Preliminaries - what goes in the box?

[Rogu]

Can we call you 'The Playboy' then?

That will be a relief to the rest of us because we can just remain 'ordinary'.

[Chris Hall]

That will be a relief to the rest of us because we can just remain 'ordinary'.

Now that is what I call wishful thinking

[Schuyler]

Not to change the subject...

I really like the design. I have built the nailed one and I was curious to see how Chris would treat it. I do think, however, that I will start with a smaller (shorter) box for my saws and eliminate the interior partitions. This would simplify the project somewhat and set me up for success. I must admitt that I've never built a project with this many mortises and would prefer to cut my teeth with less wood invested. A smaller box should also give me the experience and confidence to tackle a larger box.

All my hand tools are in a big chest right now and the saws are in the bottom. As much as I like the idea of having all my tools in one box, it is not convenient for me.
Just my thoughts...

Schuyler

[Chris Hall]

As my Grandmother used to say, you cut your coat according to your cloth

I don't think it would likely be convenient for many woodworkers to place all their tools into one box - not that it hasn't been tired. it's fine if the box never has to move, but if that was the case, no pun intended, it would make more sense to build a wall mounted cabinet, a chest with drawers, or something similar.

[Chris Hall]

ot sure where you blokes are in the process, but I've been tinkering with the dimensions of my tool box using some white blocks in SketchUp to represent various things, like a 70mm plane, a roll of timber chisels, etc. I thought I'd share a couple of pics. If you don't have a drawing program, you could easily mock up using the real objects or possibly pieces of foam cut to the required size, or cardboard boxes.

I also made a slight change to the end joints of the interior partitions so that the interior tray will will be constrained from movement in two directions, just a little better, and that the interior tray floor can rest directly on the edge of the partition.

I made a slight change to the end joints of the interior partitions to accomplish that, and the interior partition end tenons remain centered in the long sides of the box.

道具箱 interior cut away.jpg (202.55 KiB) Viewed 11525 times

With the interior tray removed, you can see storage for a roll of paring chisels, a jointing plane, and a 70 mm smoothing plane, with room at the ends on the other side of the partitions for more planes:

道具箱 interior cut away 2.jpg (223.58 KiB) Viewed 11525 times

I may yet make that interior tray a little taller, which would increase the vertical dimension of the box walls, but it likely won't be a change of more than 1/4" (6mm) or so.

Have you fellows chosen some wood? Done any drawing? Done any preliminary milling? Is this moving too fast?

[Koot]

Chris, one suggestion that I think would be helpful is to create an exploded parts drawing naming each piece of the box. It would give us a common vocabulary when talking about the parts.

[Chris Hall]

Koot,

that's a good idea - I'll post something like that up shortly. Thanks!

[Chris Hall]

Nomenclature:

道具箱 terms 1.jpg (182.24 KiB) Viewed 11518 times

道具箱 terms 2.jpg (128.13 KiB) Viewed 11518 times

[Chris Hall]

Exploring various ideas - this one has two nesting trays for chisels:

道具箱 dual tray.jpg (197.11 KiB) Viewed 11513 times

Another possibility would be to split the upper tray into two separate trays which fit side by side and nest into the lower tray - a total of three trays.

I've got to measure the chisels to see how deep the drawer needs to be. The timber chisels might need about 1.25", while the bench chisels perhaps 1~1.125". I'll check next time I'm at the shop. Splitting the trays means a bit more work to make them, but it is nice to keep the chisels separated from one another and easy to select. Just so long as they can't fall out anywhere and get damaged/do some damage.

[Chris Hall]

And just to give y'all an idea as to the dimensions of my box at this juncture:

道具箱 overall sizes.jpg (150.24 KiB) Viewed 11512 times

Depending upon the tray details, the height could increase a bit more, but probably ending up no taller than 10" for the sides. Multiply all dimensions by 25.4 to obtain millimeter equivalents.