Woodworker's Journal 2008-32-3, страница 34

Dovetailed Tool Chest

By Chris Marshall

-tWiS"

Here's a chance to turn some special lumber into a fitting place to store and showcase your prized hand tools.

A hundred years ago or so, when the chestnut for- this project was still gracing the Ohio landscape, a tool chest was much more than a place to store chisels. It was a woodworker's calling card. Journeymen were often required by their master teachers to build a tool chest before venturing out to start their own businesses. And when that time came, a finely crafted tool chest was proof to

prospective clients that a craftsman's skills could be trusted.

These days, you can buy a chest of metal drawers to store your hand tools, but what fun is there in that? It's much more gratifying to build a custom chest, just like our forebears did. Yours may not help you hang out that woodworking "shingle," but it definitely will remind you of all the things you love about this craft each time you open it.

Design Considerations

My design is essentially a chest within a chest: an internal case houses three drawers and serves as the floor of a deep storage compartment on top. The drawer case is undersized to make room for three racks of hanging tools around the inside. You can outfit the rest of the top compartment any way you like with divider strips. It's a perfect place to store tall-handled planes.

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June 2008 Woodworker's Journal