Building the Perfect Tool Chest by Jim Stack [book review]

Building the Perfect Tool Chest by Jim Stack

Let me start by saying I love this book. I first found it in our
local library and after renewing it three times decided to own it. In a nutshell it is fifteen tool box plans. Not the fancy shmancy quilted mahogany with ivory inlay type of boxes, or the kind where the tools are stacked eight levels deep, or the faddish type that are all the rage in magazines, but the kind of tool holders that most of us would use day to day.

There is considerable variety from a simple box with lid, large tool chests, open tool tote, chest of drawers, a hanging cabinet, and even a box for fisherman. For each tool box there is a detailed materials list in both inches and metric, lots of photos and illustrations, and helpful tips on joinery and assembly. Many of the boxes are built with plywood or pine but you can substitute any material. Joinery varies a bit from box to box.

There are fifteen projects and fifteen sections or chapters, plus a short introduction, a list of suppliers, and an index. This book assumes you have the basic knowledge and skills to complete the projects. It is not teaching woodworking, it is sharing ideas. So many times I've been disappointed because the cover has a couple nice projects but half the book is how to use a screwdriver and where to buy router bits. This book is fluff free and in my opinion all the toolboxes look useful and are logically constructed.

If you wish to buy Building the Perfect Tool Chest, you can click the cover picture above to find it on Amazon.

Table of Contents

Tool Caddies for the Tablesaw and Lathe

Long time in coming: simple tool caddies to collect my most commonly used tools in a designated place. Construction is super simple, butt joints, glue, and brad nails. Bottom of both is 1/8" oak/poplar ply. The TS caddy bottom fits into a dado. The lathe caddy bottom fits into a rabbet and is tacked with glue and 5/8" brads. Why are they different? Because I wanted to see if one way would be more durable than the other.

Caddy holds a Nova G3, Nova Midi & tommy bars, Delta centers, Nova centers, PSI centers, Bondhus 4mm hex wrench, knockout bar, and extra jaws.

I have two lathes so a caddy is more convenient than a fixed location like a drawer, a cabinet, or on the wall. Now I can bring my chucks and centers to whichever lathe I'm using in one easy to carry box. I may add holders that will attach to the backside of the caddy for a few lathe chisels.

The TS caddy was badly needed. These are tools I use constantly, like tape measures, a marking knife, pencils, a 6" combo square, pocket calipers, center punch, scribe, Wixey, 12" rule and 6" rule. In the past these tools wanted to clutter my tablesaw and end up on the fence. Since my TS is in the center of the shop, this caddy is within a step or two of any other tool. 

  

The Tools

Why do I have 3 tape measures? Good question, guess I have tape measure fetish. The yellow Stanley is both inch and metric. Once upon a time I planned to convert entirely to metric but it isn't very practical as American woodworking is still inch centric. The green tape is my newest and is a center finding tape measure, regular inches on top and half scale inches on bottom, I like it. The black and chrome center tape is a Lufkin engineer scale (tenths of inches). Some other tools of note are a BluePoint 12" combo square, a Lufkin 6" combo square, a Bluepoint automatic center punch, a Stanley scribe, a General pocket caliper, an iGaging digital caliper, a 6" Craftsman rule, a 12" rule (can't remember the brand).