I'm thinking out building a toolbox/chest partially inspired by the
first link below and the fact that my bucket with the pockets just
isn't cutting it anymore.
I think I want it to be a lot like the first one but definitely have a
way to keep the drawers closed like a machinist's box. Any comments
or other links would be greatly appreciated. I would even buy one if I
could find a decent one that didn't feel like it would fall apart
once I loaded it up.

http://www.inthewoodshop.org/projects/toolcase.shtml

http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/arch...or_project.htm

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...16.html?page=1

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/features/fea16.html

http://woodworking.about.com/gi/dyna...%2Ftoolbox.htm

There is a book on JUST toolboxes.

It would give you much inspiration in creating the "ultimate" tool chest.

Take a peek:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworki...ges/070394.asp

There are some remarkable toolboxes in this book.

RayV wrote:

I'm thinking out building a toolbox/chest partially inspired by the
first link below and the fact that my bucket with the pockets just
isn't cutting it anymore.

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworki...ges/070838.asp

has a few more ideas...

RayV wrote:

I'm thinking out building a toolbox/chest partially inspired by the
first link below and the fact that my bucket with the pockets just
isn't cutting it anymore.

Well, I've always wanted to build something similar myself until I saw
what some guys in the shop I work out of started showing up with these
types of bags. Aboutthe best I've ever seen. I have bag envy big time.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=5767


RayV wrote:
I'm thinking out building a toolbox/chest partially inspired by the
first link below and the fact that my bucket with the pockets just
isn't cutting it anymore.
I think I want it to be a lot like the first one but definitely have a
way to keep the drawers closed like a machinist's box. Any comments
or other links would be greatly appreciated. I would even buy one if I
could find a decent one that didn't feel like it would fall apart
once I loaded it up.

http://www.inthewoodshop.org/projects/toolcase.shtml

http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/arch...or_project.htm

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...16.html?page=1

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/features/fea16.html

http://woodworking.about.com/gi/dyna...%2Ftoolbox.htm

SonomaProducts.com wrote:
Well, I've always wanted to build something similar myself until I saw
what some guys in the shop I work out of started showing up with these
types of bags. Aboutthe best I've ever seen. I have bag envy big time.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=5767


They look nice but I'd have to do a hands on inspection before laying
out that much cabbage. Maybe the big bag would hold a framing square
and a drill...

One of these days I'm going to have to make the drive to Allentown or
Downington.

RayV wrote:
I'm thinking out building a toolbox/chest partially inspired by the
first link below and the fact that my bucket with the pockets just
isn't cutting it anymore.

I had the same urge to build a tool chest about a year ago and
purchased these plans which are pretty good:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46158,42665

Then Rockler had a sale on their Gerstner International (read made in
China) chests and I bought one for $100. I thought about how many
projects I had time for and the number of projects in the queue and
decided to buy the Gerstner International box instead of build one.
It's not a bad box but its not a real Gerstner and looking at it
every day just made me want to replace it with a real, made in Dayton,
Ohio, Gerstner chest. Just this week I found an old one on Ebay for
$300 and it comes full of old machinist tools - I can't wait to recieve
it...

Scott

Yeah, probably not the best if you are packin' a drill and big square.
The shop I work in is pretty big and it's nice to be able to keep your
private hand tools in a storable package and be able to schlep it over
to whatever area you are working in to have them at hand.

Also are expensive or I would already have one. I'd never buy one for
myself so I guess I'll give my kids a check and tell them to get it for
me for christmas.

RayV wrote:
SonomaProducts.com wrote:
Well, I've always wanted to build something similar myself until I saw
what some guys in the shop I work out of started showing up with these
types of bags. Aboutthe best I've ever seen. I have bag envy big time.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=5767


They look nice but I'd have to do a hands on inspection before laying
out that much cabbage. Maybe the big bag would hold a framing square
and a drill...

One of these days I'm going to have to make the drive to Allentown or
Downington.

SonomaProducts.com wrote:
Yeah, probably not the best if you are packin' a drill and big square.

Hmm ... are they washable?

TIA

--
Best regards,
Flint

Tue, Oct 31, 2006, 11:38am (EST-3) (RayV) doth
sayeth:
I'm thinking out building a toolbox/chest partially inspired by the
first link below and the fact that my bucket with the pockets just isn't
cutting it anymore. snip

First I thought you just wanted something to lug some tools around
in. Then I looked at the list of links and now I'm not sure if you want
some sort of tool tote or you want a chest to hold tools. 'Cause some
of those are way too big to casually lug around. Unless you want to put
wheels on them. So, which is it you're after? Do you know what you're
after?



JOAT
If it can't kill you, it ain't a sport.

Tue, Oct 31, 2006, 8:38pm (EST-3) (onoahimahi)
doth sayeth:
snip Then Rockler had a sale on their Gerstner International (read
made in China) chests and I bought one for $100. I thought about how
many projects I had time for and the number of projects in the queue and
decided to buy the Gerstner International box instead of build one.
snip I found an old one on Ebay for $300 snip

If you'd shopped around you could have found one for less than
$100. I can see wanting an original, but buying a cheap, and
inexpensive, Chinese knock-off seems to kinda negate being a woodworker,
and blowing $100 + shipping. You could always have made your own, a
little at a time, wouldn't have needed to finish it all at once. Or,
you could even have bought a new one. http://www.gerstnerusa.com/.



JOAT
If it can't kill you, it ain't a sport.

J T wrote:
First I thought you just wanted something to lug some tools around
in. Then I looked at the list of links and now I'm not sure if you want
some sort of tool tote or you want a chest to hold tools. 'Cause some
of those are way too big to casually lug around. Unless you want to put
wheels on them. So, which is it you're after? Do you know what you're
after?

All those links were just things google gave me and I thought someone
would find useful.
I want:

Something bigger than a tote but smaller than a chest.

Something with dedicated tool storage plus storage for job specific
tools.

Something with a big bin to chuck stuff in but also drawers for
hardware & delicate tools.

Something light enough to carry but sturdy enough to stand on.

Something that can sit on the counter in the shop but is ready to
travel.

Something that does everything with no trade-offs.

I'm just looking for an improvement over my current bucket. I guess I
want something similar to this but I can't build it.
http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/9...ture=Product_1

Wed, Nov 1, 2006, 8:39am (EST-3) (RayV) doth
sayeth:
snip Something that does everything with no trade-offs.
I'm just looking for an improvement over my current bucket. I guess I
want something similar to this but I can't build it.
http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/9...ture=Product_1

No trade-offs? You're dreaming. Only solution I can think of,
seeing as you want something you can carry, is to make more than one,
then make multiple trips.

Something like that? Then why you talking about totes?
Personally, if I wanted something like that, and didn't want to buy one,
I could make one easy enough;. Couldn't be any uglier, that's for sure,
but it'd work just as well; so I can't see any reason you can't make one
- except for thinking you can't. Check out a craft book from the
library to see how you can do it.



JOAT
If it can't kill you, it ain't a sport.

I made the one in the second link about 14 years ago. I still use it, but
it I build one again I will make some changes.

Make the drawers deeper ( front to back). Some of the tools don't fit in
these drawers so well.

Make the drawers deeper (top to bottom). Same reason.

Put a stop on the back of the drawer to limit the travel to the rear. The
fronts on a couple of the drawers cracked from hitting the slide on mounted
on the inside of the case.

The rods used to keep the drawers closed work well.

I am not sure that it would stand up to daily hauling. The joinery seems
solid enough, but its made of 1/2 wood. Mine sits on a cart in my shop so
durability hasn't been a problem, except for the drawer fronts.

Roger


"RayV" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm thinking out building a toolbox/chest partially inspired by the
first link below and the fact that my bucket with the pockets just
isn't cutting it anymore.
I think I want it to be a lot like the first one but definitely have a
way to keep the drawers closed like a machinist's box. Any comments
or other links would be greatly appreciated. I would even buy one if I
could find a decent one that didn't feel like it would fall apart
once I loaded it up.

http://www.inthewoodshop.org/projects/toolcase.shtml

http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/arch...or_project.htm

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home...16.html?page=1

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/features/fea16.html

http://woodworking.about.com/gi/dyna...%2Ftoolbox.htm

Roger amd Missy Behnke wrote:
I made the one in the second link about 14 years ago. I still use it, but
it I build one again I will make some changes.

Put a stop on the back of the drawer to limit the travel to the rear. The
fronts on a couple of the drawers cracked from hitting the slide on mounted
on the inside of the case.

This surprises me. What kind of wood did you use for the fronts?


The rods used to keep the drawers closed work well.

Was it difficult to drill the holes straight and in line?


http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/arch...or_project.htm

If you'd shopped around you could have found one for less than
$100. I can see wanting an original, but buying a cheap, and
inexpensive, Chinese knock-off seems to kinda negate being a woodworker,
and blowing $100 + shipping. You could always have made your own, a
little at a time, wouldn't have needed to finish it all at once. Or,
you could even have bought a new one. http://www.gerstnerusa.com/.


No it doesn't negate being a woodworker to buy the Chinese Gerstner.
I want to spend my time building things that see the light of day, not
that live in my basement shop only to be enjoyed by me. I priced all
the hardware to build the box plus the lumber and it exceeded what I
paid for the Chinese Box. It was a no brainer for me.

The Rockler store in Cambridge MA had a sale where you buy one item and
get the second for 50% off and the second item was the GI box, with no
shipping costs. It was like getting 25% off the cost of the box which
brought the cost down to $80.

A new box from Gerstner USA is $880 which is another no brainer for me
- I can't afford it.

I did build my own workbench however, but that was out of a solid core
door that I got for free.

-Scott

On 31 Oct 2006 20:40:06 -0800, "SonomaProducts.com"
wrote:

Yeah, probably not the best if you are packin' a drill and big square.
The shop I work in is pretty big and it's nice to be able to keep your
private hand tools in a storable package and be able to schlep it over
to whatever area you are working in to have them at hand.

Also are expensive or I would already have one. I'd never buy one for
myself so I guess I'll give my kids a check and tell them to get it for
me for christmas.

Won't fit a square, but I've got a "gatormouth" tool bag that holds an
awful lot of stuff in a compact space. I think it cost $20-30, and
has held up extremely well over the years. It'll hold a drill, bits,
hammer, handsaw, plane, files,sanding block, speed square, combination
square, assorted pliers, scribes and nail sets, flat bar, stud finder,
chisels, and a few other things without much trouble. (The trouble
only comes when you have too carry it for too long- it's tough on your
shoulder.)

As far as the tool chest goes- I don't carry one out of the shop, so
mine is two kitchen cabinets salvaged from a remodeling job with a
section of countertop on the top for a rolling workbench. I put 4"
casters on the bottom (I made a base for them to attach to and to fill
up the hollow kickplate area of the cabinets) and retrofitted pull out
trays about 3" deep inside. Easy to use, nice to work at, and it was
free. Perhaps not as classy as a real fancy hardwood one, but it
works great, and holds a lot of tools and fasteners. If I ever did
need to take it somewhere, the 4" castors roll well, and wouldn't have
much trouble going over most anything except wet earth or really rocky
areas.

Its made entirely from cherry except for the drawer bottoms.

I got lucky when I drilled the holes for the rods. They all lined up on the
first try.

I drilled the top drawer then installed it in the case. Slid the drill bit
through the hole to mark the next drawer then repeated until all drawers
were drilled.

Roger

"RayV" wrote in message
oups.com...

Roger amd Missy Behnke wrote:
I made the one in the second link about 14 years ago. I still use it,
but
it I build one again I will make some changes.

Put a stop on the back of the drawer to limit the travel to the rear.
The
fronts on a couple of the drawers cracked from hitting the slide on
mounted
on the inside of the case.

This surprises me. What kind of wood did you use for the fronts?


The rods used to keep the drawers closed work well.

Was it difficult to drill the holes straight and in line?


http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/arch...or_project.htm

Roger amd Missy Behnke wrote:
Its made entirely from cherry except for the drawer bottoms.

I got lucky when I drilled the holes for the rods. They all lined up on the
first try.

I drilled the top drawer then installed it in the case. Slid the drill bit
through the hole to mark the next drawer then repeated until all drawers
were drilled.

Thanks.
I tried drawing it out with a flip down panel to hold the drawers
closed (like machinists chest) but it is too much wasted space and
would probably not look very nice.

I think I am going to go with the rod or try and over engineer it with
rear mounted drawer locks like a mechanics box.

onoahimahi wrote:
No it doesn't negate being a woodworker to buy the Chinese Gerstner.
I want to spend my time building things that see the light of day, not
that live in my basement shop only to be enjoyed by me.

I agree totally.. I have one of those metal red Craftsman rolling tool
boxes. Works fine. Doesn't get any oohs or ahhs, but very cost
efficient and if it's down in the basement, who cares.

My shop time is extremely limited as well. It typically takes me 3-4
months to finish something, just due to lack of free time.

Maybe a few years after I retire, when all the household tasks are
caught up on, I'll build a sexy tool box.