Tuesday, February 10, 2015

New tool chest for the sea 9, the completed chest.

After letting the paint dry for two days, I decided to use Sunday evening to mount the hardware on the outside of the chest.

At first I removed the masking tape from the jointing edges of the led and the carcase.
I had tried to place the tape so there should be a very small green line all the way around this edge, but it didn't quite look very good. I don't know if it is standard procedure to paint this part of a chest, but as it is now it doesn't look too good.
Seen from the outside, you can get a glimpse of wood that is unpainted, and when the chest is open, you can see the remnants of a bit of green on the edge.
I have considered if painting this part black would look good, maybe I'll do it at some point at home.

To protect the paint a bit from dings and scratches, I places it on a piece of cardboard on our workbench. I started by mounting the lid corner reinforcements. Then moved on to the top corners for the carcase, and finally I turned the chest upside down and even placed a piece of rag between the top and the cardboard to protect the show side of the chest while working on it.

All reinforcements were installed in the same way: I positioned the bracket in the recess, and then made a pilot hole for two of the screws using one leg of a divider. (We don't have an awl out here).
A screw was mounted in each hole and they were clocked.
Now with the bracket in place, I made the other pilot holes and mounted the rest of the screws.

Finally I used a file to ease off a few of the edges that were protruding a bit into the chest.

The escutcheon was mounted using a few drops of paint on the backside as glue, and then some small brass nails held it in place.


I then found all the tools and tried to load them in the chest.
There was just enough room for my old tools and the "new" moving fillister plane. Although I had to take out the grooving plane from the original cardboard box, to be able to shoehorn it into the box.
I'll tell my daughter that I would like to get some small sewn bags to but my planes in. Kind of like plane socks. She has rediscovered the joy of using a sewing machine, so that should be a fine project for her.

I didn't take any pictures of the loaded chest, but I managed to put the shooting board in there as well.
The empty weight of the chest is 3.2 kg (6 Lbs), and the curb weight is 11 kg (22 Lbs). So I am still able to bring clothes with me to the ship without breaking the maximum weight limit for my bag.

The finished tool chest.

15 comments:

  1. Great job. It looks really nice. I'd like to see some pictures of the inside with the tools in place.

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    1. Thanks, I'll try to take some interior shots of it for the post where I am re viewing the build all together.
      It is crammed :-)
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  2. Great job. It looks really nice. I'd like to see some pictures of the inside with the tools in place.

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  3. It looks really great! It's hard to get a gauge of the size. I'm sure you may have mentioned this before, but what are the measurements, roughly?
    BIll

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    1. Hi Bill.

      Thanks, I think it turned out pretty well too. There are a couple of things that could have been better, but I guess that is normal. I'll try to write a review of the build.
      The chest is 16" long, 8" high and 9-5/8" deep. (40 x 20 x 24 cm)
      So as usual it is a comparatively small chest I have made. But that is to make it easier for me to transport it inside my bag.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  4. Thank God you can bring clothes. The chest looks great. I like the green paint.But how tight are the tools. Can something get a dent or bent. Did you put a till or two in the chest.

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    1. Hi Robert.

      Thanks for commenting.
      I do appreciate being able to bring clothes, though I don't need many on board. Having packed a bag for this job for a lot of years sure help to keep the clothes on a minimum. I could leave my clothes on board, which I did when I was on a vessel in Nigeria. That way I only had to travel with my hand bag.
      The tools are pretty tight packed, but right now there is also the original cardboard box for the Stanley No 248, that one tales up a bit of space as well.
      Since there isn't a lot of space for the tools to move around, they are reasonably safe from being damaged.
      I put two tills in the chest, the large till for chisels and marking gauge etc. and the small till for my small assortment of hardware (screws and hinges etc.)
      I'll try to take some interior shots of the chest and post them.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  5. Nice little chest. The corner protectors and the lock really set it off. I wasn't too sure about the green paint at first, but I like it. Ill bet its very solid and will make the trips to and from with ease.

    Greg

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    1. Hi Greg

      The only problem with the paint is that the surface doesn't look too good.
      I think it was because the roller I used is not for fine painting, so I got on too fat a layer.
      I actually think that I could have done a better looking job with a brush, but I know that now for next time.

      My only worry is that the corners might be too pointy for the bag, so that they will damage that one. But time will tell.

      Thanks
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  6. It looks amazing! enlarging the picture, I can hardly see the dovetails at all. I think it makes for a really nice look. It will be cool to see how this chest ages.

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  7. Hi Brian

    Actually the dovetails were pretty tight to start with, so that helped a lot. The second thing is that the layer of paint is a bit on the fat side. That is also why the surface looks a bit bumpy.
    It looked better after the first coat of paint, but it needed a second one to cover completely. Somehow the roller or the paint caused it to look not so nice. Maybe the paint was too thick, the roller sin't the highest quality for sure, so it could also be that it is not capable of making a finer surface.

    I hope it will age nicely. Even though it is a tool chest, I am sure the first scratch and dent will irritate me.
    But there is still the possibility that someone at home decides that they can't live without it, and then I am back to square one needing to make a 3rd tool chest for the sea..
    Cheers
    Jonas

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  8. Hi Jonas,

    The chest looks great painted, and the corner guards really give it a great look, especially knowing that you made them yourself. Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your work.

    Jeffrey

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    1. Hi Jeffrey.

      Thanks for the nice comment.

      The corners are a bit on the sharp side, but I like the look of them. I think I'll see if I can procure a 1.0 mm brass plate somewhere. That would be ideal for some corner guards or other brackets. Brass is also pretty easy to silver solder, and it looks equally good in a brushed or polished finish.

      I think I might be tempted to make some sort of project again with some metal reinforcements.

      I'll be going home tomorrow, so hopefully I will soon be able to fix the link to your blog :-)

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  9. Very nice. I've been away for a while and am only now taking this series in now in one big gulp, good work!
    Did you give any consideration to making a a "clothes till" such that this would become your bag?
    Also are hand holds needed? Both on the exterior and on the non-sliding tills. I have a small chest I made a while back and I've went round-and-round on how to divide the interior (and since I haven't decided, not completing it is not procrastination)

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    1. Hi Jeremy

      Thanks for the comment.
      I would love to make a bigger chest that could double as a suitcase. But the current regulations require that officials have to be able to open your bag or suitcase to inspect it if they want to in various airports. If they can't unzip it or open it, they can pry it open and it's your problem if they break it. One way to overcome it is to make provisions for a special type of airport approved padlock, that can be opened by some sort of master key.
      But I prefer a mortise lock, so I guess I'll just continue to haul it in a bag.

      I ditched the idea of hand holds / lifts, because they would add extra weight, and the chest it so small that it is easy to lift without them.

      The tills are also so small, so I can lift them by grabbing from the inside. I have been busy since I got home, because it is the winter holiday in Denmark, so we have been doing family stuff ever since. I'll make a post where I show the interior, then you can see it.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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