I have an inner battle regarding tool chest vs tool cabinet. I have an idea to build a tool chest modelled after the Bennet Street Chest with removable drawers that I can hang on the wall to function as a plane till, chisel rack, etc.
I am thinking lots of rare earth magnets to keep tools in place & reworkable drawer dividers to accommodate new tools.
Has anyone out there built or seen something like this?
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I don't have any experience with this but it seems feasible. I really just wanted to keep your post relevant a bit longer to give others a chance to see it and hopefully offer advice.
Jim Toplin wrote an excellent book on Tool Chests 20 to 25 years ago. Worth getting a copy for inspiration as has lots of unique ideas.
Cabinets that hang on a wall are typically only about 12 inches deep deep. In large part, this is for reasons of visibility and access (unless you plan to have a step stool handy). The Bennet Street design is a fair bit deeper than this as I recall and meant to sit on a bench. You may have access issue if you duplicate that design but hang it on the wall rather than a bench where you can see down into the drawers.
Wall cabinets for tools on the other hand are generally much shallower, but may be taller and wider to allow access for hanging lots of tools for easy access. They may contain drawers, and often do, but those drawers are of necessity pretty shallow and suitable mainly for small items - also they are typically at the bottom of the design.
I am trying to picture a combination of the two, but I am not getting there yet. Maybe you need to consider if you don't really want two separate pieces to do the job, one bench top case with drawers and another wall mount cabinet to hang easy-access items?
I am working on restoring an antique carpenters chest at the moment. These chests were designed to house tools on the back of a horse drawn wagon or on a ship and so, were semi-portable. It could be set on the ground at need to double as a work bench, as evidenced by the tool marks on the lid. Mine is going to stay in my shop, on the floor, but have wheels under it. I plan to put tools in it that I access infrequently, like my compass plane and other such hand tools but it is big enough that very little could be put on the wall above it. I also have space set aside elsewhere for hanging tools that will get used on a joinery bench (once that bench gets made).
Good luck.
Your concept sounds interesting if there is enough room. I have a small shop I share with a car in a garage. I have found that a combination of storage approaches including drawers in my workbench, a 6' standing cabinet, wall cabinets a modified South Bennett Street box based on Matt Wajada design, plus a tool chest.
For a dozen years I had a wall hung cabinet along the lines of Christian Becksvoorts.
It hung over a back bench that was part of a miter saw setup.
With the doors open it was nearly five feet wide, about 10” deep.
I finally took it down in favor of a plywood tool wall and far better use of drawers. Mainly because
- I used the same maybe eight hand tools in the cabinet all the time. The other 50 tools in the cabinet were very rarely touched, so I had acres of prime space underutilized.
- The doors blocked several feet of wall space
- The cabinet cast a large shadow across the miter bench.
- I never, ever, ever shut the doors. Originally I thought they would be great to keep dust out, but they were never closed.
The tool wall has the most used hand tools, drawers have everything else. No regrets at all.
Mike
I’d like to build a tool cabinet. For the last 8 years, I’ve been working on a 4x8 sheet of pegboard on 1x2’s off the dry wall in front of the bench. It make not be glamorous but sure has been handy. It’s also made it clear what I do and don’t use. About every year or year and a half I’ve re-evaluate the tools in front of me. If they very infrequently get used, they get moved to a peg board set up to the right of the work bench.
I would go the chest route if I needed to travel with my tools.
I am planning to build a base cabinet with some tool chest features. The design I envision is similar in size and dimensions to kitchen base cabinets. The top will hinged to tip up to reveal 7-9” deep tool well. I want to have the tools in trays that can be lifted out to either rest angled up like the tool display stands at Lie-Nielsen Tool Event or hang on French cleats on the back of the lid. Below the top tool well. I am planning to have drawers below, some with trays to hang. In my case, I will build three sections, each with a hinged lid. Three footers on either side and four feet wide in the middle.
Stylistically, I am going to add Chippendale design elements like ogee bracket feet and batwing pulls. Totally unnecessary ornamentation but the silliness of it entertains me.
I will be starting on this project latter this fall. Interestingly, I submitted the idea to Fine Woodworking for an article. It was rejected because “no one would build a chest like that”. Instead, I will write it up on my substack, appropriately named, “RejectedbyFineWoodworking”. It will be called “The Ten Foot Tool Chest”. It is free. There are two other rejected projects already there.
Relatively new to this site so this may be a stupid question, but where is your "substack"? Is it part of this site (indicating we all have one) or your own web site? (I guess the answer to the former may answer the latter)
Thanks-
I have tool chests but mostly use those when traveling. I suppose I could get used to working out of one. I have my tools either under the bench or hanging on peg board. If I were to redo the shop, I’d likely make a wall hanging cabinet. For a tool chest (having built four of them - small anarchist tool chest, traveling size traditional tool chest, plywood glued and screwed tool chest that looks like a traditional one, and a Japanese style carpenter tool chest), if I were to do just one, it would be the plywood version. Fast to construct and will easily last my lifetime. I believe there is a Popular Woodworking video series on its construction. I have built the traditional tool chest with dovetails, etc. They are nice but take a lot of time.
I am a hobbyist woodworker. My shop is small, so storage is always an issue. The floor space is just enough for equipment, so wall space for storage is important.
I first built garden variety cabinets with shelves to hold whatever need to be out of the way. I have attached some photos and the first one is of these general purpose cabinets.
About two months ago I started on designing and making cabinets to hold hand tools that I use a lot. I looked at a lot of examples online. Some are woodworking masterpieces. While I admire these and appreciate the skill and effort involved, I needed to do something that was within my current skill set and fairly quick to do.
I built three cabinets above my workbench. These are the second photo below. I used Baltic birch plywood, beech wood that I had used for another project, and some scrap leftovers from other projects to finish.
I use this project to justify buying a 23 gauge pin nailer for the trim. The hold strength was excellent (I also glue trim like this). The pin head almost disappears and doesn’t need to be filled in this kind of application.
Because the cabinets were directly above my workbench, I decided to build the middle cabinet with a tambour door. Partly this was to make it possible to work at the bench with all of the doors open. And partly was to see if I could make a tambour door. (Yes but a fair amount of work that I wouldn’t do on a regular basis).
The remaining pictures are the inside of the cabinets. The layout took some time, but once the tools were laid out, the spacing and necessary holders were evident. (Mike Pekovich teaches this in one of his videos.)
For the door that holds the measuring instruments, I used magnets to keep items from coming loose with the door is opened or closed. I used standard neodymium magnets and refrigerator magnet sheets.
One cabinet is empty for future use (recommendations are welcome). I also used one end of a cabinet to attach a fixture to hold handsaws.
Now that it is done, I am saving a little time and some aggravation finding what I need and straightening up at the end of the day. For me, just the sense of organization is satisfying even if efficiency improvement is modest.
As a side note, in doing this project I realized that I had not used my work bench (up against a wall and under the cabinets) as much I would have expected. I decided to move the bench to a different location in the shop that provided better access. It has changed the way in which I work because it is now more in the open. An unexpected benefit of thinking about work flow.
And as a final note, I am providing the attached photos in the “hobbyist woodworker category.” The beautiful work that true craftsmen have done is inspirational. I share this work in the hope that it may be informational.
Russ
A couple of final pictures.
Russ
Reply to CWhite - substack.com is a website that hosts blogs. Mine is rejectedbyfinewoodworking.substack.com
Mike Pekovich has designed both a hanging tool cabinet and tool chest. The plans are on the FW site. There is a video series for the cabinet. Can't recall if there's one for the tool chest. I built both the cabinet and the chest. I use the chest when I take woodworking classes and it holds my overflow hand tools that don't fit in the hanging cabinet. Both of these projects were fun to build and have stood the test of time over the last 5 years or more.
substack is an app that a lot of people use. not sure if it only runs online on phones /tablets. ust type in SUBSTACK on a google search. You need to be a member to read complete articles. Not a dedicated wood forum not even close.
Matt Kenney’s tool cabinet might give you some ideas - I believe the upper box lifts off the plane till.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2014/01/30/another-peek-at-my-traveling-tool-cabinet