I have an inner battle regarding tool chest vs tool cabinet. I have an idea to build a tool chest modelled after the Bennet Street Chest with removable drawers that I can hang on the wall to function as a plane till, chisel rack, etc.
I am thinking lots of rare earth magnets to keep tools in place & reworkable drawer dividers to accommodate new tools.
Has anyone out there built or seen something like this?
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I don't have any experience with this but it seems feasible. I really just wanted to keep your post relevant a bit longer to give others a chance to see it and hopefully offer advice.
Jim Toplin wrote an excellent book on Tool Chests 20 to 25 years ago. Worth getting a copy for inspiration as has lots of unique ideas.
Cabinets that hang on a wall are typically only about 12 inches deep deep. In large part, this is for reasons of visibility and access (unless you plan to have a step stool handy). The Bennet Street design is a fair bit deeper than this as I recall and meant to sit on a bench. You may have access issue if you duplicate that design but hang it on the wall rather than a bench where you can see down into the drawers.
Wall cabinets for tools on the other hand are generally much shallower, but may be taller and wider to allow access for hanging lots of tools for easy access. They may contain drawers, and often do, but those drawers are of necessity pretty shallow and suitable mainly for small items - also they are typically at the bottom of the design.
I am trying to picture a combination of the two, but I am not getting there yet. Maybe you need to consider if you don't really want two separate pieces to do the job, one bench top case with drawers and another wall mount cabinet to hang easy-access items?
I am working on restoring an antique carpenters chest at the moment. These chests were designed to house tools on the back of a horse drawn wagon or on a ship and so, were semi-portable. It could be set on the ground at need to double as a work bench, as evidenced by the tool marks on the lid. Mine is going to stay in my shop, on the floor, but have wheels under it. I plan to put tools in it that I access infrequently, like my compass plane and other such hand tools but it is big enough that very little could be put on the wall above it. I also have space set aside elsewhere for hanging tools that will get used on a joinery bench (once that bench gets made).
Good luck.
Your concept sounds interesting if there is enough room. I have a small shop I share with a car in a garage. I have found that a combination of storage approaches including drawers in my workbench, a 6' standing cabinet, wall cabinets a modified South Bennett Street box based on Matt Wajada design, plus a tool chest.
For a dozen years I had a wall hung cabinet along the lines of Christian Becksvoorts.
It hung over a back bench that was part of a miter saw setup.
With the doors open it was nearly five feet wide, about 10” deep.
I finally took it down in favor of a plywood tool wall and far better use of drawers. Mainly because
- I used the same maybe eight hand tools in the cabinet all the time. The other 50 tools in the cabinet were very rarely touched, so I had acres of prime space underutilized.
- The doors blocked several feet of wall space
- The cabinet cast a large shadow across the miter bench.
- I never, ever, ever shut the doors. Originally I thought they would be great to keep dust out, but they were never closed.
The tool wall has the most used hand tools, drawers have everything else. No regrets at all.
Mike
I would go the chest route if I needed to travel with my tools.