Ideas for workbench tool chests

Re: Ideas for workbench tool chests 

Chris K in MD

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Re: Ideas for workbench tool chests

Chris K in MD

>Here is one of the better HCDV joints on the drawers as well as a close up of the drawer shelf design.

Quick suggestions

Bob Hackett

>Try storing the moulding planes on end in a drawer.

It makes better use of space,keeps chips and dust out and you can immediately tell the profile without having to pick each one up to look.

If you want to store that #7 in a drawer think about having the drawer open on the side where the end vice is.

On the solid back and side I like to hang things like layout tools,squares,my favorite block plane,screwdriver and wide paring chisel.After awhile you can grab them without even looking(provided you always put them back).

Mainely,Bob

Re: Ideas for workbench tool chests *LINK*

Paul M. in San Diego

>Hi Chris,

Your needs sound very much like the bench I made. Please see the link below for pictures I posted on WC a couple of years back.

1) Dont make the cabinet the total available height under the bench. (I ended up adding a few inches after with some additional wood, this allowed space under as well as more comfort for my back).

Paul: I left a few inches over the tool box so that I have a handy place to store my most common clamps. It's really convenient to have them there. I made the top stretcher become thinner in the middle so I have easy access to the clamps, and the shoulders offer the same rigidity for racking as a wider stretcher.

2) I should have added another set of drawers to make 6. I may still do this a some point.

Paul: LOTS of drawers. I made some of mine too tall. You want to lay out your tools so that you have minimal drawer height so that you can store as many as possible close at hand.

3) The drawers side directly on the shelves that are dadoed into the verticals. I am thinking of using full extension slides for the next one but this will require a different design (face board to cover up space for slides)as I made the drawer faces a perfect fit for the space they insert to.

Paul: Full extension slides cost you 1/2 inch in width, and some manliness points in not piston-fitting drawers. ;-) But boy do they make retrieval of the tools in the back of the drawer so much easier to do!

4) the new one will have a space wide enough so the No 7 can sit sideways and not over hang like in the picture.

Paul: I made the bottom drawer double width so that the 7 can sit in the drawer at a diagonal. This is great if you are not a collector. I only have a handful of planes so this is a great drawer to keep them all in.

5) THe door hardware sometimes gets in the way as they protrude past the front side of the bench top. This is also a factor of the depth of the cabinet.

Paul: Definately set the tool box back in the bench. I have a large overhang in front so this is not an issue. And if you want a board jack, then just open a drawer. The 75lb rated full-extension slides can take the load of a board without problems.


My similar bench

Re: Ideas for workbench tool chests

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>Full extension slides are available in bottom mount style. You don't lose any space usint them.

Re: Ideas for workbench tool chests

Paul M. in San Diego

>Hi Frank,

Yes they do have bottom mount full-extension slides. But the weight capacity is about 1/2 of the side mount ones. I wanted this to be beefy enough to use a pulled-out drawer as a board jack so I got some heavy-duty side mount slides.

The fact that years later I have yet to use a drawer as a board jack is beside the point. But that was the plan at the time. ;-)

Re: Ideas for workbench tool chests

Hank Knight from SC

>Chris,

Here's mine. My original thought was to keep the drawers relatively shallow to avoid the "bottomless pit" syndrome. But if I had it to do over, I'd make the bottom drawer on the left side deep enough for my hand planes to sit upright on their soles.

Hank

Another view 

Hank Knight from SC

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Re: Another view

Chris K in MD

>Thank you all for your suggestions!