The beginnings of my Fine Woodworking Tool cabinet

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
Well I am jumping for joy this evening. :woohoo::bounce: Cold or not its the first weekend in I dunno how long that I got to have a full run at being in the shop and making sawdust.:thumb:

How's the song go ......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5TqIdff_DQ :D

So finally I got my Incra ibox together and setup. Oh boy, its my new best friend. :headbang:

Also finally setup my Incra miter gauge 1000 HD........wow. :eek:

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I know many of you have this box joint jig but wow man its just amazing.:eek: I am blown away.

I did minimal test cuts just put it together, quickly watched the one video and got stuck in.

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Yeah I got tearout its the cheap ply but what I wanted to show was the edges. I have yet (in my entire woodworking experience) to have a box with edge joints meet such that the two side edges are on the same plane when I am done.

And I did not spend a ton of time to fuss about it, it just came out that way. Now that's what I call a real neat jig.


So here is the carcass for the Fine Woodworking Tool Cabinet

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And the front and rear pieces are cut already.

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In the picture above you can also see some ply cut for my future mechanical draw mobile cabinets.

Hope I get some time to get these projects to completion before it gets too cold to work outside. Was pretty cold yesterday and better today with less wind. But as Bill says at least I don't sweat all over the cast iron this way. :D
 

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YOu cut those box joints with that little jig? How did you support those tall pieces? Is that baltic birch ply? I always have a problem with tearout on BB. What I have purchased seem to be real soft on the outer layers. Going to be a nice box!
 
Rob, I think you will find that having all your hand tools in one place will really improve the experience of woodworking. It did for me, as I wasn't wasting time riffling through various cabinets and boxes. Besides, it also will help protect your tools from rust, especially if you add a Goldenrod dehumidifier.
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I look forward to the rest of the build. Should be done for Thanksgiving...wait, that was someone else's build wasn't it?
 
Ain't that IBox neat? Somewhere here, I posted a picture of a test joint I made when I first got mine. It was like two feet long, in quarter inch ply, and the joint fit perfectly. No runout at all. Nearly impossible to achieve with any other type of jig!

One suggestion: Get some quarter inch (6mm) MDF, and make yourself a bunch of backer boards. You really need to change them every time you vary the blade height. (They are reversible, though.)
 
@ Paul this is not BB its some Chilean ply with way more plys than the traditional stuff we get here. Its not the best but for shop cabinets its perfect. The exterior layer which is really thin is supposed to be yellow pine.
I don't know about that because I aint sure where they find yellow pine in Chile, in fact I aint sure where they find sufficient logs in Chile to run a ply factory full time. Huge amount of the place is just dessert. But whatever the true source its ok ply. Note OK not fantastic, there are times when I have picked up voids and horrible overlaps that have been compressed to size. Note we do not get Sandply here at HD probably can get it but I aint seen it at borgs which means price and quantity purchase.

@Bill this is part of my Bradleytizing of my woodworking efforts. Hunting for tools, having them stacked on top of each other, having them in less than appropriate storage, draws on inadequate runners, etc etc got so stale its mandated action. Also I am hoping to mount this cabinet on a another with wheels then move it inside in winter. And then as you say you can handtool away in the basement.

@Jim, I was in two minds to cut more backer boards from the original before I even started, I remembered Glenn posting of himself doing that but excitement got the better of me. Besides there are dimensions for them in the instructions. Also I was not overly concerned in this particular case of suffering some tearout. Heck I just wanted some fingers on the end of the boards that matched and would glue up. :rofl: My expectations both of the jig and myself were pretty low. Now I see how easy it is, well they have gone way up.

@ Darren and Paul , all I did was stand the ply up. Never gave it a second thought. But I did have a wooden clamp very large one that I used to clamp the ply to the jig on the side as they do in the demos and the front clamping piece that is setup to match the width of the wood really works well to hold it. Bear in mind the whole thing moves pretty smoothly and you only notching out one tooth at a time. No real biggie. Weight of the board standing on the jig kept it in place.
Really was amazed, came away feeling this Ibox jig is really more than a worthwhile tool. I can now see why Brent has been using his so frequently to knock out a nice box or two for this or that.

BTW I used a Freud SD 608 Dado set, setup to 1/2" for the tooth cuts. Worked like a champion. Its amazing how accurately and easy this dado set can be dialed in.
 
Having your tools stored well is going to put a smile on your face every time you reach for your 6" double square and it is right where you expect it to be :thumb:. I don't get enough shop time to spend it looking for things. Being able to move your frequently used tools with the seasons will also be a treat.

I have the IBOX and until recently had made a test box and then put it (and its many backer boards :rolleyes:) in a drawer. It came out for making Christmas gifts but, your inspiring effort has realigned my thinking. My planes hang from cord on a sheet of pegboard and are deserving of a much better home. Thanks for the push.

Like Bill I wondered about large panels but, that's typical of my over-thinking some things; you just went and did it. Well done :thumb:. It will be great watching this one come together. Sort of a Christmas present to yourself.
 
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