A Cabinetmaker’s Tool Cabinet
To hold his cabinetmaking tools in a convenient and organized way, David Powell built this tool cabinet, making maximum use of its interior space.
From FWW#30– Sept/Oct 1981:
When I first started making furniture in Edward Barnsley’s workshop , the tool chests used by the craftsmen there were of the traditional sort. They were simplified versions of a design that had developed over centuries, originating probably as medieval oak chests or coffers. All of them were rectangular boxes that sat directly on the floor. Their lids were hinged in the rear and locked in the front to discourage borrowing and pilfering. The underside of the lid was fitted to hold tools, and the inside of the chest contained one or two banks of drawers which faced each other and opened into a central well (see drawing below). Under the drawers there was usually a space to hold tools too large or awkward to fit into any of the drawers or to hang from the lid. These tools might fit into partitioned compartments or just…
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Comments
Thank you for the article and plan. This is a project I would like to tackle some day. I realize this plan is only a reference for a cabinet the user may want to build,however, it would be nice to have a clearer image to work with. You have provided a scale so I would assume you meant to be able to take direct measurements from the drawing.
Chuck
At Barnsley there would have been no room for tool cabinets like Powell's for each cabinetmaker. There probably still isn't.
I like Powell's design, but there is (was) a reason that chests were used. There seems to be an insinuation that a chest being a compromise was somehow lost on the cabinetmakers of the past. This is highly doubtful given ingenuity evidenced by their work. In a working, for-profit shop, space was almost always at a premium. Bench rooms ideally featured a lot of windows, and this obviated standing cabinets for each worker set against walls.
For the sole practitioner cabinetmaker, with all the wall space to himself or herself, simply hanging the tools on the wall in some fashion seems the most direct approach, and this would take Mr. Powell's idea to its logical conclusion: if not a chest, then a cabinet, then simply the wall.
A photo of Gimson's shop is attached (didn't have one of Barnsley handy).
Where would one put tool cabinets?
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