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Dutch Tool Chest
In the Spring of 2017, I decided to tackle building another tool chest. The other two I have are just slightly undersized for what they are. Somehow, I fully expect this chest to be undersized as well. Practice, as always, makes perfect.
Premise
Tool chests, much like their counterpart work benches, are made to be used. What this means is that the wood, techniques, and time spent on the project should be balanced with the knowledge that this chest will be expected to be discarded at the end of it’s useful life.
So perfection is not required. And paint and putty will make it what it ain’t.
Decomposition, Planning, and Forecasting
This project is a practice in decomposition, planning, and forecasting. I was lucky enough to work from an example chest as well as the magazine article/plans.
You might imagine, then, that my chest will be an exact duplicate or that I’d be stressing over the fact that a few of the measuresments are incorrect in the magazine. I’m afraid that you’re mostly wrong. In laying out and planning material usage, I really only worried about a few aspects of the chest. Namely, will it fit the largest tool horizontally, will it let my chisels stand upright, can I carry it comfortably, and does it look ‘right’. Sometimes, this works exceptionally well. Othertimes, when I forget what I’m doing… it doesn’t end well.
Critical Dimensions
When determining the dimensions to worry about, I started with my ‘largest’ tools. A 20″ panel saw and my tallest rasp. The panel saw sets the minimum length. The rasp sets the minimum height at the back of the chest, plus 10″ for the bottom shelf unit. The width of my panels, standard 1x12’s from the lumber store, would be the width of the chest.
I layed out the major pieces onto my stock. Sides, bottom, shelf, front panels, lid panels, and back panels. I reserved the best pieces for the front followed by the sides and lid. The only panel glue up that should be required is the lid.