Hand Tool Cabinet question

Re: Hand Tool Cabinet question

Alan Bierbaum

>I just built a "standard" door; then glued wide pieces at the top and hinge side to fit my cabinet dimensions. The door is M&T with a raised panel. Attached is a picture of the glueup of the side and top pieces. Following in the next post is the finished door in place on the cabinet.

If I can help with further pics or information; just let me know.

Alan in cold snowy Denver

Re: Hand Tool Cabinet question

Alan Bierbaum

>Completed door in use.

Think: Drawer Box

Christopher Schwarz

>Christopher,

I've built a few like this. Join the top, bottom and sides with your joinery of choice. These doors get heavy so I choose dovetails or box joints. Biscuits would be OK as long as you don't expect too much for the long term (and cutting those biscuit slots with a swan-neck chisel is a bear!).

The panel is simply let into the box in a groove that runs the inside of all four parts. I usually use a 1/4" x 1/4" and then raise the panel (field facing out) to fit.

When you mount the door, I highly recommend a stout hinge -- I like the continuous hinges. We call them piano hinges.

Good luck and send us all a photo. Tool cabinets are my favorite thing to build.

Chris

That's what I planned on...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>Dovetail joints for the side frame...

...with a frame-and-panel front for the doors. The doors would be attached with piano hinges.

What I was curious about is the joining of the frame-and-panel front to the side frame.

(See attached image)

Chris, you mentioned a groove, while Alan mentioned just gluing the frame to the front panel (in his pics), but I was thinking more of a flush panel (frame-and-panel) set in a rabbet. That may not be right though ... due to wood movement issues.

I have some cherry wood that has been collecting dust in my shop for a while. I decided to not build a shaker style end table and now I'm thinking of using the wood for that. I *may* use a piece of cherry plywood for the panel part of the door front and for the back of the cabinet.

Thoughts?

P.S. I only mentioned biscuits in my initial post for illustrative purposes only. I do know of some who use biscuits for tool cabinets, but I had zero intentions of doing that.

:)

Re: Hand Tool Cabinet question

Bob Hutchins in central TX

>Howdy Alan,

Really like your chisel rack.

Coupla questions:

What dimensions did you use for it? Width? Spacing between holes? Width of slot?

Did you just screw the rack to the door?

Thks,

BobH

Re: Hand Tool Cabinet question

Alan Bierbaum

>"Coupla questions:

What dimensions did you use for it? Width? Spacing between holes? Width of slot?

Did you just screw the rack to the door? "

Thanks. If you need; I can measure and report back. I just measured the size of the largest 2 cherries chisel handle and made the spacing sightly larger. The holes are sized for the individual chisels (2 or 3 different sizes) and slots cut by eye on the band saw (about 3/8"). I used a large tapered reamer on the top of the holes for the blue chips so that they seated snugly.

The racks are just screwed to the door with two screws on each end and one in the middle (into the panel). You can almost see the recessed screws in the picture.

Alan in snowy +5F near Denver

Re: That's what I planned on...

Christopher Schwarz

>Christopher,

So you want to build a frame-and-panel door and face-glue it to the shallow box-like assembly perhaps?

Will you have wood-movement problems? If your stiles are narrow and your stock is quartersawn then no. The frame-and-panel will absorb it.

Do you need a rabbet or other joinery to attach the frame-and-panel door to the box assembly? No. Glue and some nails will do (glue will fail in time).

But my point is I think you're making it too hard on yourself by vastly overcomplicating the assembly. Don't make a frame-and-panel assembly and face-glue it to the box (or even let the door into the box in a groove). This is a lot of unnecessary joinery and produces a result that is less stable over time and more complicated to make than it has to be. (Gluing the door to the box will be a real trick and time-consuming without a wide-belt sander.)

The simpler, stabler and more durable way to make this assembly is to merely groove the inside of your box pieces and put a panel (solid or ply) in the groove. So in the end the whole assembly looks like a drawer, except what would normally be the bottom of the drawer is the panel that faces the world.

I'm not trying to bust your chops here. I'm just speaking as someone who had to overcome a personal tendency to over-complicate.

Chris

ahhh...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>...I see what you are saying.

I was having a hard time visualizing that but with your raised panel, I can see how it fits.

I guess I could cut a tongue in a ply panel and slide that in the groove so it would be flush with the front.

I didn't think you were being hard on me..

;)

Slim cabinet with slider door.

Matt Malin

>It was a quick cabinet to build and works well so far for my needs.

Re: ahhh...

John, NY

>I built the Veritas wall hung tool cabinet and that is the same way as Chris is suggesting. Mine has been on the wall for maybe 18 months with no problems of buckling or bowing of the door panels. I liked their plans too, don't recall how much they were.

I made mine from Hickory.

Re: Door frame construction

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>If you were to put a solid wood panel in this drawer frame to use for a door, you would want to allow for wood movement. I debated this issue when I built my tool box. If you have a floating panel and 4 sides like a drawer box, and then hang tools on the door, what keeps it from sagging? The joints on a drawer box are not designed to resist diagonal forces.

So far as using nails because "glue will fail over time" I would have to debate that issue as well. In my opinion, the nails will not add anything at all to the stability of the structure. Nails are designed to resist shear movement, not diagonal movement or movement in the same plane as the nail. Glue will outlast wood.

For my tool box, which could I suppose be called overkill, I made a frame for the front with through wedged m&t joints, and then simply glued the front to the box. It was very easy to get a good joint by surfacing the edge of the box with a jointer plane.

Wood movement, nails and glue

Christopher Schwarz

>Moses,

Of course you would want to allow for wood movement in this construction, that's what the groove is for in a drawer assembly. Sorry if I didn't make this clear. Sometimes I assume too much.

As far as "sagging" goes with this assembly, it's a total and complete non-issue. Build the drawer with the tails on the vertical stiles/sides. The earth will stop turning before these let go. Like I said, it's just like a drawer and the long sides are like the long sides of a drawer assembly.

As far as glue vs. nails go, the smart money is on nails lasting longer than hide glue or PVA. This comes from the glue technologist at Franklin (not just my opinion) and from observing lots of old furniture where it was the nails keeping things together after the glue had failed. I've never seen data that shows glue outlasts wood. If you've got some links, I'd very much like to see them.

Your technique for building this assembly is stout, of course, but I think through-dovetails are more than sufficient.

Regards,

Chris