Two Story Toolbox

Here are the instructions on how it make a toolbox with attached tray.

 Buy one 8’ of 2”x 6” piece of pine, one 8’ of 2”x8” piece of pine and a 1’ 0f 1”x6” piece of walnut. 

The first step is to cut all the wood into its different parts. When you cut them, make them slightly bigger than they need to be.. Give them about half an inch extra to make sure you have room for the kerf or checking. For this cut you would use a sliding compound mitre saw because its a cross cut (against the grain).

They all have the same 3/4”thickness

The size you will need at the end are:

2 7 1/4”W x 28”L for the sides

2 6 1/2”W x 14”L for the ends

1 7 1/4”W x 27 1/4”L for the bottom

2 3 1/2”W x 28”L for the tray sides

2 3 1/2”W x 6 1/2”L for the tray ends

1 6 1/2”W x 26 1/2”L for the tray bottom

Add half an inch to all of them to compensate for kerf and checking (kerf is the material that the saw cuts off (the width of the blade) checking is minor splitting at the end of a piece of wood).

Cut each piece to their finishing length on the compound mitre saw.

Rip the sides for the toolbox and tray on the table saw to finish sides (ripping is with the grain).

Use the sliding compound mitre saw to cut the angles on the end pieces..

Lay out and drill a 1 1/2” hole in the end pieces for the handle on the drill press.

We necked down the dowel for the handle from 2” to 1 ½” on each end on the lathe to fit the holes in the end pieces.

Use the wobble head dado attachment on the radial arm saw to crate dados in the sides of the main box to receive the bottom.

Clamp it all together in order to make sure it all fits.

Disassemble, glue up, reassemble and clamp it all together again. You can put most of it together without screws at this point by using carpenters glue and fitting the bottom into the dados.

Lay out screw holes with a tape measure.

Drill the holes using an electric drill with a tapered drill bit and counter sink attachment.

Screw the whole thing together with 2” screws using the impact driver with a Robertson # 2 tip.

Cut plugs out of walnut to hide the screw heads. This is done on the drill press with the plug cutter attachment.

Glue the plugs up and tap them in place with a mallet.

After the glue dries, cut the plugs off flush with the surface saw first then smoothing them out with the surface plane.

This is the vary tedious part, sanding. You are going to need to sand everything, inside and out. You can use a random orbital sander with 150 grit paper for most of it, but some of it will have to be done by hand.

You will need to cut two 4” x 6 1/2” alignment strips out of pine. They will be used to guide the top piece on the bottom. , you want them to fit nicely. glue them into position.

Lay out and install the hardware that holds the tray to the box with a #2 Philips screw driver. Make sure the hardware is located in the right position before you screw it on. Screw them in place and you're done.

To personalize your project, it is possible to use a letter template and a router to put your name on it.

Engrave your name with the router and a letter template kit. First clamp it on the part where you want it. (make sure it is centered). Then use a router to engrave your name on the part.

Paint over the name with acrylic black paint and let it dry (you may have to do this multiple times).

When it's dry, go over it with the random orbital sander with 150 grit paper until there is no extra paint.