I needed a classy place to store my growing collection of hand tools. My project was entirely inspired by the tool cabinet made by Joseph Zeh. I looked at his on his website, tweaked it for what I wanted size wise, and put some of my own personal touches on it. I have been fascinated with hand cut dovetails; I think the subtle differences between hand cut dovetails make the piece look much better than if they were machine cut. That being said, I wasn’t sure I could pull off all those hand cut joints. I quickly figured out that the most important things were to keep your tools sharp, and to take your time doing it (or else you end up doing it twice). Now I am going through tool placement, and look forward to many years of woodworking with this cabinet in my shop.
September 23, 2012
Dan’s Cabinetmakers Tool Cabinet
Very sharp looking work- something you will be proud of for the rest of your life. I am working on my own cabinet now and I know how much thought and work can go into one. Thanks for sharing.
That is a great project and looks super useful. Having said that I have a question. I don’t currently have a tool cabinet like this, however I have always wondered why people put doors on them. It seems that any shop I have ever seen, no one ever closes those doors… Maybe its just the shops I have been to or the shows I have seen but that always caught my attention.
Thoughts?
I can speak from my own personal experience on this. The doors not only look good, but provide a potential extra storage area. You can almost double your storage real estate without taking up any more wall space. I guess people keep them open all the time simply because they are frequently accessing what’s in the case. But I can say that I do generally keep my tool chest doors closed. I usually just grab a tool and close it back up.
The photos here don’t reflect the current state of the cabinet. I’ve since placed all my chisels, two bit braces and a spokeshave, squares, and a dovetail saw on the doors. When I’m working, I open both doors and have easy access to my hand tools. When I’m done, I close the doors up, which both looks nicer and keeps most of the dust off my tools. If I did it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Awesome, Marc just put up a current photo. Thanks!
@ molokmot. I use a cabinet because my shop has no heating. In the cabinet the tools wil not rust or collect moister.
Really nice cabinet. This will be a great place for your hand tools to live (Bob Ross reference). I don’t have a great hand tool collection yet. My tools would be lonely in this cabinet.
Nice cabinet and hand tools Dan.
Nice wood choice. Great fun coming as you fill it up.
Great job. I love the love of your handcut DTs. I looks like it was worth the extra effort.
sorry: Love the looks of your handcut DTs.
Looks Fantastic! Great job!
Very nice, now you have to dress the wall for the cabinet
I’m incredibly jealous. I want a tool cabinet like this one. Guess I should do something about it… :-)
Great job! I like the dovetail and the drawers. It seems to be a good utilization of space for storage.
Nice now for the tools.
Very nice cabinet. Now you just need to fill it up which i think is more fun then building it.
well done chap very nice cabinates……..keep the good work up. : )
Great looking cabinets. I’m wondering if you did the initial design in sketchup?
AndyL
I took Joseph Zeh’s design and changed it up a little for my needs. You can find his website, along with many sketchup drawings here: http://www.srww.com/sketchup-furniture-plans.htm
I started with his sketchup drawing…
Very nice work!
Those are some nice deep doors too – any plans on using the inside of the doors for tools or other items?
Great job Dan, the quality of your finished project looks great, I’m about to start my own tool cabinet, hope you don’t mind if I copy your design.
Very nice Dan. I’ve always wanted to make a cabinet similar to this. It looks great and the dovetails look awesome.
I love it when people make their shop furniture as beautiful as their living room furniture. Very well done!
Very nice tool cabinets. A good place to store hand tools is essential and I realized it has to be done early in the workshop organisation. Great job on the dovetail joints and the french cleat is a good choice.
God job, this is on my to do list.
Great project!! Nothing like a safe place to store hand tools…. Your dovetails are awesome!!
Very Nice job…………..enjoy it!!!
Nice cabinet Dan, love the dovetails..