# New Toolbox



## Ollie78 (9 Jul 2012)

This is a toolbox I recently finished to go with my chisel rack thingy. (see photo)






It is Hard Maple and American black Walnut.






I did the dovetails by hand which took ages.










Looked at a few metal handles but decided to make my own.





Finished in OSMO oil. Really shows the grain off.




Made all drawer fronts from one wide board for nice grain match.





Final action pic.






Hope you like it

Ollie


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## monkeybiter (9 Jul 2012)

If I were to make something as nice as that it would be going in the house! Beautiful, the dovetails look very crisp.


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## adidat (9 Jul 2012)

maple and walnut is an excellent combination and the handles really tie in the piece. shame about the runners but they probably are more suitable.

altogether a beautiful piece

adidat


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## Dodge (9 Jul 2012)

Well done - very attractive that and nicely executed =D> =D>


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## woodbloke (9 Jul 2012)

adidat":36zm70lb said:


> maple and walnut is an excellent combination and the handles really tie in the piece. shame about the runners but they probably are more suitable.
> 
> altogether a beautiful piece
> 
> adidat


Nice job, but spoilt in my view by those hideous metal runners - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (9 Jul 2012)

woodbloke":w36b0g14 said:


> adidat":w36b0g14 said:
> 
> 
> > maple and walnut is an excellent combination and the handles really tie in the piece. shame about the runners but they probably are more suitable.
> ...



It's a tool box not a piece of furniture for the lounge. Nothing wrong with metal runners for a tool box - in fact the most suitable solution for the purpose, IMHO.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul

PS Lovely job.


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## paul-c (9 Jul 2012)

hi ollie
your toolbox looks absolutely fantastic.
thanks for sharing
paul-c


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## woodbloke (9 Jul 2012)

Paul Chapman":zjpm9fqe said:


> It's a tool box not a piece of furniture for the lounge


Then why has it been made as a piece of furniture that would grace anyone's lounge...if it's a toolbox? :? The OP clearly has the time, skills and dedication to make a piece like this, then he ought to have the time, skills and dedication to make and fit the drawers properly. To make a good, crisp piece like this and then fit those ghastly metal runner things :evil: is for me at least a complete 'cop out'...when I saw the last pic I lost  whatever interest had been generated by the first few.
As a matter of some interest, I've seen lots of Japanese toolboxes with sliding lids where the material is little better that stuff from packing cases and the whole thing's been held together with screws and nails. They're toolboxes designed to be toted on the shoulder to the site and if the thing breaks it'll take around 15minutes to make a new one.
The OP's piece has been made as a precision piece, quite different from the Japanese ones, but just spoilt in my view by those metal runners...keep then where they belong on utilitarian, run-of-the-mill jobs and not on a decent project like this - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (9 Jul 2012)

woodbloke":8zkmxnub said:


> Paul Chapman":8zkmxnub said:
> 
> 
> > It's a tool box not a piece of furniture for the lounge
> ...




Probably because he wanted to practice and improve his skills with things like dovetails (which have been done very well).

Tool boxes tend to carry a lot of weight in the drawers so over the long term I feel metal runners are the better choice. 

We'll just have to agree to disagree :wink: 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## woodbloke (9 Jul 2012)

Paul Chapman":1m2h3u2x said:


> woodbloke":1m2h3u2x said:
> 
> 
> > Paul Chapman":1m2h3u2x said:
> ...


I think we can agree to disagree Paul :wink: ...except that, if, as you correctly say, toolboxes are designed to carry heavy weights, why have the dovetails been made the wrong way round? To carry weight (and therefore resist coming apart) tails should be on the sides, not on the top and bottom - Rob


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## SurreyHills (9 Jul 2012)

Very beautiful toolbox. Really nicely executed piece of work - very crisp dovetails.


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## Paul Chapman (9 Jul 2012)

woodbloke":34m2ydj6 said:


> why have the dovetails been made the wrong way round?



Well, if they have, some of those Japanese nails you keep on about will hold it together :lol: 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## monkeybiter (9 Jul 2012)

The weight in the drawers transferred to the runners will hold the sides/pins firmly into the joints at the base. Any weight on the top will hold the joints together. The orientation will hold the ends in against the drawers surely.


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## Modernist (9 Jul 2012)

There are no handles so nothing to pull out the dovetails. I assume it is meant to stand on a surface. I would have put the tails the other way round but it is purely an aesthetic consideration here.

I agree with Paul re the runners, the weight of tools (usually increasing with time way over the original intention) will overcome normal drawer construction and metal runners are the ideal way of dealing with the problem.

Another vote for Maple/Walnut and nicely made throughout. The quality if construction combined with the design is what gives pleasure in use which is what it is all about.


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## Noel (9 Jul 2012)

Ollie, great job, lovely looking piece, and just ignore the grumpy old moaners.


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## woodbloke (9 Jul 2012)

Noel":3btj3erl said:


> Ollie, great job, lovely looking piece, and just ignore the grumpy old moaners.


If it's me your'e referring to, I'll ignore that.

Dovetails. Yep, the job is probably designed to sit on a surface and so won't be lifted. However, imagine that it was a toolbox (with a handle on the top) that was designed to be toted around from place to place (as lots of toolboxes are) then the weight of the tools inside will tend to pull the joints apart (as shown in the pics) because there's no 'wedge' action to keep it in place. All that's resisting a downward force at the moment is the glue, there's no mechanical 'wedge' to hold the thing in place...if the glue failed, the job would fall apart! It's something I used to demonstrate to the kids when I was teaching many moons ago...the idea of a d/t is to resist force in one direction, so that if an attempt is made to pull the joint apart _against_ the dovetail it will simply get tighter, it won't come apart. What I used to do was to get the biggest and ugliest student to try and pull a correctly made, dry (no glue) single dovetail apart...it never happened, even with soft mushy pine - Rob


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## monkeybiter (9 Jul 2012)

Agreed. If you imagine a different toolbox with a handle on top then the dovetails would obviously be wrong. But I was going by the pictures.


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## Modernist (9 Jul 2012)

woodbloke":1o3c1nwi said:


> Noel":1o3c1nwi said:
> 
> 
> > Ollie, great job, lovely looking piece, and just ignore the grumpy old moaners.
> ...



But it hasn't got a handle on top :roll:


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## Corset (9 Jul 2012)

Good looking tool chest. The advantage with the runner i guess is that you can pull the drawers fully out to get at the chisels without wasting space. Sensible.
I wonder how much force would be required to break those dovetails even the wrong way round. I am always surprised how much force it takes to pull apart a nailed and butt jointed carcass. I think sometimes we tend to over engineer things and worry to much. Look at all the antiques that despite poor jointe etc do fine for a couple of hundred years!
However i tend to over engineer all the time so what do i know. :lol: :lol: 
owen


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## CHJ (9 Jul 2012)

There's a very good reason why metal ball runners were not used on older workshop tool chests, they were not readily available.

I for one would do likewise to maintain consistent and easy flowing draw slides that provide weight support when extended on a tool draw rather than risk a sagging draw and risk of sticking every time the humidity levels altered.

Just wish I had developed my hand skills with wood to do a set of dovetails that good.


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## Doug B (9 Jul 2012)

Looks a really nice well made chest, Ollie




Modernist":1zj1z787 said:


> But it hasn't got a handle on top :roll:



When has the obvious ever stopped pedantry ](*,) ](*,)


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## woodbloke (9 Jul 2012)

Modernist":1p5s1ypj said:


> But it hasn't got a handle on top :roll:


Yes Brian, the irony is noted...but if it _did_ :wink: - Rob


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## Mr Ed (10 Jul 2012)

Looks like a nice tool chest, the dovetails are very crisp.

Re the dovetails the wrong way round thing, basically I think its a red herring. Primarily because the box clearly has no handle so is intended to sit on a bench, not be carried around. That said, let's suppose for a moment it was designed to be carried I still reckon it would be OK, for the following reason;

I've been carrying this box with 35KG of tools around all over the place for the last 3 years - it's only box joints (so no wedging action at all) and there is not the slightest hint of any movement or opening of the joints at all.






ed-s-new-toolbox-t36536.html

The box here is many times lighter than that so I cannot see there being an issue. In fact, I reckon that you would have to try extremely hard to separate those dovetails if you wanted to, even pulling in the 'wrong' direction.

So in summary, no it will not fall apart, it will be fine and is also a nice piece of work.

'ed


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## woodbloke (10 Jul 2012)

Nice tool box Ed and I dare say you're right, but answer this...why do we build traditional drawers with the tails on the side and not on the front? The answer(s) of course is that aesthetically (in my view at least) it looks right, it's a way of presenting a clean drawer face (if lapped d/t's are used)...and it resists pull. Simple really.
As I said, nice box, but the jointing relies 100% on modern glue strength and having a decent mating surface 'twixt all parts of the joints. If for any reason a joint fails (which it may well do over time) there's every chance that the tool box will start to come apart. I made one of those in the 70's for college and used pine...correctly dovetailed at the corner and it took a hell of a lot of abuse over four years and was still intact at the end - Rob


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## bobscarle (10 Jul 2012)

I think that Ollie has produced a fantastic looking toolbox, I love the combination of walnut and maple. The joints look crisp and really well fitted. An excellent piece.

But, I have to agree with WoodBloke. I hate metal runners. This is a purely personal thing but I think it would have been so much better to have seen wooden runners.

Bob


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## Mr Ed (10 Jul 2012)

woodbloke":uy0j4w4s said:


> Nice tool box Ed and I dare say you're right, but answer this...why do we build traditional drawers with the tails on the side and not on the front? The answer(s) of course is that aesthetically (in my view at least) it looks right, it's a way of presenting a clean drawer face (if lapped d/t's are used)...and it resists pull. Simple really.
> As I said, nice box, but the jointing relies 100% on modern glue strength and having a decent mating surface 'twixt all parts of the joints. If for any reason a joint fails (which it may well do over time) there's every chance that the tool box will start to come apart. I made one of those in the 70's for college and used pine...correctly dovetailed at the corner and it took a hell of a lot of abuse over four years and was still intact at the end - Rob



I'm not doubting that the wedging action of a dovetail is better, but my point is that maybe a box joint or a 'wrong way round' dovetail is good enough. The whole world is held together with assemblies that rely on glue nowadays.


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## woodbloke (10 Jul 2012)

Mr Ed":13xl9tc2 said:


> woodbloke":13xl9tc2 said:
> 
> 
> > Nice tool box Ed and I dare say you're right, but answer this...why do we build traditional drawers with the tails on the side and not on the front? The answer(s) of course is that aesthetically (in my view at least) it looks right, it's a way of presenting a clean drawer face (if lapped d/t's are used)...and it resists pull. Simple really.
> ...


...and I think you're right Ed, but to my eyes at least the '_good enough, wrong way round dovetail_' just looks wrong. Again, you're spot on about modern adhesives which are so incredibly powerful (in many materials, not just timber) it's something we take for granted, though it's been said by many that the sheer strength of glues will probably cause a lot of headaches for restorers in years to come - Rob


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## flounder (11 Jul 2012)

It just goes to show, different strokes for different folks. To me, for a bench sitting chest, the dovetails are aesthetically the right way. The North Bennett School get their students to make a tool chest with a dovetail carcass and they orient their dovetails the same way too. Nice work Ollie.


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