Tool Tote

[BaileyNo5]

Been doing a little work remote from the shop, and to this point I have not had a proper tote.  That will be fixed shortly.  Dry fit shown below, sans tusk tenons.




My son was remodelling his 1950s vintage kitchen a few years back, and pulled out a drop light ceiling made from red oak.  It was sized just right for this project.  Need to make a couple of tusk tenons for the handle, put in the plywood bottom, nail 'er up and she'll be done.  Sized to fit my Disston D-42.

[Philip1231]

Nice!: Great handle.

[Rob Young]

Great!  

[bandit571]

Looks good from my house

[Daniel S]

Looks really great

[BaileyNo5]

Finished 'er up today.  Here's a few pics after one coat danish oil.





When it came time to put on the bottom, I picked up the plywood, hemmed and hawed, and put it back down.  Sometimes I just can't abide plywood for a project, and this was one of those times.  I rustled up some scrap pine, glued it up, and did a raised panel bottom.  If I had used the plywood it would have bothered me every time I looked at it.  Now I can look at this tote and be happy with it.  Held in place with maple slips.



Nailed it up with 2" forged nails, those things create a death grip even when you drill a big pilot hole.  I like the way they look, and this thing is solid.  Only little niggle was an issue with a nail head.  As I was driving home the last nail, the head broke off.  Kind of surprised me, as it hasn't happened to me before while driving a nail, especially a forged nail.  Not much to do other than epoxy the nail head in place - it's not like I can pull the old one out and replace it.  Doesn't impact structural integrity, but it leaves a big gap if it's not there.

[Hank Knight]

Good lookin' tote!

[C. in Indy]

Super nice, and very original thinking !

Chris

[Phil Thien]

That looks fantastic.

I'm really surprised the nail head came off.  There have been times where I'd have loved to get the head to snap off and couldn't.

[BaileyNo5]

That looks fantastic.

I'm really surprised the nail head came off.  There have been times where I'd have loved to get the head to snap off and couldn't.

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments.  I do like the way it turned out, but the "plan", if there was one, evolved as the project progressed. One feature that was somewhat an accident were corners that were proud on the ends as well as the sides.  I knew I wanted the corners to be proud of the sides to help alleviate splitting by the nails.  But having the corner proud of the ends was a happy accident.  The original boards were not quite as wide as I wanted, so I glued on some different oak that was in the lumber pile.  It happened to be thicker than the original, and I was going to plane it off.  But when it was time to assemble, I decided I liked that look.  Along with the nail heads, I think the ends make a statement.  When assembling, I made sure the corners were proud by an equal amount on the ends and sides.

The other feature I like are the tusk tenons - no glue.  Helps to have a tapered plane float for the angled side of that mortise if you do these.

Phil, I was almost in shock when the nail head came off, I was so surprised.  I've had them come off while pulling them, but never while driving them.  I think I got a faulty nail, and then driving it in at a slight angle (on purpose, to increase holding power) caused it to snap off when that last hammer blow flattened it against the oak.  But, epoxy to the rescue, and things are fine.