Outfitting the Dutch tool chest

Featuring the Dutch Tool Chest, now with tools!
Featuring the Dutch tool chest, now with tools!

With the chest completed it’s finally time to start adding some of the tool holders and begin filling it. The goal is to have all of the regularly used tools easily accessible in the upper, main compartment and the specialty items in the lower.

The floor of the main compartment will hold the three bench planes; my jointer, jack plane and smoother. To provide a bit of regularity to where they are situated, I’ve made a small dividing box out of ¼” poplar that will separate the jack and smooth plane from the jointer. For now I’m just going to friction fit the box in the bottom as opposed to nailing or gluing it in place. This will help with the issue of attaching thin pieces of poplar to the chest and will allow me to modify things later if I choose.

Laying out the dividing box for the planes.
Laying out the dividing box for the planes.

Next, I want to add the chisel rack to the back of the chest to see how much room I have left for the backsaws. The chisel rack is a simple piece of pine with several holes bored through it, and just because I couldn’t resist, I also put a couple beads along the front.

Adding the beads to the chisel rack.
Adding the beads to the chisel rack.

The numerous holes gave me a reason to dust off a cheap little benchtop drillpress that had been collecting dust in the garage and put it to use.  All of the holes were bored with a ½ inch Forstner bit, except for three that are for my wider chisels.

All the holes bored in the chisel rack
All the holes bored in the chisel rack

I attached the chisel rack to the back of the chest using three nice slotted screws from Blacksmith Bolt.

The chisel rack installed in the chest.
The chisel rack installed in the chest. I’ve started “clocking” all of my screws, it’s addictive.

The final piece for the main compartment is the saw till for the back saws. For this I used a couple of scrap pieces of pine, clamped them together and used the individual saws to cut the kerfs that will hold them.

Sawing the kerfs for the backsaw till
Sawing the kerfs for the backsaw till, using my Moxon vise from Lake Erie Toolworks.

I screwed the saw till to the bottom of the compartment and started putting in tools! I’m going to leave the bottom compartment completely open for now and perhaps I’ll add a shallow drawer later, but I think that’s unlikely. At this point the only item remaining is the till for the panel saws that will attach to the lid. I can’t believe the chest finally has tools in it and I can begin working out of it.

The commonly used tools quickly filled up the chest. A few odds and ends that will still need to find a place.
The commonly used tools quickly filled up the chest. A few odds and ends that will still need to find a place.
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All of the frequently used tools, readily available.
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A look inside the main compartment of the Dutch tool chest.


Previous posts on the Dutch Tool Chest Build can be found here:

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