Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

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Chris Hall
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Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:05 am

The tool box has a relatively set joinery arrangement, however the boxes dimensions will vary depending upon what you put in the box. I have several wooden (plywood) toolboxes, and most of them store a power tool. One box contains a large timber circular saw, one a finishing circular saw, one a portable beam planer, one a groover. If you want to store a power tool in your toolbox, you will have to consider what special blocking or positioning it may require, what accessories it may have and whether you want those stored in the box too. For example, my groover is stored with both of its accessory guide fences, and my finishing saw stores a spare saw blade. The boxes for the saws have a slot in the interior floor so that the saw's blade and guard can slip down past, leaving the tool resting on its base.

if you're planning to put hand tools in the box, the last thing you want is an open box with a pile of tools inside. That makes it hard to find a tool when needed, and the tools are easily damaged when they are free to move about and bump into one another. So you'll need to decide what goes in your toolbox, and as mentioned in the 'views' post, don't try to fit everything you have in one box such that it becomes massively heavy and a burden to move around. You would also want to design a box that wasn't so long that you couldn't comfortably carry it on the end handles. Maybe 30" (76cm) would be a rough length limit - you'll have to decide, based on your arm length, etc..

The tool box I am making for myself here will store primarily three chisel rolls, 4~6 hand planes, and some assorted other hand tools like marking gauges, bevel gauges, etc. I am planning this box to be a site used tool box, not a shop-use tool box.

So, the first step for me was to lay some of these tools out and take some measurements of their dimensions so I could plan the tool box proportions accordingly:
DSC04744-small.JPG
DSC04744-small.JPG (155.67 KiB) Viewed 15704 times
Once you have some volumes to work with, you can think about how to nestle them together in the box. You may wish to consider such factors as placing, say, more commonly used tools in the top area of the storage, and infrequently used tools in the bottom. Or not. You may wish to keep planes with planes, and chisels separate, also all together, or fit them in amongst one another, as their dimensions require In my box I have roll of paring chisels, which is quite long, and a jointing plane, also quite long, so I will place those items next to one another. I also envision that my normal way of using this box will be to pull the interior tray out from it and place it to the side so I can get at everything at once.

Don't rush this step- you want the box to be useful and practical when you're done making it. If in the end you can't fit your tools in as planned, or there is wasted interior space, or the tools move around and get jumbled, it is likely because you didn't spend enough time planning. If you've never done a box with interior partitions, it is likely that in the end something won't come out quite to your satisfaction and you may wish you had set it up differently. While there's always the next tool box you could make, the more time spent thinking about what goes in the box and how it will be arranged pays dividends later.

If you have a particular idea as to what you want to put n the box, but aren't sure how you might want to set up the box optimally to hold those tools, post up your questions here and see if some members might have ideas for you.
ti
timoore

Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:56 am

Just a couple of questions about my desires for the box. I am thinking about storing most of my tool collection in it, but that's because the collection is pretty small. I might move the box a couple of times a year, for vacation travel and such.

My main length constraint is for a 66cm long wooden jointer plane, followed by a 57cm jack plane. What do you think of rogu's proposal in the other thread about piercing the interior partition for long planes?

Also, saws... I have a small, but growing, collection of basic Japanese saws. What do you think about a till in the box, or storing them attached to the lid, as shown in one of Chris' example photos?

Thanks,
Tim
Ro
Rogu

Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:56 am

Here is Imai-san's Spartan tool box:

http://www.daikudojo.org/Archive/200704 ... _imai_demo
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Chris Hall
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Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:20 am

timoore wrote:Just a couple of questions about my desires for the box. I am thinking about storing most of my tool collection in it, but that's because the collection is pretty small. I might move the box a couple of times a year, for vacation travel and such.

My main length constraint is for a 66cm long wooden jointer plane, followed by a 57cm jack plane. What do you think of rogu's proposal in the other thread about piercing the interior partition for long planes?

Also, saws... I have a small, but growing, collection of basic Japanese saws. What do you think about a till in the box, or storing them attached to the lid, as shown in one of Chris' example photos?

Thanks,
Tim
Well, the interior partitions shown are there to do two things:

1. keep the long sides of the box from bowing outward
2. support the removable tray

Now, the tray could be supported in other ways, and the box sides could be tied together in other ways too. So, I'm sure you could configure the inside of your box to allow a plane to be stored along the long axis, piercing the partitions. in fact, I'm going to reconsider how I have the box arranged to see what else I can come up with in that regard.

Saws...I think it depends upon how many you have. I'm inclined to think a dedicated saw storage box might be best if you are wanting to carry more than 2 or 3 saws. And I tend to prefer keeping saws in a leather saw bag for added protection.
Ro
Rogu

Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:29 am

I suppose that the lower chamber could have two rails running along the inside of the side panels. These would thicken the sides and add some stiffness. The tray could rest on those.

This could go up in steps and two layers of tool tray could be incorporated. A couple cross members could span across, too, I suppose.

Just a musing which some might find amusing.
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Chris Hall
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Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:48 am

Yeah, I think at this point the design for the interior parts of the box remains in flux. The sliding trays are a good idea..
Ro
Rogu

Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:57 pm

Well, the interior partitions shown are there to do two things:

1. keep the long sides of the box from bowing outward
2. support the removable tray
I think there is a third point, namely, that the partitions also keep the bottom from deflecting. My idea of adding two side runners doesn't address this problem.

Would there be another possibility of having a few ribs on top of the bottom piece (like the soundboard of a guitar)? The longer tools could rest on them and the tray would be supported on side-runners again (points 1 and 3 are addressed)

The other option is that I run a muntin across the width (centrally) to support the bottom and keep with the side runners.

Another option, methinks, is that the longer items can be placed on top of the tray and the whole problem is solved.

Also, maybe the 16" unsupported span required for the nagadai is adequately supported by the thickness of the bottom piece. I wouldn't be putting a lot of weight on there: there would only be a few planes. They can't weigh that much...hmmmm

I'm so confused.
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Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:07 pm

Yes, your point about the interior partitions supporting the floor of the box is one I forgot to mention, though my drawing of the box design does show I have dealt with that issue. You could place ribs on the floor of the box to stiffen it, or make the floor higher up and place ribs on the underside of the floor. I considered that solution, but I wanted to maximize the available interior space so I chose to reinforce the floor using the partitions.

It all depends upon what you want to put in the box and how heavy it might be. If the contents are light, then the floor panel could readily be thinned to 3/8" (9~10mm) or even thinner. I think if you're primarily placing planes in the box you needn't worry so much about the weight issue.

You'll figure it out Robert.
Ro
Rogu

Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:10 pm

Thanks for the input, Chris. Your points make total sense. No excuses, I will start the drawings tonight.
ti
timoore

Re: Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:08 pm

How does the grain run in the floor? I can see that it is drawn running the length of the chest in SketchUp, but I've heard of it being done cross-ways and then ship-lapping the boards together.

Does the floor actually need much in the way of support, other than on the edges?

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