New Toolbox

My assortment tools is always changing and growing, so keeping everything neat, accessible and protected requires frequent work. Most recently, my collection of woodworking hand tools had outgrown its former home, a simple open pine box. In addition to being too small, the lack of a lid has caused me some headaches trying to keep the rust at bay going in and out of the cold here this winter.

First some before shots...

I have been wanting to replace this box for a while, so recently, I was working in an old house's attic, adding framing and blocking so the space could be finished off. It involved removing a small bit of original framing lumber in order to raise the ceiling height in a dormer, and as I was hauling the lumber out I noticed that the lumber was old-growth pine, so I managed to save a couple short lengths of dirty, nail-ridden 2x6s.

After removing all the nails, trimming the very badly damaged portions, and cutting the boards to rough length, I jointed, ripped, and planed them until I was left with clean, square stock. The boards were then resawn (split into two thinner boards) and glued into 11" wide, 5/8" thick panels. These panels were then used to construct a new tote-box for my tools. The old-growth pine has a very distinct color and appearance that isn't possible to achieve with new lumber, most pine today is grown in previously clear-cut forests, where they grow very fast because there are no mature trees to block the sunlight, so the growth rings are much further apart than the old-growth stock.

Machine-cut half-blind dovetails hold the case together, pull out trays hold small tools, and a removable lid keeps everything protected. A piece of Massaranduba, a Brazilian redwood with similar characteristics to Ipe, was used to make a carry handle.