Wooden Multidrawer Tool Chest Plans
How To Make A Wooden Tool Chest With Drawers
Build A Wooden Tool Chest of Drawers
A not bad storage solution for small parts and tool storage
A wooden tool chest of drawers makes a very efficient and beautiful style to organize your tools and your shop.
I'm a store slob. Any horizontal surface to be had, is probably cluttered. So I wanted to make a pocket-sized dent in my mess, with a tool chest. This article shows you how I built one, and how y'all tin build i also.
If y'all'd similar to easily build i yourself, I have detailed woodworking tool chest plans available in my shop.
Real quick , if you haven't already, don't forget to follow Craftswright & Makery on YouTube , Facebook , Instagram and Pinterest to keep upwardly with all of the latest projects and plans!
Affiliate links are used on this page. See my disclosure page for info on affiliate programs.
How to Build A Modest Wooden Tool Box:
-
Dimension Material
-
Layout and rough cut pieces
-
Case Joinery
-
Pre-cease Case
-
Assemble The Tool Breast Cabinet
-
Drawer Construction
-
Finish TOUCHES
-
Store your tools!
Dimensioning Material for The Tool Chest
For this project I purchased some heavy duty 5/4 soft red maple from my local sawyer.
Rough-sawn lumber is a peachy way to salvage a fiddling extra coin and accept more command over your yield, only y'all practice pay for the savings in labor when it comes fourth dimension to surfacing and dimensioning your stock.
Sometimes I opt to spend a little actress $$$ for S3S (surfaced 3 sides) lumber and save myself some time. Either way works perfectly fine.
I broke downward the lumber into more manageable pieces with a jigsaw (a skilful handsaw volition work keen too) before ripping the stock to width at the bandsaw.
Rough sawn lumber is most never perfectly flat or square. That's why it's usually recommended to intermission information technology downwards with a bandsaw/jigsaw/handheld circular saw. It helps avoid kickback and is much safer.
A jigsaw turns long, un-wieldy, lumber into short and manageable pieces fast.
The bandsaw is one of the safest ways to rip rough-sawn lumber.
My jointer just has a six" capacity so some of the stock I needed to surface with a planer sled.
The other, smaller stock, I surfaced commonly by jointing one face and 1 border, and so planing the opposite face before taking the last rough border to the table saw.
The tabular array saw is safe at this bespeak since I have a very flat face and a very straight edge to reference off of the table saw argue.
Activity shot of the jointer flattening 1 face of the board.
With 1 face flat, I can reference it off the jointers fence to square and flatten an edge.
I gave myself a hand planing the stock. Y'all can meet hither the planer sled underneath the lumber.
Laying out Tool Chest Parts on Stock
Referencing the cut listing in my plans (available here) I spent a good while laying out my pieces and so I tin can go the best yield and grain match possible. I like to use chalk to do this because it doesn't permanently mark the woods. If you mess upwards all you accept to do is wipe and echo.
The plans still are laid out for box joints but changing them to dovetails and calculation a through tenon, or simulated-tenons, isn't very hard. Practise whichever you're well-nigh comfortable with.
Sample of the DIY Modest Tool Breast plans, showing the box joints originally planned.
Make the Tool Chest chiffonier Joinery
With all of the stock nicely squared, flat, and with the parts laid out I could cut private pieces out at the table and miter saw.
The superlative and bottom pieces of the example I leave a few inches longer than they need to be. This way if I mess up one side I have enough fabric to trim the mess-up off and start again.
It's never a bad idea to leave a little jerk room.
Parts for the tool chest can now exist cut from larger stock at the table saw.
I cutting the parts to length at the miter saw about i/16" proud.
Subsequently each new cutting at the miter saw, I foursquare the ends of the piece with a mitt aeroplane and shooting board.
I'll remove the extra 1/16"with a mitt plane and shooting board, which volition also guarantee the ends of my stock are perfectly 90º.
To lay out the proud dovetails I add the blade of a combination foursquare to my stock before dropping the marking guess. This gives me just nearly ane/8" "proudness" to the joints; mutual among Arts & Crafts furniture.
Marking approximate ready to reference stock thickness with added combo square.
Dropping the wheel down to the adjacent lath gives a perfect width plus ~1/8".
Now when it comes to dovetails, there are a TON of awesome and highly qualified resources out there on the internet showing yous how to cut authentic and great looking dovetails.
For the sake of brevity, I'll skip over the "how to cut dovetails" section of this build (equally I also did in the video) but I will give you some nifty tips and tricks I similar.
I stack ii boards together so I can cut two sets of tails a once. A adept ready of wing dividers makes laying out dovetails a bit easier.
Wing dividers help lay out symmetrical dovetails.
I like to run my angled tail guide lines actress long for the tails and pins. I find the actress line length helps me line my saw up with the angle easier and proceed to the bending.
There's something really special nigh learning to cut dovetails completely by hand, merely if I oasis't cut them in a while, or I don't want to mess my stock up, I'll use the Katz-Moses Dovetail Jig. I'k not affiliated with John, I simply like his product and call up information technology can help a lot of woodworkers to get comfortable cutting dovetails.
Some of the dovetail "tricks":
-
Cutting two boards and two sets of tails at once.
-
Chiseling abroad the waste by halving the waste product until my chisel lands in the marking guess groove.
-
Strop your chisels. A LOT. I've establish that by stropping after every two-3 chops keeps the chisel sharp and me enjoying my mitt tool for a very long fourth dimension.
-
Just be sure not to hone the dorsum (you'll circular the chisel) and endeavour non to round over the forepart bevel when stropping.
-
-
Blue tape play a trick on for the pivot board that I learned from Mike Pekovich of Fine Woodworking'southward book (I highly, highly recommend).
-
And lastly, disposable utility knives to mark/cut the pin board. They're sparse, long, inexpensive and disposable in a way that I'thou absurd with. You lot tin can put the metal bits in a "sharps" container, and so recycle the plastic with your other household recycling.
I utilize a Japanese pull saw to cutting ii tail boards at once.
I chisel away the waste by working my mode upwardly to the marking line.
Disposable utility knives make great dovetail marker knives.
A coping saw makes removing the waste product with a chisel easier.
I strop my chisels A LOT. About every 2-three chops.
Blueish tape makes cutting the pins very authentic and easy.
Next I cut the dados in the example sides at the table saw. These will human activity as the runners for the drawers to slide along. Make certain to practice good, audio, tabular array saw safety here.
One nifty trick if you don't accept a crosscut sled, or your miter gauge for you table saw isn't very long, is to flip your miter gauge around. This will help get the cutting started accurately and square.
A reversed miter gauge can help with wide stock. Consult your owner's manual first.
Cutting the dados for the drawer runners.
Top view of the finished and mirrored drawer slide dados. The plans provide greater detail on how to cut these.
Since this isn't a portable tool cabinet with wheels, I wanted to cut out a small section of the sides to requite the tool breast the illusion of having feet.
I did this by marking out the curve that I liked, cutting one side out at the bandsaw, refining the cut with a rasp and card scraper, so transferring that line to the other side and repeating the procedure.
The through-tenon idea of the tool box only came to me subsequently I had already cut my stock to length. I didn't have anymore at the proper width and I didn't want to glue up a panel. Using faux through-tenons solved that problem.
I placed blue painters tape on the case sides so that I had a clear place to mark my references on. Using a marking gauge and reference materials instead of measurements makes the process quick and very accurate.
This is easier to explain through video, or the pictures below.
I mark one side of the one-half-mortise from one side.
Tenon fabric placed between marking judge and previously marked line.
Then mark the other one-half-mortise from the other side.
Removing the tenon cloth, I tin now marking a perfect width mortise.
I used a router and a spiral upwards-cut chip to quickly remove the waste in the half-mortises, making certain to stay proud of the marker lines, earlier cleaning upwards the waste with chisels, stropping frequently 😉
Routers brand clearing the waste from a mortise quick and easy earlier refining with a chisel.
I mark my joints with roman numerals on inconspicuous places, similar the back of the carcass. They won't disappear with sand paper or a menu scraper like a pencil mark will, and they lend a "handmade" await that I find actually charming.
I marking mating pieces with chiseled in Roman numerals placed at inconspicuous locations. They won't accidentally disappear like pencil and they lend a handmade look.
Since my dovetails are proud, meaning I won't be flushing them flat, I lightly bevel and clean up the edges with sandpaper spray-mounted to MDF.
I lightly chamfer the tails and pins.
Sandpaper glued to MDF makes a nifty tool for chamfering dovetails.
The concluding step before glue up is to cutting the rabbet for the case'southward back plywood panel. To do this (since I don't have a rabbeting fleck) I used a router and a directly pattern fleck to follow a simple MDF straightedge. The beauty of this technique is I can just line upward the MDF with my line, clamp it down, gear up my bit depth and become! No measuring.
3/4" straight design bit with bearing.
Action shot of rabbet being cut, pattern chip is following MDF straightedge.
PRE-FINISHING THE Example
Pre-finishing keeps the project clean and humming along. It protects your final pieces from dirt and fingerprints, information technology makes glue up a cakewalk since squeeze out won't desire to stick as much to finished wood, and information technology makes the finishing process less of a task since you're doing $.25 and pieces of it as y'all go.
Before applying finish, I'll prep my stock past using a card scraper to get everything nice and smooth.
A card scraper, in my opinion, is faster than sanding and leaves a much nicer cease.
Hands down, my favorite finish, is Osmo Poly-x Oil. I have a total video HERE explaining why I love this product so much (not sponsored past Osmo).
Try non to apply finish to anywhere there will exist a gum joint. Like the insides of the tails and pins, simply feel gratis to finish the end-grain on those, you'll thank yourself afterward glue-up.
I mask off whatever areas glue needs to make contact with the wood.
Applying 2 coats of Osmo Poly-X Oil by hand.
Pre-finishing the cease-grain helps terminate mucilage from seeping in, which can be a real pain.
Tool Chest Case Assembly and Glue Up
Assembly is pretty straightforward. I put the case together by applying gum to the insides of the pin-board just before adding the tail lath. This style you lot're driving glue to the within of the instance, instead of the pins pushing glue that you've applied to the tails, out.
Chip MDF does a expert job of buffering the case side equally I tap the dovetails abode with a mallet.
Since the dovetails are proud, some scrap cauls help utilize force per unit area where it'south needed.
The nigh critical function of any example build is making sure that the case itself is square. If not, you lot'll play hell trying to become everything else to fit and operate correct, especially drawers and doors.
My favorite way to check for square on a case or box build it so to use a set of squaring sticks. They ensure at that place's no racking and no measurement error on my office.
Again, ever trying to reference instead of measure. It's just more than accurate.
I have a gear up of plans to build your own squaring sticks Here, and a video explaining what they are and how to use them HERE.
Squaring sticks are an invaluable way to make sure your case build is perfectly square.
Making the Drawers for the DIY tool Chest
The drawers for this project are of a very elementary blueprint. The bottoms act as the slides, running in dados, while the front, dorsum, and sides are elementary butt joints glued to the bottoms.
You could easily make these drawers as fancy as you want, but for some reason I observe this method elegant in its simplicity and for storing small tools it's plenty strong.
The first thing I did was cut the drawer bottoms to size from 1/four" plywood. And so after those bottoms are in place (I lightly chamfer the edges with sandpaper), I could measure out from one drawer lesser up to the side by side for the front/side/back heights.
The ane/4" drawer bottoms are piece of cake to cut at the tabular array saw.
Drawer bottoms in place makes measuring for drawer parts piece of cake.
With those measurements in mitt I cut the drawer fronts to rough size and then refined the fit with a hand plane until I achieved the reveal I wanted.
With the fronts cutting, I could cut the poplar backs and sides.
Cutting the beech drawer fronts to length at the miter saw.
Cutting the beech drawer fronts for the tool breast to width at the table saw.
A hand plane makes refining the drawer fronts very like shooting fish in a barrel.
Once I had the reveal I wanted, I could use it equally a reference to make the sides and backs.
I predrilled the holes for the drawer pulls using Jimmy DiResta's method for finding the pull hole locations. This is easier to do while the drawers parts haven't been assembled yet, that way you tin can lay them downwards flat. It tin can still be done with assembled drawers, it'southward just a hair harder to do.
Drilling pull hole locations while drawer parts are nevertheless disassembled.
To gather the tool box drawers, glue the poplar backs and beech fronts to the poplar sides, then to the plywood drawer bottoms, leaving enough infinite on either side for the drawer to slide. Squaring sticks assistance once again to make sure the drawer is foursquare and symmetrical.
With the drawers glued to the drawer bottoms, I could slide it them into their places and brand sure the space was correct before clamping it downwardly.
I also left the plywood bottoms a little proud depth-wise so I could gum the frame of the drawers flush with the back of the bottoms and then trim the excess plywood in the front.
With the drawers assembled and in identify I finished them 2 coats of Osmo Poly-Ten. I'm non exactly certain why I didn't pre-stop the drawers and saved that until after they were finished, but it worked out just fine.
Putting The FINISHING TOUCHES on the Tool Chest
With all the hard work now done, the last things to practice on the DIY Tool Chest are pretty straight forward.
I cut the faux-tenons with a mitt saw and squared off each end with a mitt plane at the shooting board before cutting the next chunk of wood.
With all of the faux-tenons cutting, I placed a small dollop of gum in the one-half-mortises and collection the tenons home, making certain they were 90º to the case side.
Faux tenons aid cover upward the screws that attach the case bottom to the sides and add some visual interest.
Later on they dried, I trimmed them downward to friction match the proud dovetails and then chamfered the ends with a chisel.
I used a bit piece of plywood to go along my saw elevated from the workpiece every bit I trimmed the faux-tenons.
Work from the outside in when chamfering with a chisel and so you don't tear out a corner.
Living near a hipster urban center has its perks, like having a vintage hardware store nearby. These drawer pulls are from the 19-teens and came from a huge chiffonier shop in Portland that went out of business after World War two.
Something about how they didn't quite fit the aesthetic perfectly was appealing to me. Almost like taking a really swish collectible car and putting a doofy bumper sticker on information technology. Shows that the person driving (or making in this example) is human.
All hipster joking aside, if you're in the Portland area make sure to stop by Quondam Portland Hardware. Beautiful store.
Vintage drawer pulls sourced from Sometime Portland Hardware here in Oregon.
Time to organize your tools in your new wooden tool breast!
With your DIY Tool Chest complete, information technology'south time to organize your small tools, knick-knacks, and store!
This was a very fun build that pushed my skills to the limit: solving problems, dealing with rough-sawn lumber, dovetails, imitation-tenons, different styles of drawers, etc.. Simply now, I have a place for small tools that non only works well, but holds a truly surprising amount of things in a very small-scale footprint. N
ot to mention I get that warm and fuzzy feeling every time I open a drawer of, "Hey, I made this. It works, and information technology looks practiced. and I'm the one that did information technology."
My only hope is that you terminate upwardly building one, or something like, and take that same feeling of accomplishment.
Keep up the good work, considering at that place'southward expert work in the making!
Source: https://craftswright.com/blog/how-to-make-a-wooden-tool-chest-with-drawers
0 Response to "Wooden Multidrawer Tool Chest Plans"
Post a Comment