# Traditional Toolchest Build



## Andy RV (30 Dec 2012)

I spent last Christmas reading Schwarz's Anarchists Toolchest, and I've spent this Christmas building it! 

The chest is made from unsorted redwood, bought in the spring and left under my bench until I got round to starting the project, the wood turned out to be very clear with very few knots which was a nice surprise. I was working from memory to start with and made the chest 2" wider than the plans in the book. (hammer) 

The pictures were taken from my mobile phone as I went along so they're not the best quality. 

Dovetailing: 







All of the boards to make up the shell dovetailed and the glue up:











Clamps off, a couple of dodgy dovetails but i'll live with that:






Bottom skirt on:






Cutting the mortices on my new to me Sedgwick, it was a pleasure to produce such clean and accurate mortices with such little effort and time. 






Offering the lid up, its the right size which always helps! 






Fitting the panel:






The workshop was looking a bit untidy and lacking room during the build, I've had to hide my little wadkin planer behind my big p/t until I have a sort out. 






Lid on and that's the main chest complete, just to make and fit the guts now. 






Saw storage made from a nice piece of Sapele:











And then the sliding draws made from oak are in:






I also cut a bead along the edge of the lid to give your fingers something to grip when opening:






First coat of paint sprayed with my very plastic and basic apollo hvlp, it's good enough for me though. 






And thats where i'm up to! I'll go over the red with a dark blue to finish, the idea being that as the paint wears overtime it reveals the dark red and then the wood. 

I just need to work out where it's actually going to live... :? 

Thanks for looking, Andy.


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## AndyT (30 Dec 2012)

Very nice, but I can't see how you are going to fit all those machines in!


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## Andy RV (30 Dec 2012)

I could do with a tardis for those! 

I have a question regarding painting, I've just been to B&Q and bought the paint to for the final finish, it's Dulux eggshell, what I didn't realize was that it's oil based, as the previous eggshell that I sprayed with good results was a waterbased acrylic eggshell so spraying oil based paint is completely new and a bit daunting to me. 

What should I use to thin the oil based eggshell? White spirit, meths, cellulose thinners..? Any other things I should look out for? I'm using the basic apollo spraymate with a 1.8mm needle. 

Thanks.


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## Halo Jones (30 Dec 2012)

That does look very nice. Read the same book during my summer holidays in the south of France and picked up a hand stitched rasp at a flea market for 50 cents!

As I have been refining my woodworking skills (ie not making a balls-up every time I touch a piece of wood) I find myself doing more and more odd jobs for various folks. Unfortunately I pile all the tools I think I might need into several of those Tesco and Asda "bags for life" bags. Not very professional looking and chimes with the recent Schwarz blog http://blog.lostartpress.com/ on the 27th Dec 2012. Therefore, I am also thinking of making something. Unfortunately Chris does not offer where to put the cordless drill/screwdriver, spirit level, bauslter....... I think I need to first make my plumbers tool chest, then my electrician tool chest (no part P for wiring a plug up here. YET!) and when I have done my prototypes I will make the real thing! (Note to self: Make them stackable!)

Well done =D> 

H.


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## Richard S (30 Dec 2012)

Nice work Andy, I'm a big fan of painted finishes, although to date I have only used brushes for application, I have just bought the Earlex 5000 HVLP system. The normal thinners for oil based paints is white spirit and this is what I would use although I have in the past reduced oil based modelling paint with cellulose thinners for spraying through an airbrush, the advantage of this is the shorter flash time means you can recoat quicker, fumes are horrendous though!

Cheers

Richard


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## mtr1 (31 Dec 2012)

Nice Box! I used Dulux eggshell on my internal doors in my own house, with a good quality brush and applied thinly it has flattened out to look almost as good as a spray finish. I didn't thin the paint, and it looked like a satin for a few weeks but now looks a very good quality eggshell finish. Much better than the Farrow and ball eggshell which is rubbish, I used this on my ground floor doors (and use it quite a lot on my furniture) with disappointing results.


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## Andy RV (31 Dec 2012)

I've just sprayed the eggshell and it went on very well and easily, I ended up using turps for the thinner. The semi-gloss eggshell certainly shows up any imperfections on the surface of the material, good job it's only a piece of 'workshop furniture'. :wink:


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## riclepp (31 Dec 2012)

Very nice and tidy tool chest. I like it a lot. Out of curosity, I notice that you are working in (what appears to be ) a single garage, and that the up and over door hase been sealed off. May I ask, did you put a frame in and oversheet with MDF???? if so what thickness MDF did you use?

Regards


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## Andy RV (31 Dec 2012)

Thanks, it's a double garage but i'm only allowed half as my workshop :roll: The door is still opens, i've just filled the voids with polystyrene in an attempt to insulate it somewhat.


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## riclepp (31 Dec 2012)

Ah okay, thanks


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## wallace (1 Jan 2013)

Hi Andy good job, What do you think of the eggshell. I did a room out in the stuff just before christmas and thought it was horrible stuff, it is supposed to be a low VOC paint but it stunk and then it wouldn't dry and then it looked like a full on gloss. I tried to take it back and they said you have to wait a few weeks for the sheen to go and the true colour to come out. In the end the wife couldn't wait so I overpainted it all. Its a shame they dont do the water based stuff anymore I really liked that. So where is the box going to live? is it going to have castors?
Mark


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## dp341 (1 Jan 2013)

That really is some excellent work both practical and attractive. I have a stupid question, is the redwood just the sort of stuff you can get from builder's merchants like jewsons or is it something better quality? I'm thinking of building a cabinet for my lathe to stand on and my experience so far has been buying smallish bits of hardwood so I'm unsure where to go for some reasonable quality softwood.

thanks


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## marcros (1 Jan 2013)

dp341":5qx4psgo said:


> That really is some excellent work both practical and attractive. I have a stupid question, is the redwood just the sort of stuff you can get from builder's merchants like jewsons or is it something better quality? I'm thinking of building a cabinet for my lathe to stand on and my experience so far has been buying smallish bits of hardwood so I'm unsure where to go for some reasonable quality softwood.
> 
> thanks



not sure where you are in leeds, but the softwood at lavers was not bad stuff the last time i bought some. at least you can search through it all, and select the best lengths for you. the stuff at the builders merchant is usually lower grades, but some may be better than others.


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## Andy RV (2 Jan 2013)

Mark I was impressed with the eggshell, It smelt a bit but it wasn't too bad and it matted down within a couple of hours, It went on very easily and gave a good finish so no complaints here, was your paint mixed or an off the shelf colour? This was a mixed colour from b&q. Yes the chest will be castors. 

dp341, the wood is known as unsorted redwood, unsorted being the quality grade, the name is a bit miss-leading but as far as I understand the lower grades such as 5th's, 6th's ect and sorted into their relevant categories then you are left with the best quality timber. 

The chest is 99% finished now, all that's left to do is attempt to turn some knobs for the drawers and make some handles for the side, although I doubt it will move much as it weighs a ton! 































And lucky my favorite tool just fits in!  






Andy.


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## ColeyS1 (2 Jan 2013)

My word, what a lovely tool chest  I like the idea of you allowing for the paint to wear through to a different colour underneath. Smart job, bet you'll enjoy visiting that on a daily basis. I'll have a proper butchers on my pc later :wink:


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## Waka (3 Jan 2013)

Excellent tool chest, it's always nice to develop your own tool storage over time.


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## kernowjoiner24 (10 Jan 2013)

Very nice tool chest, i like the way youve laid the inside out. 8)


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## speeder1987 (10 Jan 2013)

Really like the tool chest! Personally I prefer the natural wood to the paint, though that's just me 

Were all those dovetails cut by hand or machined?


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## Andy RV (11 Jan 2013)

Thanks for the positive comments, all of the dovetails were cut by hand. Pine is very forgiving when dovetailing as it has some 'give' if the joints arn't spot on.


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## bobbybirds (21 Jan 2013)

Nice work sir... I love me a good chest! :wink:


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## G S Haydon (27 Apr 2013)

Hi Andy,

Love the tool chest  . What a high density of dovetails! Kept you busy I bet. I made my own version recently. I didn't buy the book but I did watch http://video.pbs.org/video/2265289533/ and made use of the info on the lost art blog. I made a few changes (not because I've improved it just different) and i really enjoyed making it. How do find it in use? Mines here http://gshaydon.co.uk/blog/tool-chest-done/ and here http://pinterest.com/joinery/wooden-tool-chest/ if you want to take a look.


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## Lesk63 (27 Apr 2013)

Now this guy is proud of his work. What a great piece of dovetailing all hand cut.
Nice top lid with mortise and tenon with correct haunch very nice.

Plus and its a big plus, its so nice to see traditional joinery skills made with traditional tradesmans tools. Not a throw away saw in sight, you must sharpen your own as I do. Not many of us left!!!!

Your toolchest speaks volumes about you.

Regards

Lesk =D>

Just spotted a chainsaw in your toolchest, not sure what you would use that for in a workshop, please tell.


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## Andy RV (28 Apr 2013)

Thanks for the compliments chaps, That's a very nice chest G S Haydon, I like the detail on the bottom skirt and your name on the chest. 

Lesk I normally the chainsaw for tenon shoulders and hinge recesses, it's also good for cutting out the letter box slot in new doors.

:wink:


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## kernowjoiner24 (3 Apr 2014)

And dont forget sharpening pencils ! :lol:


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## Benchwayze (3 Apr 2014)

Andy, 

A nice job overall. You have the patience of a Saint, to resist using a dovetail jig for that job! 

Can't you convince the other half that cars kept in garages go rusty much quicker (and with more certainty) than cars kept in the open air, or a car-port!) 
I'm stuck with a single-garage period. To make things worse there's the up and over door that restricts usage, and the house stairs at the other end intruding into space I could better use for a bench! 

Happy space-saving Andy. 

John


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## Smouser (6 Apr 2014)

Really nice tool chest.


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