MY NEW TOOL CHEST FOR MY MACHINIST TOOLS

I'd like to show my new tool chest I made for my machinist tools. It's all solid oak, all salvaged from an old pump organ that was being discarded . Exterior is quarter sawn oak (commonly called tiger oak or flaky oak). Drawers are 5/16" solid oak with finger jointed corners bottoms are 1/4" oak plywood dadoed in sides front and back. Drawer handles made from walnut. Doors are solid oak veneered with fiddle back maple with walnut inlay. Doors are hinged with piano hinges and bi-fold so as not to take up work bench space.

Beautiful; I love the door panel veneer. my single criticism is that the darker drawers in the middle section kind of stand out jarringly, but I expect swapping them for th lighter ones immediately above them would fix that since they closely match the small drawers on the top, and it'd be something too pretty to put in the shop to get dirty!

Really nice.

Thank you Bruce I appreciate your critique and I agree with it 100%. Sometimes you never know what a piece of wood is going to end up looking like until you put a finish on it. If I get really anal about it I could always veneer all the drawer fronts

That is very nice!

I'm impressed. Too nice for where I work! However......
Case seems about 20" high by 28" more or less not important.
First glance told me it was large as a bedroom dresser. Has me pondering a similar idea just for inspection tools; Jo-blocks, 10" sine bar, pin gauge library, micrometer standards, accurate levels, test indicators, even height gauges... Ridiculously heavy tools like the 12" cylinder square not invited, just nearby. What a benefit centralizing those would be, adjacent to surface plate, independent of toolbox instruments.

Thank you Owen

Thank you for the kind words Toolmaker51. You have a great eye, the size is almost exactly what you guessed. It is primarily used for gauges and not the everyday run of the mill tools that actually are the ones that put food on the table.

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Originally Posted by DUKESALLEY

Thank you for the kind words Toolmaker51. You have a great eye, the size is almost exactly what you guessed. It is primarily used for gauges and not the everyday run of the mill tools that actually are the ones that put food on the table.

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Very true. Lots of folks want those all together, does make an intimidating collection. Not practical in my book. Efficiency says work tools should be calibrated to standard instruments. Real precision tools ought be held for determining finer tolerances.
I use the 4:1 ratio, where for example, a .001+/- tolerance needs instrument repeatability capable reading 4/1000 [.00025], ie a tenths indicator. This goes along with tool accuracy, ie a .001 [vernier or digital] caliper is dependable +/- of .002, where a .001 micrometer is more accurate, by virtue of it's design & construction.

Why I like idea of your cabinet. I'm using a tall steel one with doors, and not enough shelves. Best thing about drawers, items only get one or two layers deep. How did you buy, cut and apply the fabric [apparently green felt] lining? I'd rather construct a big oak or birch ply tower for 2-$300 than 8-$900 on a Vidmar, that winds up smaller to boot.

Great eye? Nah, I calculated width by the piano hinge, and height with spacing of the screws...maybe.

Hi Toolmaker51, I purchased the felt from a local hobby supply store (Hobby Lobby). They carried several grades of felt, I decided to use the heaviest grade so it should wear well. Unfortunately the heavy grade came as "self stick" which would have been a horror to install in an assembled drawer so I applied the felt to the drawer bottoms before the final assembly, I naturally had to allow for the thickness of the felt when machining the drawers. It worked out well, no wrinkles and the felt is stuck on for the duration. That was the only item I had to purchase for this project. The oak came from an old discarded pump organ, the veneer was from a previous project, and the hinges originally came from some other piece of furniture that I cannibalized.

Can produce woodwork, but I'm no cabinet maker. Looking up sheet goods today, as I've no sufficient or proper material for the project. I figure good cabinet ply throughout and the case of that 11 layer stuff. Veneer isn't a detraction and storing heavy tools in large drawers of solid wood sounds iffy. Haven't worded a good search for plans yet. Been sketching mentally, high-boy sized, on a riser with slots for pallet jack, flat-topped like a piano keyboard lid. Not up to doors yet. Have plenty of room to use effectively. Seems it'll be similar to map/ blueprint cabinet, just not so deep.
Are there any woodworker sites you like?

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Can produce woodwork, but I'm no cabinet maker. Looking up sheet goods today, as I've no sufficient or proper material for the project. I figure good cabinet ply throughout and the case of that 11 layer stuff. Veneer isn't a detraction and storing heavy tools in large drawers of solid wood sounds iffy. Haven't worded a good search for plans yet. Been sketching mentally, high-boy sized, on a riser with slots for pallet jack, flat-topped like a piano keyboard lid. Not up to doors yet. Have plenty of room to use effectively. Seems it'll be similar to map/ blueprint cabinet, just not so deep.
Are there any woodworker sites you like?

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There are a lot of plans and different approaches to machinist chests and tool boxes out there. Shopsmith magazine has featured designs over the years. I pretty sure other wood working magazines have also covered this but Shopsmith is the only wood working magazine that I have a long history with. There are books dedicated to toolboxes, one is by Iim Tolpin called The Toolbox Book.

Gerstner style toolboxes are a lot of work, something I can’t consider until retirement. If then! You mentioned dressers which in fact can be good storage solutions for the lighter bulky shop materials. The good thing here is that they can be had either free or cheap second hand. You can’t put 200 pound vises or rotary tables in them but if one is reasonable a lot of shop tools and materials can go into one.

I’ve actually have considered a toolbox with metal drawers upon which are fastened wood faces. I don’t have the tools for the sheet metal work at the moment but the idea here is that you gain a bit of area and end up with more rugged drawers. It would also expand my sheetmetal skills. I’ve even considered cast aluminum for the same skills building challenge. In either case they would run on plain runners just like a wood chest.

Currently my steel tool boxes are overflowing with several decades of tool accumulation plus stuff from my fathers passing. I really question where to put it all.

Hey Duke, fantastic work!!!!! As one that sometimes struggles to get the results I want in the wood shop I can relate to the amount of work that goes into something like this.

Hi Toolmaker51 the "map/blueprint" cabinet configuration is basically the way to go other wise as you say tools will get plied on top of one another. The deepest drawer in my tool chest is 3.5" and that's for items that are large because of their cases for instance a set of 64 round hole gauges that that are in a drill index. I'm a little anal about keeping my tools in an exact order in one layer. My wife says I treat my tools as if I am displaying a butterfly collection. Even more common tools like combination wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers pliers etc. which incidentally I keep in stand up rolling metal tool chests are kept in order by size, first off it saves lots of time not having to look for something and secondly, I automatically know if one of my tools grew feet and took a walk. That's the reason for the doors on my instrument case.
Nothing wrong with multi ply plywood we call it Baltic Birch, it's stronger and much less likely to warp. I used solid oak because I had a lot of it and I wanted to make something of a higher quality than a Gerstner chest.
I don't visit woodworking sites much, most of them are geared towards the guy who just does woodworking on the weekends, that sounds like I'm thumbing my nose at that and seriously I'm not. The fact remains I'm 71 years old, I've been doing woodwork since I was 16 when I started serving an apprenticeship in a furniture shop with old time craftsmen who by the way were afraid to teach a new kid anything for fear they would take their job. I'm really a better woodworker than machinist so I do spend time on machinist sites and I do learn a lot on them. For ideas, I browse Pintrest or I search Google images. Well good luck with your tool box project
Best regards, Dukes

Thank you for the kind words Wizard69

DUKESALLEY,
Very nice cabinet almost too nice for "just tools" :D also kudos for the 3 r's (reduce, recycle ,reuse)

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Originally Posted by DUKESALLEY

Hi Toolmaker51 the "map/blueprint" cabinet configuration is basically the way to go.....I don't visit woodworking sites much, most of them are geared towards the guy who just does woodworking on the weekends, that sounds like I'm thumbing my nose at that and seriously I'm not. The fact remains I'm 71 years old, I've been doing woodwork since I was 16 when I started serving an apprenticeship in a furniture shop with old time craftsmen who by the way were afraid to teach a new kid anything for fear they would take their job. I'm really a better woodworker than machinist so I do spend time on machinist sites and I do learn a lot on them. For ideas, I browse Pintrest or I search Google images. Well good luck with your tool box project
Best regards, Dukes

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Long range mentoring is possible, [Hello, HMT.net!] and this ups planning by several levels. If not restricted by winter, there'd be fresh Baltic Panels next to my saw, right now. Meanwhile,time to register on Pinterest. I gave up them for content interrupted by the blocking window, long ago.
Come on Spring!

DUKESALLEY

Very nice work and a great use of salvaged material!

Thank you drivermark I always try to use recycled material, I would rather spend my money on "just tools"

Thank you old_toolmaker I get an extra sense of accomplishment knowing that I created something out of someone else's trash, in addition to doing my part to help save the environment. I've admired your skills since I first saw your posts
Dukes

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Thanks DUKESALLEY! We've added your Machinist's Tool Chest to our Toolboxes category,
as well as to your builder page: DUKESALLEY's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-machinist-s-tool-chest"> <img src="https://www.homemadetools.net/uploads/220344/homemade-machinist-s-tool-chest.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-machinist-s-tool-chest">Machinist's Tool Chest</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/DUKESALLEY">DUKESALLEY</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/storage'>storage</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/chest'>chest</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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masterfully built and pleasant the eye, congrats Cap.

Thank you Cap, your kind words are greatly appreciated Duke

Beautiful as well as practical.

Thank you Mike

THAT is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!! Nice work! I'm jealous!!!!

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Originally Posted by Hemi

THAT is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!! Nice work! I'm jealous!!!!

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Thank you Hemi

My Tools - are not worthy ! Simply Beautiful

Thank you Nick79

I love this
I have been looking for one to put on my desk the kind that British apprentices would make
it has one drawer in the center that is made of sheet metal in the inside (horizontal)
it was used to hold the machinist handbook
Ray

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Originally Posted by shopandmath

I love this
I have been looking for one to put on my desk the kind that British apprentices would make
it has one drawer in the center that is made of sheet metal in the inside (horizontal)
it was used to hold the machinist handbook
Ray

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Machinist boxes are distinct for the Machinist Handbook compartment. For what ever reason, typically wood boxes [ie Gerstner] the drawer is vertical, depth is half height of Machinists Handbook for easy retrieval, and close fitting in length and width.
Metal boxes are primarily oriented horizontally and just as close fitting. It looks very hard to get it out though; unless one of the chosen few with a third eye and a degree of flair.
There is a hole, about an inch in diameter in the drawer bottom. You poke a finger through, book raises high enough to get spine above edge of drawer to grasp normally.
We always had a lot of fun about that with the 'new guy'. No matter how his question was phrased, there were ready TINS answers.
Then he learned, are 2 kinds of stories. TINS and fairy tales, only one difference; one starts "Once upon a time. . ."

Wouldn't that be TIANS?

I am jealous this is a beautiful piece of craftsman ship and great way to show how to re-birth old timber furnishings into to a super useful cabinet.
Per chance do you have any drawings of the unit that you can share?

Thank you for your compliment on my machinist tool chest. Unfortunately I don't have any plans for it I designed it as I was building it