Storage Crisis 4

The next step in solving my storage problems (at least for now) was to make a rolling tool cabinet. The storage would take the form of shelves, so that I can store some things that are wide, or long, or awkward to put into drawers. As things go, this was a pretty simple design.

It’s basically a bookshelf with doors, and extra deep. The depth is for versatility, and the doors are to reduce the amount of dust that settles on the things I store in this.

Now about that same time I started this, I saw an article in WOOD magazine in which they build a storage cabinet with three-way miters. I’ve never done that before, and I liked the look, so I made a command decision to revise the plan to include those.

I started by cutting all of my panels from the stock of HDF plywood I had. The outer faces got laminated with red Formica, but then I realized that I didn’t have nearly enough for all the projects, so I spray painted the inside faces. I also chose to postpone the doors — more on that later.

The three-way miters turned out to be really easy. I cut hickory into 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 strips and roughly to length, leaving everything a few inches long. I made a very simple jig, basically two pieces of plywood in an L that was at least 45 inches long, and I screwed that to my miter gauge to make a large cradle to hold the pieces.

Then it was just a matter of making two miter cuts on one end of each piece. Once that was done, I set a stop block to cut the other ends at 45, 36, or 24 inches. This hickory had a lot of sapwood in it, so I went with it and arranged it in a pleasing pattern before cutting. I tested my joints and they went right together with no fuss. And yes, I like the look.

The rest was even easier. I used Dominos to adhere the trim pieces to the panels and used my shelf-pin drilling jig to make holes for the 3 removable shelves. I put casters on the bottom and assembled the whole thing.

At this point I spray painted the inside and the shelves. There is a strip of hardwood on the front and back of each shelf to add strength and bow resistance. I used Gilboy’s hard wax oil on all of the hardwood parts and took stock of my leftover wood and laminate.

This is where I decided to wait on making doors. I was short on hickory and on red laminate, which I hadn’t realized was $200 a sheet (vs. $65 for black). So I would need to get more hickory, and I’m thinking frame and panel doors instead of solid pieces of plywood. But before I do those, I want to make sure I have enough materials to do the CNC table first. Right now I don’t, so I’ll take a virtual trip to Woodworker’s Source for more hickory and then do the CNC table first.

As you can see, it’s already accumulating dust to the doors are going to be necessary to keep that down. I also haven’t really loaded it up yet, but that’s coming. You can see the bottom shelf has my dovetail jig and all the accessories, and my biscuit jointer and biscuits; my track saw and clamps are on the second shelf. and some smaller things on the top. I will come back to this and built the inset frame and panel doors after the CNC table.