Tool Chest For My Most-Used (and Most-Often-Lost) Items

As COVID lockdowns set in across the country, I turned to a big project I had been keeping on the backburner to keep my mind busy. This is a 4-foot by 2-foot, handmade tool chest that now sits on the back ledge of my workbench. Every tool placement and custom tool holder was carefully thought out, created, and glued or screwed in place. The Forstner bit holder even has imprinted sizes of the bits for easy locating (not shown).

The carcass is 1×6 Select Pine (knot-free) with box joints in the corners. The doors are a sheet of 1/4” plywood, cut in two and overlapped for as much continuous grain as I could manage. The door rails (in red, at top and bottom) are red oak stained with Minwax Sedona Red.

I’m quite proud of this piece, and it’s served me well every day since.

Thanks for looking!