Tool Chest Skirt Boards
2011.06.12
The next step was making the skirt or plinth that wraps around the bottom of the tool chest carcase.
I ripped the pieces with the circular saw, but crosscut them with a handsaw. Then I started laying out dovetails on one of the short boards. When I dovetailed the box itself, I put the tails on the long front and back boards. I decided to do the opposite for the skirt. The combination should resist coming apart in two directions instead of just one.
When the tails were complete on each end, I chamfered the top outer edge, using the chamfering attachment for my Veritas block plane. I set the guide as wide as it would go, which was a little under 1/2″.
2011.06.18
I clamped the side skirt board in place so I could mark the pins on each of the long skirt boards. Then I sawed and pared the pins.
I chamfered the top of the front and back skirt boards, then set them aside. Turning back to the short side skirt board, I glued it to the side of the tool chest box, and added 3d (1–1/4″) cut nails for backup. Here’s a good tip: use a nail set to finish off the nail nice and neat, then slip and drive the nail set into the soft pine next to the nail.
I glued and nailed the front and back skirt boards.
2011.06.19
I now had one more short skirt board to dovetail. This time I would be dovetailing “pins first”. The process is similar to “tails first”, just reversed.
To miter the chamfer along the top of the skirt boards, I first removed most of the waste with the dovetail saw, then pared the rest with a chisel.
Casters for Tool Chest
With the skirt boards complete, I attached four casters to the bottom; a modern convenience.
Floor Panel