Blood, Sweat, and Sawdust

The main cabinet and doors are complete.  That means it’s time to finally move on to tool storage.  But first, I need to make some interior doors.  The interior doors provide additional tool storage.  And, unlike the main door boxes, the interior doors are simple to make.

The interior doors are nothing more than a hard-wood rail and plywood panel.  The hinges mount to the the rail, and additional tool holders mount to the plywood panel.  The plywood panel is rabbeted into a groove in the rail.  It’s dead simple.  However, I did hand cut mortises for the hinges.  This added some complexity, but it looks nice and adds strength.

I mounted all of the interior doors to cleats.  For the door boxes, I made a long thin cleat.  Then, I used a spacer to mounted it to the side of the door box.  Up top, I made a small shelf, and mounted the cleat to the shelf.  Here, the cleat is wide.  This prevents any tools handing on the doors from hitting the side of the case.  Finally, I installed magnets to the case and screws to the door panels to act as a door catch.

With the interior doors complete, I moved on to tool holders.  I made a nice start, but haven’t finished them all yet.  Tools like chisels and squares are easy, while others are a bit more complicated.  For example, my marking gauges are proving a bit more difficult.  Stay tuned to see how I tackle this.

Aside from a few tool holders, the only thing left to built is a plane gallery at the bottom of the main case.

Don’t forget to check out my previous post: Hand Tool Cabinet Doors

For the next post in this series, click here: Finishing Touches