Re: WoodenBoat Tool Tote
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Thanks for the heads-up, Todd. I'll have to stop at the bookstore tomorrow evening for a copy of the WB issue.
A note with warnings on attaching bottoms: I have built some of these totes that are very light weight, with 1/4" stock sides. I have installed 1/4" plywood bottoms glued into angled grooves in the sides, but have had some durability problems with these, because the grooves are just not strong enough. Also, it is easy to split the ends out at the groove while pulling the tote out of a truck bed. I have repaired the one I have that is the oldest and most abused, by gluing blocks of wood under the bottom, along both ends, for additional support. Cutting the grooves with hand tools, since three of them (on mine, anyhow) are angled, requires something like a #55, and the bottom has to be fit pretty carefully. I think the next time I make one with 1/4" sides, I'll start by gluing a strip of wood to the inside bottom of each edge to cut the groove into. If you start with 7/16" thick sides, you shouldn't have this problem, but it makes the tote heavier.
Most people who make totes similar to this usually just cut the bottom large, and nail it from the bottom up into the bottom edges of the sides. I think that is how St. Roy attached his, but I am only guessing. He may have used screws and glue, but I doubt it.
I did a lot of fussing with the angles when I made the first one, and then a lot more fussing to make skewed dovetails on subsequent ones. Reference members.aol.com/loxtoolworks/tooltote.pdf for the BP post.
When I make a new tote, now, it may be a different size and shape than the previous ones, so I have adapted a simpler strategy. I start with a block of scrap 2x4, and cut out a solid block scale model on the TS, with whatever angled and straight sides I want. I then lay out the dovetails with the bevel gauge on the model and make angle measurements directly from it with the bevel gauge.