New storage box for chisels

[Derek Cohen]

A decade ago (!), while road testing the new Veritas chisels (then only O1 was available), I built a box partly to house them and partly to demonstrate them in use  ...





This coming weekend I shall be part of a dovetailing workshop, and decided that it was time to build a new box for these chisels. These are the chisels I use in demonstrations, such as wood shows.

For one thing, the number has grown from 5 to 7 chisels (I had made a 1/8" from a spare pre-production 1/4" - this was before this size was available from Veritas - as well as a 3/8" fishtail chisel. At some stage Veritas will be producing their own version. I do not have any details).

A second factor was that I thought the existing box was a little OTT, and wanted something more subtle, and less in-your-face. The fact is that the joinery in the new box is far more demanding than the first box, but only those experienced might recognise this.

It has been a month or more since I have had any regular time in the workshop. My practice has been crazy busy, but now I have a few weeks leave. In particular, I had some time free yesterday and today. This has been therapeutic and fun. I hope others get something from the details here ....

The light wood is Jacaranda (in both boxes), which is the last harvested from a tree on our property several years ago. It is softish, not so nice to saw and dovetail, but planes beautifully. The darker wood is Makore. Another wonderful wood to work with.

The construction of the box is mainly mitred through dovetails - all lower corners and the end upper corners. This makes it easier to plough through grooves for the base and top. The mitred corners are also, in my view, far more aesthetic, lending a balanced presentation from the top.



The sides are held in a sticking board when ploughing grooves with the Small Plow.



The rebates were planed with a skew block plane and then fine tuned with a rebate plane. This is the main use I find for rebate planes ...



This is the underside ...



And from the upper side ...



The finger depression was carved with chisels ...



Inside the box, the chisels are held very firmly with a combination of rare earth magnets and individualised spaces for each chisel ..





The O1 Veritas chisels differ from the PM-V11 chisels in that their ferrules are square at the front, while the PM-V11 are curved (I do have a set of both, with the PM used in the workshop) ...



This square section enables the design to butt them fore- and aft. They cannot move about. Plus the magnets hold them firmly as well.





All production handles are made of Torrified Maple.

The two O1 chisels I modified come from pre-production stock, which was used for testing purposes. These have Bubinga handles. The 1/8" I sanded down and stained in an attempt to match the others. The fishtail is the original Bubinga pre-production handle.

My PM-V11 chisel handles are not standard, instead later turned from Ebony.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Aram]

That looks great!

What are you doing with the old box? Inquiring minds...

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Aram.

I'll re-purpose the old box for something. Not quite sure what as yet. Ideas? (It is too short for dovetail saws).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[C. in Indy]

It looks great, Derek!

Only since you often stress having 'design critique' comments on the forum:   I have made a few sliding top boxes and I have started to prefer having the closed slider-top protrude "just a tad" from the box,  even if there is a thumb-dimple.    (I was actually surprised that it looked better to me to not have a flush-fit; and it's also just a bit easier to grab.)

Best Regards,
Chris

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Chris. Actually, what I had planned to do - then forgot the plan! - and only remembered when it was too late .. was to leave the end long, and finish it as a curve.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

What to do with the first box?

Today I purchased some imitation Kaizen foam (cheap and not as good), to try out this idea ....




Stanley knife for scoring, Starrett 12"/300mm combo square, Starrett mini double square, Starrett small dividers, Shinwa sliding bevel, Veritas cutting gauges (mini and full size), dovetail gauges (5:1 and 7:1), and a driver holder with three driver bits and an awl.



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

Someone raised the issue of the chisel blades not being protected.

The fact is that they are better protected for not having protection! Any surface near the pointy end is liable to damage the edge. Plus, no one is going to lift out a chisel by grasping the blade, especially the end of the blade.

I did put thought into this design, having used protected designs before (see first box).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[bargrove]

Beautiful box, Derek

Simple.  Love the circular finger pull on the lid.

johnbarfielddesign.com

[Handplanesandmore]

About the length of the lid, I prefer a flush design, like that in a wine bottle box.

Simon