Tool cupboard build (final update)

[MusicMan]

... I'm not making a display cabinet.......I'm making a working store for my tools. No-one will ever see it other than me.

What about the guided tours of your workshop for all your forum admirers?

Seriously, very nice work and a most interesting thread. Thanks for doing it.

Keith

 

[Doug71]

No, it stays bare.

I know its only a workshop but everything in mine gets at least a couple of coats of varnish or something, just stops things getting grubby as quickly.

 

[Inspector]

Just a little tease Mike. It is a very nice "working store" that I and many others would be delighted to have. If it were mine quick rub wouldn't take much time and make it look nice for me. I'm perfectly happy letting you do it as you see fit and applaud the work. =D>

Pete

 

[MikeG.]

.......What about the guided tours of your workshop for all your forum admirers?........

Noel and Nev don't live close enough for that.

 

[That would work]

Looking very nice indeed. I use linseed on my bench, tool handles etc etc but only really because I love the smell of it!

 

[MikeG.]

Right, where were we? I've had a good couple of days in the workshop, so I've a little progress to report. Previously, I'd got the bare shell of the corner unit in:

The next step was to make the face frame, but this had changed a little since deciding to use the bottom of the cupboard for my vacuum cleaner. It had to be really narrow to allow the thing to fit through, so I decided to rip the two pieces out of one ex 2"x1" PAR. The junction angle is 22.5 degrees. I hate moving my bandsaw table as restoring it to square is an absolute nightmare. Still, it seemed a better idea than ripping this by hand:

I made a piece to capture the top end:

....and I was really pleased with the edge-join:

Here it is finished off at the bottom, and with a skirting:

Next up, the door. Firstly, I painted a couple of ply panels:

Then after cutting the stiles and rails to length, I routed a groove. note the stiles have the groove continuing around the end of the board (and they go down the other side a little way). This is the easy way to set out a bridle joint:

Here's the tenon (6mm wide) set out:

As this was really nice straight grained wood, I decided to chisel away the waste for the tenon, rather than sawing it. It's quicker and generally more accurate in co-operative timber:

That's done entirely with a chisel.

The central rail has a tenon only 10mm long either end, just sitting in the groove:

It was soon glued up:

I popped up the "cornice":

Whilst the door is drying, time to take a look at this hell-hole at the end of my bench by the workshop door:

That's an old bookshelf just stuffed in there and used to hold packing pieces for glue-ups, and some home-made loose tongues/ biscuits:

That needs sorting. So does this:

With the shelves moved, all my tool cables trail all over the place across the shelves, and just get in the way. The sockets need to move.

I gave the shelves some attention, adding a bottom shelf and some upstands to the front edge to stop everything spilling out. Then I moved it to the other end of my bench:

Soooooo much better at the door end:

I also made a quick little holder for my new glue-up clamping triangles:

Note the new downstand piece below the bottom shelf:

After a fiddle re-routing cables, it had certainly fixed the problem. All my power tools can remain permanently plugged in and accessible. note also the switch on the right of the corner cupboard. This is a double pole fused spur isolating switch, switching a socket inside the cupboard. Now the vacuum can be used without opening the cupboard door:

I hunted around through my collection of old panels and doors, and found this:

Perfect! I trimmed 10mm of each side, and cleaned it up a bit, then made this from it:

Those are my most commonly used workshop jigs.........bench hooks, shooting board, and belt sander stand, and they've just kicked about on the floor for years.

I then hinged this carefully shaped piece onto the bottom:

.......and fitted it into the gap between my tool cabinet and the corner cupboard:

After fitting a shelf over it, I took it away for painting, and returned to the cupboard door. Here's the first fitting:

Then with butt hinges let into the edge, and a handle & catch added:

I then fixed in permanently the jig-holder:

Now, at last, I could turn my attention to getting my tools sorted into the cabinet. I started by laying out a sheet of MDF on the floor and demarcating an area the same size as the tool cupboard main compartment. I made a schoolboy error, which wasn't to show itself for a little while:

The biggest thing in the cabinet is going to be the saw storage, so I started with that. I shoved a load of stuff out of the way so I could use my radial arm saw, and made a series of 3/4 depth cross cuts. Chamfering always make things look a bit more interesting:

I was really please how well this nasty cheap 1/2" ply took the screws holding this in place:

The dowel at the bottom is self-explanatory:

At this point, I discovered that the tools above the saw till wouldn't fit as planned. After a bit of measuring and head-scratching, it turned out that I'd laid the board out portrait rather than landscape. Twerp. So, I quickly re-arranged:

......and got this far before my wife returned after a weekend away, and work stopped:

 

[Phlebas]

Your work rate is astonishing. When I do it I can contemplate (well that's what I call it) a single set of dovetails for hours.

Anyway, very impressive.

 

[MikeG.]

Your work rate is astonishing........

This is said a lot, but I suspect it is more down to the sheer number of hours I put in. I plod on endlessly.

This afternoon I did a few hours and filled the rest of the main cabinet, and half of the "setting out/ marking" door. Photos of the completed job coming in the next couple of days.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

Love the way the jigs storage all slots in too. Drill stand is a nice touch - mine just goes into a hole the same diameter as the chuck and it probably isn't the best way to treat the chuck - asking for it to get broken.

 

[MikeG.]

This turned out to be more of a task than I'd expected. Space wasn't so much the issue, as you'll see, but the thickness (well. thinness) of the ply of the doors, 12mm, was pretty limiting. It meant that most stuff needed a backing board of some description. Anyway, it's done:

Mabel likes it, I think:

The huge advantage is that stuff which had just sat on my bench was now away, and the bench, plus the all-important shelf behind, were now clear:

My bench chisels stay in their place in the shelf behind the bench, ,as do my marking knife, bench dogs, and hold-down. What a change from this:

I'm still working on the handle situation for the door boxes, and stand by for some exciting (!) screw and nail storage on the area of wall between the tool cupboard and the corner cupboard, on the left, here:

 

[Garno]

All looks very nice, you've done a great job.

It's all way past my skill levels, Back on page 3 when you are doing the frame I see that you only clamp 2 opposite corners to keep it square, why only clamp 2 corners and not all 4? :?

 

[Trainee neophyte]

It has come to my attention that I don't have nearly enough tools. Not even close.

I also spotted your very funky tressles. And, well, lots of cool stuff.

 

[MikeG.]

It has come to my attention that I don't have nearly enough tools. Not even close.

I also spotted your very funky tressles. And, well, lots of cool stuff.

Most on here will be laughing at my lack of tools.....

And yeah, the saw horses work brilliantly. I'm very pleased with them (although they're a bit tippy if you stand on them..........so don't!). There's a thread here somewhere on their construction.

 

[MikeG.]

....It's all way past my skill levels, Back on page 3 when you are doing the frame I see that you only clamp 2 opposite corners to keep it square, why only clamp 2 corners and not all 4? :?

The corners are dovetailed. Once they're together there is no need for clamping, so the clamps are purely to hold the frame square. Given that the two opposite sides are the same length, in theory you could just clamp one corner at 90 degrees and know that all 4 corners would be 90, so doing two is belt and braces.

 

[Trevanion]

That's exactly enough tools :wink:.

There's nothing like having a proper place to put stuff back rather than a clustered mess. I'd been tripping over cutter blocks and moving them around at home for ages before I decided to make a cupboard to put them in with all the associated gear.

Godsend to just have everything in one spot and not spread out over various surfaces :lol:

 

[Steve Maskery]

That looks fabulous Mike (the tool cupboard, I mean, not the photography, that's as bad as mine ).
Really, very good indeed. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MikeG.]

One photo out of focus. One! :lol: And my camera only cost £45.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Cheapskate
Don't tell me, cheapskate and proud of it?
Really, very good.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Mike, did you get my PM about gravel?

 

[samhay]

Very nice.
You seem to be missing a spokeshave though.