I built myself a carpenter's tool chest from pine. It's based on a very old tool chest that was brought to America by a Dutch immigrant a couple of hundred years ago.
With the lid open, two slats can be removed which allows the front of the tool box to be removed revealing a couple of drawers and a hand plane storage area.
Laying out the dovetail joints that will attach the bottom of the toolbox to the sides.
Gang-cutting the tails in the sides with a tenon saw.
Removing the waste from between the pins with a coping saw. I'll clean up the pins with a chisel.
Cutting the dados in the sides that will hold the bottom of the tool well and the bottom of the drawer compartment. I'll chop away most of the waste from between the saw kerfs with a chisel and mallet.
Cleaning up the floor of a dado with my model 45 combination plow plane.
The back is made from some vertical grain tongue and groove flooring that I salvaged. I didn't quite have enough material for the back so I hand made a couple of pieces of tongue and groove pine to complete the back. Old fashioned cut-nails hold the back to the sides and shelves.
The bottom, and shelves have to have notches cut in them to accommodate the slats that will hold the front of the toolbox in place.
I made the slats from cherry. They have holes to act as finger pulls.
The drop front of the toolbox has a half round rabbeted nosing the covers the expansion joint between the drop front and the front of the tool well.
The case is assembled with glued dovetails as well as glued and nailed dadoes.
I used a tongue and groove plane to prepare the lid stock for edge gluing.
Edge gluing the lid. The battens hold the work piece flat to the bench top and the end vice clamps the tongue and groove joints together for edge gluing.
Flattening the lid with a smoothing plane.
I planed a thumbnail profile into the long grain front edge of the lid with a combination plane.
Hand planing the thumbnail profile into the edges of the lid is more challenging. I started by planing a rebate with a shoulder plane.
I crudely formed the thumbnail across the grain with a block plane.
The stanley 55 combination plane does the last little bit of planing to fine tune the thumbnail profile across the grain.
A light sanding cleans up the cross grain handplane marks.
I outfitted the tool well with a saw till, a rack for my carpentry chisels and some small dividers to hold a few handplanes.
The shelf wasn't as useful as I had hoped so I build a couple of drawers to occupy that space.
I build maple drawers with half blind dovetails at the drawer fronts and through dovetails at the back.
I cut out a couple of half circles to serve as finger pulls for opening the drawers.
The drawer on the left has a sliding tool tray.
Thumbnail profile.
Dovetail joinery.
I'm happy with my new tool box.
The drop front is a clever design.
A time tested design.