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+-- Thread: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? (/showthread.php?tid=6623908)
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - Wilbur Pan - 01-07-2014
Derek Cohen said:
I have seen many tool boxes displayed here and there since Christopher Schwarz began popularising them. I see the point of their use for travelling carpenters and cabinetmakers. I understand if you simply lack the storage space. However I am not convinced of their purpose for the average woodworker with space in a dedicated workshop. Chris makes an argument for his tool box, but it is just not convincing to me. I just like to find my tools without having to rummage for them.
Speaking as one who likes to store tools on the wall, I think it’s hard to really know what it’s like to use a tool chest without building one and using it yourself. Even though I like my tools on the wall, I realize that it’s not the solution for everyone.
For me, the salient piece of information is that no one I’ve seen who has built a tool chest has ever complained about how badly it works. As far as rummaging for a tool, the amount of time it takes to slide a till aside to get to a tool out of a tool chest is trivial. This is based on personal observation of woodworkers who do work out of a chest.
And I would not make the assumption that the average woodworker with an average shop can easily use wall storage. That assumes that the workbench is going to be placed near a wall, which may not always be the case.
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - GeorgeV - 01-07-2014
I don't understand either. My chisels are behind a batten nailed to the wall ..... planes are on open shelving over the bench within easy reach and saws hung on the wall with care in hopes that work will be done with care. Everything is in reach and plain view. Perfect!
However, one tool box holds an assortment of open end and box wrenches and another stores seldom used items such as plum bobs and extra nail sets, etc.
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - Corneel - 01-07-2014
Chisels and other small stuff.
And the cupboard for the planes and lots of other stuff.
And the sawtill.
But when I was rebuilding the kitchen I was very happy with an old toolchest. Powertools in the bottom compartment and all the small tools, drillbits, screws and nails etc in the tills. I even had a chiselrack in the back for a couple of chisels and screwdrivers. Everything together in one spot, protected against all the dust and paint that is unavoidable in a home rebuild.
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - Scoony - 01-07-2014
I started out with a rather large wall hung cabinet. Not only did it eat up wall space, but also floor space as it was about 12” deep. It did not work well for my shop. It was to my back as I faced the bench and the bench was positioned so that I had to walk around it to face it.
I wanted my bench positioned so that I could simply walk up to it rather than around it. Might seem trivial to some, but I was looking for efficiency.
I built the tool chest and find that it works better for me. The tool chest has casters so I can move it around as I reorganize the shop. I have a much smaller wall rack that holds daily user tools as well as a few oddball tools that do not go in the chest.
Within the chest, I have made dividers for chisels and small planes (block, rabbet, side rabbet, ect…) I have gone back and forth with the dividers. I was initially concerned about tools banging into each other, but as long as I am not throwing tools in there, it has not been a problem. I currently have the chisels in a roll, but I am not sure that I like that. It works well for storage, but is not to my liking for daily use.
I keep the daily user planes under the bench: #5 with a cambered blade, #5 set as a smoother, #7 jointer, and a block plane. The remaining planes are stored in the chest. I do have arthritis in my back, but so far, reaching for the planes in the chest has not been a problem (Standing for long periods is more of a problem for me).
I have since reorganized the shop and moved the bench away from the wall and into a more centralized position. The chest has continued to provide a convenient tool storage solution for me. Wall hung cabinets in my shop will be used for paints, finishes, and other supplies.
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - Mike Brady - 01-07-2014
I'm with you on this one Derek. Tools chest building recently has been inspired by an author who truly needs such a thing in his busy travel schedule for teaching. Few of his pupils share that need, I'm sure. I haven't read his book, but I know I don't need yet another large object occupying precious space on my shop floor. My hand tools are stowed neatly in a wall cabinet.
My bench did come directly from his workbench book, and for that I am grateful; but chests and archaic texts about woodworking are not for me.
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - DJChurn - 01-07-2014
Tool boxes speak to a time/place usually around the turn of the century. I have worked wood and used old tools. The box is to highlight some duplicates although many of the tools in this box are my goto tools.
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Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - DallasStarter - 01-07-2014
I'm not going to try to defend the merits of working out of a chest - as Wilbur noted, it's hard to judge it until you actually do it. I will say that Chris' resistance to providing some organization to the top (and most important) till is crazy. I fit mine with friction-fit dividers to allow everything to have a place and it makes a world of difference. And with them being friction fit I can easilly re-configure at any point in the future when a new tool joins the lot. But I'm fortunate in having most of the top-till tools I will ever need. I anticipate future additions to my shop to be tools that would dwell deeper in the bench, such as a the Veritsa dedicated shooting plane, and the coming LN plow. I also added a sliding plane rest to the upper till which is basically just a 6"-wide board with a small rabbet cut on both ends to allow it to freely slide left and right along the upper till. This way I have a place to set my working bench planes when not setting them on the bench and it allows me free access to everything in the till. Another merit of the chest is that sheer amount of tools it will hold - it is a LOT. I think it would be hard to acheive a similar tool-density:accessibility ratio with a hanging cabinet. Perhaps one day if I run out of projects I will attempt it and if I find a like it better repurpose or sell the chest. But for now I'm finding that the floor space sacrificed to the chest is price worth paying.
As for the dutch chests - I don't personally care for them. I find them less attractive and too-small to be useful for anything other than maintaining a travel-friendly kit of tools.
Reed
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - MarvW - 01-07-2014
Hi Derek
I'm a messy kinda guy in the shop. The tools I use most of the time are within reach. Might be within reach under a pile of other stuff, but I know it's there some place. I use machines that are dust producers and the spider webs that are helping to brace the building I work in are a good measure of how busy my machines are.
When I need to do a job outside the shop, I gather the tools I'll need for that particular job and take them to the job site. Yes, I always forget something and have to go back to the shop to get it. This might occur 3 or 4 times, but that's ok, because I depend on my bad memory for some of my much needed exercise. Often times I have transported tools in a wheelbarrow or a 5 gallon bucket. I don't have a big wooden tool box that I can't lift and I don't own a forklift.
All the work I do is done at home. Now if I were a traveling kinda guy, I would be using some kind of container to make sure that all the tools needed would be close by and within reach and secured. How we make our tools available is determined by what kind of work we do and where we do it. I always work by myself. I have no one to be concerned about. This allows me to be messy and comfortable. All the rules change when another person is involved. As a kid, I didn't share my toys. I'm now the same way with my tools.
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - Rob Young - 01-07-2014
For me it is still more about the journey than the destination. I recently built one of the Dutch Tool Chests, not so much because I needed one (although I do like it now that I've had it a while) but because I was volunteered to help others build them. Which by the way is weekend after next so I'm going to ask those guys permission to take and post photos. Should be fun.
So now I've got a mix of open shelves, wall-mounted racks and a medium sized toolchest that is living on top of a spare pair of saw horses.
Again, it was the journey because I got to play with a newly acquired and tuned up dado plane. I got to do some small scale drawbore joints. I had a reason to hone up a molding plane and T&G plane that had been sitting idle for a while. I got to play extensively with the GF brand "Milk Paint" and several other small fun skill exercises.
So, I'll continue to work from the combination of the chest and wall racks for a year and if after that time I've decided it is just making me nuts, I can sell it, give it away or burn it and start over with something else. Other than the hardware, I'm only it it for a little bit of lumber from the BORG.
But this is all because I don't make my living at cabinetry, joinery or pattern making. So my priorities for method of work and storage are much different than a proper tradesman.
Re: Why loose tools in a tool box? Why even a tool box? - FordPrefect - 01-07-2014
I also agree with you Derek, although I have never worked out of a tool chest, the annoyance I feel when digging out my winding sticks, bench hook or whatever else i have stored on the shelf under my bench leads me to think I would not appreciate working out of a chest.
I really like my wall hanging cabinet and it works great with my "flow" (which can be often likened to molasses flowing up hill in a Northern hemisphere January
)Having said that, I have the Mastermyr chest on my future to do list, partly because it's really cool looking, it fits my long term dream to learn a little blacksmithing and it would give me something nicer than the recycling bin I currently use to bring tools offsite when installing projects or other woodworking outside the shop. Even so, I do plan to use dividers to keep my tools from banging around in the Mastermyr chest, so it won't be an authentic reproduction.