Fill 'Er Up – Tool Chest With Tools
2012.05.12
At last I have started putting tools in the tool chest.
The top tray holds my paring chisels and layout tools. After some experimenting, I added a couple dividers to the tray. I think I’m pretty happy with how this tray is organized.
The middle tray holds my other chisels, rasps, extra plane blades, etc. This tray and the lower one are more cluttered than the top tray, but the lack of dividers allows for flexibility and accommodating longer items.
The lower tray holds hammers, screwdrivers, bits for the router plane, and other random oddities.
The front compartment of the floor of the chest houses the saw till, which holds my panel saws. I have also tucked in my two tenon saws, dovetail saw, coping saw and fret saw. I’m not sure how inconvenient I will find it to have to remove a backsaw or two to get to most of the panel saws. I have an idea for an additional, sliding saw till to hold those smaller saws; but it seems an elaborate solution for what may be a minor problem.
The middle area is for handplanes; currently fore, jack, jointer, smooth, block, rabbet, and router. A spokeshave, mallet, large-ish square, and a 24″ combination square have also shacked up there.
The back compartment is traditionally for wooden molding planes. I have some, but not in usable condition. So for now I have used this space for a couple brace drills, box of associated auger bits, and my plow plane.
So, are all of my tools in the chest. Nope. In the process, I went through my hand tools and asked myself: “Am I using this tool?” “Do I think I will use this tool?” “Will I only use this infrequently?” There were some gray-area tools that ended up in the chest, but for the most part I set aside the tools I am unlikely to use on a regular basis. As time goes by, I will probably change out some of the tools in the chest. For now, this is what I have. Finally, proper storage for my hand tools.
Painting II