Tool-CabinetDesign

Every shop has specific needs,but the strategies for storing

hand tools are universal

B Y C H R I S B E C K S V O O R T

I built my toolboxes rightwhen I got out of highschool, with only the

materials at hand, nothought to joinery and little

thought to layout. So for yearsI'd worked out of boxes madeof fir plywood and knotty pineand held together with nails,glue and barn hinges. Over theyears, my tool collection hadgrown until I had planes, chisels

and saws sitting on top of, nextto and underneath the boxes. Ineeded a new toolbox.

Having 30 years' experience, Iknew what I wanted and didn'twant. Like most woodworkers,I'd developed habits and prefer-ences, I am a furniture maker,not an itinerant carpenter. Idon't take tools to job sites, andI'm definitely not going to sea.For my purposes a tool chest

was useless, I didn't want totake out three trays to reach thefourth. Like a chest freezer, theitems in the bottom get lost andforgotten. I wanted to see mytools and be able to reach themwith a minimum of contortionsand movement of other tools. Ididn't want a rolling tool cabi-net, nor did I want one thatlooks like a piece of furniture ora building. I wanted a wall-hung

box behind my workbench:simple, accessible, open and to-tally utilitarian.

Your needs and preferencesare likely to be different, but theprocess of planning and layoutwill be similar to what I wentthrough when building the cab-inet shown here. My point inthis article is to help youthrough the planning processand layout. The actual dimen-

sions and building decisions—such as materials and joinery—are yours to make as you see fit.

My design is based on a Shak-er toolbox at Sabbathday Lake,Maine. It's a large, relativelyshallow, wall-mounted boxwith framed doors for addition-al storage. With the design inmind, the first order of businesswas to determine the layout ofthe tools for the most efficient

use of space and size. I couldhave placed my tools all overthe shop floor and regroupedthem until I found the most effi-cient layout. That would havebeen pretty time-consuming, soI opted for graph paper instead( in. = 1 in.). When possible, Igrouped the tools into a singlecutout. Drill and brace bits fit in-to a 10-in. by 12-in. area, whilemy multitudes of chisels re-

quired a space 18 in. by 21 in.For the cutouts to be accurate, Ihad to start thinking aboutmethods of hanging or storingthe tools.

For example, if the chiselswere to sit on a rail and be heldwith magnets, they could be re-moved straight out. However, ifthey were to fit in a slottedblock, I would need 2 in. to 3 in.of clearance above the chisels

DRAW ALL OF YOUR TOOLS TO SCALE

Measure the tools. Begin by measuring all of thetools to be housed and draw them to scale ongraph paper.

Arrange cutouts . Sort tools by type and begin tolay them out in the imaginary toolbox.

Determine the size of thebox. Once tools are laid out,overall dimensions are deter-mined, and the box begins totake shape.

so that I could remove themfrom the block. So the cutoutshad to include clearance spaceabove the tools, where needed.

It was pretty easy to groupchisels, files, knives, squaresand drill bits—even planes andmost saws—together on thecutouts. However, some tools,such as the brace, drawknife,scissors, straightedge and fram-ing square, needed individual

cutouts. When designing thecabinet, you should considersaving room for tools you planto get. Are you a chisel junkie?Would you really like to havethat new Lie-Nielsen No.rabbet plane? If so, make al-lowances in the chisel- orplane-group cutouts.

Once I had a little stack ofodd-shaped, labeled pieces ofgraph paper, I started sliding

them around to see how thingsfit. I kept related tools close toone another: chisels and malletstogether, all saws and planes to-gether and all of the diversemeasuring and layout tools neareach other. More shifting ofpatterns. I arranged the toolsinto a rough rectangular formand started visualizing the mainbox in the center, with thedoors on both sides. Planes and

saws, as well as other heavy,bulky tools, got moved into themain box. Layout tools, chisels,files, bits and shallow and light-weight tools fit best in the shal-low doors.

At this point, overall size be-came a consideration. I had mytools arranged in an acceptablemanner. The chisels, slated togo into the door, were thewidest group at 21 in. So with a

little fudging and two -in.-thick frames, I made the doors22 in. wide. That meant that themain box would be 44 in. wideand a whopping 88 in. overallwhen open.

The height was more difficultto pin down. From my layout, Ihad one door at 44 in. high, theother at 48 in. high and the boxat 35 in. high. I wanted a fewdrawers at the bottom of thebox for pliers, punches, glasscutters, papers, drafting sup-plies, moisture meter, carvingtools and other little-used tools.The overall height of your cabi-net will depend on your ownheight. The taller you are, thehigher you can reach. I can eas-ily reach 7 ft. into the toolbox. Ialso wanted 10 in. of clearancebetween the counter and thetoolbox. With a little more fudg-ing and rearranging, I settled ona height of 47 in. It accommo-dated the drawers and tools inboth doors, was slightly tallerthan wide and seemed to allowfor a bit more tool collecting.

Determining the depth of thebox and the doors took a littlework. Decisions needed to bemade on how the tools wouldbe stored. I also needed to visu-alize drawer depth and how farcertain groups would stick outfrom the surface of the doors orbox. The shelf for my smallsquares was only 7 in. wide butprotruded 6 in. from the insideof the door. I estimated thedrawer depth and the angle ofthe plane tray and settled on abox depth of 11 in. and a doordepth of 4 in., both including

-in.-thick panels.It helped me to visualize in

three dimensions, so I redrewthe arrangement of the tools onthree sheets of graph paper: thetwo doors and the main box,with all of the tools and drawersin place. I knew I wanted thedrawers to be flush, with -in.protrusions for the pulls. So thebottom 10 in. of both doorsneeded to have in. of clear-

Storage solutions for tools

HANDPLANES

Planes within easy reach.Ledger strips locate planeson the shelf, and smallpieces of leather are used toprotect the blades.

Planes take up a fair amount of space, no matter how you store them.But you have several options to make them accessible.

Believe it or not, many woodworkers like to hang planes vertically. Awooden plane can be fitted with a screw eye in the end and hung froma hook. For a metal plane, a fitted ledger strip will support the weightat the bottom. A similar strip with extra clearance is fitted at the topend. To remove, slide the plane upward (hence the clearance) until thenose comes out of the bottom ledger, pull the plane forward and downto clear the bottom and then the top ledger. Or you may opt for a fittedledger on the bottom only and a high-power rare-earth magnet nearthe top. Of course, this won't work for wood or bronze planes.

To save space you can also store planes on their sides, on fittedshelves. With the judicious use of dividers, the planes can be fitted in-to the appropriately sized rectangular shelf case. Short planes will fitfront to back, and longer ones go in sideways.

I chose to store my planes on anangled tray with small ( -in. by -in.)ledger strips between them. The trayis angled at 60° so that a strip in

front of each plane is all that's need-

ed to keep the tools in place. The

tray is hinged at the top and hasthree shelves inside. I don't like towaste space, so I store seldom-useditems in there: spare parts, bladesand fences. The tray needs to beemptied to gain access, because the17 planes stored on it probablyweigh close to 40 lbs.

Fitting a tool. Odd-shaped tools,such as this side rabbet plane, fitinto french cutouts in the shelf.

VERTICAL OPTIONClearance in the topledger allows you to lift upand remove the planeeasily. The bottom ledgersupports the plane.

ance. Above that, most of the in-terior of the box was empty, al-lowing mallet heads, squaresand chisel handles to stick outinto space.

Once I had a layout thatworked well, I built the toolboxwith drawers and doors. Then Imade the tool racks and hang-ers. As I assembled the racksand actually hung the tools, Inoticed that a few had to beshifted a bit to allow for easieraccess. A few items weremoved once or twice, until theyfelt right in place. The first timeI tried to close the doors, I dis-covered that they wouldn't. Thecompass plane stuck out rightwhere the two door framescame together. I shifted theplanes until I got the layout Iliked, then screwed the dividersinto place.

The layout took about 11hours, and the case, doors anddrawers took an additional 48hours. The almost 40 racks,holders, shelves and trays took60 hours, and the finishing,hanging, placing and rearrang-ing took another 10 hours.

All things considered, the boxturned out well. It works! Ofcourse, it was months before Igot used to the new arrange-ments. Thirty years of reachingfor the tape measure on theright-hand door doesn't changeovernight. A few of the lesser-used tools are, in fact, in out-of-the-way places. The gimlets, forexample, live behind the hang-ing blades of the squares. Butthey are easy to reach, withgood clearances.

Once I got everything placedand made the necessarychanges, the cabinet becamethe centerpiece of the shop.And although the fine-tuningmay still take a few moreweeks, the time spent planning,laying out and anticipating paidoff handsomely.

Storage solutions for tools (continued)

Chris Becksvoort is a contributingeditor.

CHISELS

Tiered chisels. Inside the door, chisels are storedin dadoed strips to protect their cutting edges.

Chisel storage devices are easy and relativelyquick to build. Chisels are all the same shapebut different in width and thickness. Setscan be stored together, graduated from theshortest to the tallest. Here are three commonlyused alternatives.

Many woodworkers hang their chisels, butI'm not in favor of this method. I don't like tohave razor-sharp edges exposed to fingers orother nearby tools. My current favorite methodfor chisel holding is a wood strip dadoed to ac-cept chisels of various widths. Vary the spacingbetween narrow chisels, to allow clearance forthe handles. As the chisel blades become widerthan the handles, the spaces get narrower. Allchisel slots are a bit wider than the blades. A

-in. to 2-in. strip is all that's required to holdthe chisels upright. That requires only 2 in. to

in. of clearance over the tops of the chisels

to pull them out.Another option is to use a rabbeted wood

shelf at the bottom to support and protect the

blades. Vertical divider strips determine the

spacing of the chisels. High-power rare-earthmagnets hold the chisels upright and in place.The magnets will have to be drilled into a hori-zontal strip to allow clearance for the chiselhandle against the panel.

In my previous toolbox I used leather strapsto hold the chisels. They can be used above andbelow or with leather on top and a woodstrip below.

TWO ALTERNATIVES

Rare-earthmagnets offerplenty ofstrength tosecure eventhe largestchisels.

Leather straps will hold chisels in place, but a woodstrip might last longer against the sharp edges.

SCREWDRIVERS, FILES AND AWLS

Screwdrivers, files and awls can be stored likehammers. After all, they are nothing more thanmetal rods or bars stuck into wood handles.

My favorite method is to hang these tools. A-in. by 2-in. strip of the correct length will suf-

fice. Measure the ferrules or the base diametersof the tools, space them as needed and drillslightly oversized holes partway into the strip.Then locate the hole centers and saw a slot tothe back of the hole. This yields a small shoulderon both sides of the cut, which supports the fer-rule. The slot allows for easy removal. Simply liftthe tool a mere in.

Files and screwdrivers with large flats on theupper shaft can be stored horizontally on racksor trees, consisting of two parallel uprights with

45° slots cut into them. Trees are merely up-rights with holes drilled through the sides.

Like chisels, screwdrivers and files can bestored with leather retainer straps.

Simple is often best. Awls andscrewdrivers rest in holes drilledinto a small shelf.

OPTION FOR HORIZONTAL STORAGEA few passes over the tablesaw will make a quickhorizontal storage rack.

LAYOUT TOOLS

Layout and measuring tools are an odd bunch, because there areso many different individual shapes. A framing square can behung by the short leg either on a 16-in.-long strip with a groovefor the edge or on two small ledger blocks—one at the end andthe other right at the inner corner. The ledger strips should havesmall lips.

Long rulers and straightedges are most easily hung from a

round-head screw through a hole in the end. Remember to hangthe ruler at least in, proud of the surface or carve finger-relief holes to make grabbing the ruler easier. The samemethod can be used for story sticks, trammel heads on a beamand winding sticks.

Small squares can be stored in a variety of ways. The best-looking but most time-consuming method for any tool is the

french cutout. Trace thetool onto an oversizedboard, then cut out the trac-ing with a coping saw. Thetool can then be placed intoits own custom-cut hole.Much faster and easier is to

let the head of the squarerest on a ledger strip, simi-lar to the one used on theframing square. The methodI prefer, especially with anassortment of squares, is tomount them on a 6-in.-deepshelf with slots in the frontto accept the blades ofeach square.

Handsaws are fairly easy to store. What method you choosedepends on how many saws you have, how much spaceyou have and whether you want to see the handles. Theeasiest method, which also takes up the most room, is tohang the saw flat, either vertically or horizontally. Make acutout to fit exactly inside the handle hole and then screwit into place. A spinnercan be added if you're wor-ried about earthquakes orif the saw will be storedin the door of the tool cabi-net. A saw can be hung hori-zontally from a peg, set ontoa ledger or fitted to a shelf,as I did.

An aesthetic choice. Becksvoort prefers to store saws so that theirshapes and engravings can be seen.

Shelved squares. Becksvoort'ssquares slide into sawkerfs cut on asmall shelf, which takes up muchless space than laying them out flat.

TRADITIONALAPPROACH

HANDSAWS