If you want to get more tools into your Dutch tool chest, check this out.
Mike Siemsen, host of the forthcoming “The Naked Woodworker” DVD, built a Dutch tool chest with (at least) two interesting twists.
1. He added an extra tool rack to the fall-front of the chest to hold small tools. Many students have threatened to transform their fall-fronts into something useful, such as a shooting board or bench hook. But I have yet to see any who succeeded. Mike’s idea definitely works. (So far, the only other successful adaptation has been to use the fall-front as a cheese board.)
2. Mike transformed his two sliding locks into winding sticks. Actually, they always were winding sticks. But he painted one stick black to make them easier to use.
Caleb James, a planemaker, chairmaker and (I hope) soon-to-be-author, made a nice Dutch chest that he brought along to the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Charleston, S.C., this spring. (He also brought along a knock-down Nicholson workbench that I didn’t get to photograph. Curses.)
Caleb did something very cool with his sliding locks. He made them into notched battens that he could use with holdfasts on his workbench. You can see one of the sliding locks on his workbench in the photo above, but the notched section is covered by a handplane.
If you cannot visualize a notch there, check out this entry that explains things.
— Christopher Schwarz
Chris,
Some great adaptations!
My winding sticks are both black on one side and natural on the other side. I find I can still use the fall front for a cheese a board and there is also still room for stickers. I made the inside of the bottom just tall enugh to get my rack of hollows and rounds in and out easily.
I’m planning on adding a sliding board at the top open area of my chest, for a sharpening station. I find that my carving students can be brutal on chisel edges, and where I teach does’t have a dedicated sharpening station. (Yet. I’ll be Bill and I can talk them into it.)
It became clear to me after teaching my first carving class, that I needed a Dutch Travelling chest in addition to my soon to be finished Shop chest after carting 3-4 different boxes into the store from the back of my Subaru. One chest, one trip.
And, by top open area, I meant to say: Top of the bottom shelf area.
A small short sided box that is flush with the bottom of the top portion to keep my stones from flying about, that I can pull out, oil up the stones and sharpen, quick as you like.
Hi. I’m considering building the Dutch Tool chest and have a question about the fall fronts for Chris and the audience at large. Is there a reason for the fall fronts to be loose and separate from the chest? It seems like a bother to find a place to store it while the chest is being used.
I’m considering attaching hinges to the bottom of the fall front so that it would open up like a drop front desk when accessing the bottom compartment, allowing it to serve as a surface to rest tools from the compartment as I work. The other idea is to make the fall front in two pieces and make them into doors. The drawbacks that I could think of is that given how narrow the chest is, resting tools on the drop-front leaf top that the fall fronts would become would make the chest tip forward from the weight of the tool(s) on it for the first idea. For the second idea, I realize the width of the doors would be longer than the width of the chest itself so would extend beyond it when opened and not look attractive.
Has anyone considered these ideas? Has anyone tried them and found issues in practice?
thanks!
I don’t claim to be an expert, so keep that in mind while reading what follows.
I have built two of these chests. I’ve been working out of the first one since late 2013. It was built to the ‘large chest’ plan. (http://blog.greatlakeswoodshop.com/2014/01/2013-dutch-tool-chest-completed.html)
The second one is still just a shell while I figure out what I like and don’t like. This model is more customized as it features a drawer in the lower unit.
An attached front, or doors are both valid ways to go–it is your chest after all. The idea of doors has the most merit in my mind. The Attached fall front would put your tool shelf at a pretty low level. It is just as easy to put the tools back into their place than it is to dump them on the makeshift shelf.
I have given some thought about how to make the fall front productive, but don’t have much to offer. Things I considered: mounting sharpening stones in shallow recesses, small parts shooting board, legal pad holder for doodle surface, table top easel , dart board, and nothing. So far, I went with the last option.
The great thing about the fall front is that you can experiment easily enough by making several different styles. I do plan to make the easel option at some point just to see if it is useful at all. If I like it, I’ll modify the chest to accept it permanently. Or not. Whatever. 🙂
Has anyone made a chest from sassafras? I have an opportunity to get some but I have never worked with it. My concern is durability.
Sassafras would be a good choice because of its weight. My chest is made of sugar pine, which is even less durable than sassafras.