accessible for use.
If you have ever seen the <PERSON> tool chest, you know where my design inspiration came from. Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley (Donald Williams, 2015) has detailed photos by <PERSON> that show the details of <PERSON>'s epic piece. Studying that design in my copy of the book, I realized I just don't have the patience to create miniature columns and keystone arches to keep a hand plane from falling out of the holder. I pretty much picked some design elements I could easily replicate and tried to keep this from taking a thousand hours to finish. One thing that makes <PERSON>'s chest look so cool is the multiple layers of tools. When you look at his chest, you see front-row tools with some tools lurking in the dark behind the front row, and another layer behind that. 348
I managed to get some layers, but not the same density or detail as my inspiration. Being in the piano business, Studley made extensive use of ebony and ivory. This uses ebony and mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays, but I went with my own style for the graphic layout. Another Studley design idea is keeping most of the chisel handles the same dark color. So I picked a few ideas and then went with my favorite materials.
The focus of this write-up is on the design process. If you have a collection of vintage tools, I'll assume you already know how to build a plywood box and drill holes to hold a chisel. Given that, I try to spend time describing the strategy for design choices, and show some of the unique details of my construction techniques. Another assumption is that the statistical probability of someone having the identical set of tools is nearly zero. So there isn't a measured drawing of how I fit all these tools together. But I do show how to come up with the dimensions that will work with your tools. Outside dimensions are 25-1/2" x 42" for the main cabinet, the door is 4" wide, the hinged hand plane rack is 22" long and hinged 8" from the back. These dimensions will get you room for large planes and handsaws behind them. Other than that I don't get much into measurements. But it should be pretty obvious how big things are given the tools for scale.
Supplies
Safety First: 3M Ammonia Methylamine Respiratory Protection Cartridge 6004, AOL Safety face shield, 3M safety glasses, 3M ear plugs, push sticks, vinyl gloves, nitrile gloves
Layout: 9mm Graphgear soft lead mechanical pencil (I love these pencils), marking knives, rosewood marking gauge, Starrett combination square 150mm/5-3/4" 10MEH-150 (recommended highly), Sharpie, Bates combination square, Steadler compass, Starrett dividers, tape measure
Adhesives: Arrow high-strength glue sticks, Titebond PVA glue, Duco Cement on the threaded wood
Saws: Porter Cable cordless recip saw, Bosch jigsaw, Dewalt miter saw, Craftsman 10" table saw, HF bandsaw, Stanley backsaw
Planes and Chisels: what is shown in the tool chest
Router: Ridgid trim router
Stationary Shop Tools: Grizzly dual drum sander, Ridgid 8" jointer, Craftsman drill press, Jet dust collector, Cricut Maker 3 vinyl cutter
Wood: MDF core white oak plywood, 4/4 white oak, 1/4 resawn white oak from a local supplier, rough cut gaboon ebony from ExoticWoodZone on eBay
Inlay: mother of pearl and abalone inlay from jnnpearlinlay on eBay, veneer sheets from an eBay assortment, . 787