Tool Cabinet
miketulchinsky Jun 13, 2020
Tool cabinet in ash. All case pieces and shelves made from quarter sawn and rift sawn strips to have straight grain on all case pieces. Hand cut dovetailed case construction. Half blind dovetailed drawer. Turned drawer pull. Finished with osmo 3041 which has a bit of white pigment mixed into it to keep the color of the ash light. Ash has a tendency to yellow when some finishes are applied. The wood did darken a bit but mostly did not turn yellow. The back is a solid ash panel, again glued quarter/rift sawn pieces, resulting in straight grain, and is screwed into a rabbet in the back. I predrilled oversized holes in the back to allow for a little wood movement, which should be minimal side to side, due to every piece being quarter/rift sawn and glued up as a panel.
#cabinet #toolcabinet #handtoolcabinet #ash
Starting the project by breaking down some rough 8/4 ash.
8/4 milled down to about 1.75” thick. Those will be ripped into strips and then glued edge to edge to make case pieces.
Like this.
Then glued up into panels.
Then milled to size. Time for joinery.
First the outside of the case gets a rabbet in the back at the table saw.
Then dovetails.
One corner fit. Three more to go.
Case dry fit.
Both front edge and back edge flushed with the 4.
Then stopped dados for the dividers started at the table saw.
And finished at the bench.
Finishing the inside pieces will be easier before glue up.
Stub tenons cut for the shelves on the table saw. Finessed at the bench with a shoulder plane and final trim for width on the shooting board.
After a lot of test fitting, the dividers are glued in place. Time to make the drawer for the bottom pocket.
Drawer parts rough milled.
Dovetailed drawer sides. Half blinds in the front, through dovetails in the back.
Glued Drawer is then smoothed with a block plane.
It fits. But needs a pull. Before I dealt with the pull, I applied finish to the outside.
I don’t have a picture of the catastrophe, but the biggest screwup on this project happened when I went to install the drawer pull. It got stuck half way in and when I tried to get it seated with the grain oriented the correct way, it was bruised. I had to take it out, redrill the hole, turn new pulls and reinstall. Ultimately it worked out fine and I’m happy with the pull I used. Set me back a day but no big deal in the end.
Back glued up and cut to size, then finish applied.
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Mike I'm really enjoying your work. You are producing some high quality pieces and your attention to detail is inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very much Sean. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I really like posting on your site. Gives me a chance to go through the project and turn all these photos into a story.