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JOEL Joel's Blog

My Tool Box Part 2

10/15/2007 The Liner and Lid

I had had my My Tool Box Part 2 4 Knaack box for years and used it to lock up my tools. But in general I never kept much in the box because without proper storage I just had a jumble of junk which was hard to use. So once the lighting bolt struck with the idea of building a proper toolbox the first think I had to do was figure out how to mount everything. Some toolboxes have the saws in a slot in the front of the box but I didn't want to lose the space and as I needed to store 26" handsaws the early 19th century sliding thing on the lid was out too. However In order to attach mounts that hold the saws to the lid I first needed to add a lid liner to the lid.

I should mention at this point that at no time did I do any drawings, I took measurements as needed off the box and everything was made to fit.

Anyway I screwed 1/2" plywood to two reinforcing struts on the inner side of the lid. I didn't want to do anything which necessitated drilling any holes in the box. My Tool Box Part 2 5I left clearances for the inner rim of the toolbox and the two lock mechanisms. As I mentioned over the years I have moved around the saw attachments as I have changed favorite saws. Nothing is glued in so that I can always change it later on.

In the bottom of box I needed to build a liner that would hold the two sliding tills. The liner was made of 3/4" poplar dovetailed together. The tails are orientated so that backing of the tills over the years won't bust apart the box.
It's fairly simple construction - all done by hand as I don't have any power tools. The poplar boards were pretty wide and stable but I needed it to be a little wider so I glued on a narrow board to make it the right width.

The liner was sized so that I could just put it in the box and slide it under the lock mechanisms. This meant having a little space to the left of the liners, and a little in front. In the front the liner goes the full depth of the box so My Tool Box Part 2 6 a tool stuck in the front won't slip in to the main case. The back liner is just wide enough to cover the area of the sliding tills. This gives me a little extra space at the bottom of the box, but I think the real reason I did it this was was because I happened to have a bit of poplar the right size.

There is no bottom. I just didn't want to lose the space. As it is the box is a little smaller than I would ideally want.

To be continued.
Join the conversation
10/14/2007 Michael
Joel,
This is exactly what I was hoping that you were going to do. Show the inside and how it all fits together. Sometimes I have trouble visualizing plans so a picture of how your sliding tills are put together helps me 'get it' a little bit easier. So I'm certainly for seeing more pictures of the guts of your box.
Thanks for the details of it so far as I look forward to seeing and reading more.

Michael
10/17/2007 Chuck
I can't quite tell - do the tills slide from front to back, or from side to side. One would seem to favor long tools, the other wide ones.
10/17/2007 joel https://toolsforworkingwood.com
Yes the tills slide from front to back. The next installment will be about the tills. if they slid from left to right you would not be able to remove long planes from the bottom of the till every easily
10/18/2007 Michael
Joel,
Will you be able to get into a bit of the design of the tills and such?
Chuck,
Were you able to get the book? I tried your email but it got bounced back. Perhaps Joel can give you mine.

Thanks and Joel, I am looking forward to seeing more on your tool chest.

All the best,
Michael
11/02/2007 Chuck
My copy of the Seaton book has arrived. Thanks for recommending it. The cost was quite reasonable and I'm gleaning a fair amount of information from the book.
11/14/2007 Chuck Nickerson
I've just noticed Taunton Press has a book "The Toolbox Book". Has anyone looked through it? Is it any good?
11/14/2007 joel https://toolsforworkingwood.com
The toolbox book is a good book but not a great book. It has a lot of breath on different ideas about tool storage but IIFC it doesn't have a comprehensive set of plans for a classic box. Maybe the best of the modern books on the subject - but get a copy of the reprint of Paul Hasluck's "the handymans book" for much more useful information on a classic tool box.
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