The Big Think

I started it a couple of weeks ago, but SXSW got in the way of finishing. Yesterday I put the final touches on the case and started working on the mounting system for tools. Here are a few pics (click for larger versions)

This is the full frontal image. The case measures 2′ wide by 3′ tall closed (4×3 open). The main case is 5.5″ deep and the doors are 3.5″ deep. The case is made from maple plywood and the accents are black walnut. All exposed edges of the plywood are covered in walnut (front and back). The doors are hung with full-length brass piano hinges and the whole thing is finished in 3 coats of Tried and True Danish Oil. The case is hung on the wall via a french cleat system (basically a piece of wood ripped at 45 degrees. One half of the wood is attached to the wall and the other half to the back of the cabinet. The two pieces interlock).

This is a view of the outside detail of the closed doors. The door frames are walnut with birch dowels plugging the screw holes. These screws hold the half-lap door frames to the door bodies. These are the only screws on the cabinet. I wanted to do an all-wood cabinet but thought that attaching the door frames to the doors with only dowels might cause problems later on. Anyway, you can’t see the screws and the flushcut dowels add a nice contrast.

Here is a closeup of the main storage area. I’ll eventually have all of my hand tools here. I didn’t want to go to all the trouble of crafting the cabinet and then hang the tools on nails, so I’m custom fitting wooden supports for each of the tools. The supports are made out of solid walnut and hard maple laminated into striped forms. I then cut the forms into whatever shape I need and secure them to the case with brass screws. Each form gets a few coats of Danish Oil.

Here’s a closeup of the chisel rack. Again, it’s black walnut and hard maple laminated into the proper form. I had to cut the relief holes for the larger chisels by hand with a (low quality) Black and Decker jigsaw. The cuts aren’t as neat as I’d like them because I don’t have a bandsaw (yet).
Hope you enjoyed looking at it as much as I enjoyed making it!
Next project: a router table.