Making a Chisel Cabinet

A simple case for an elemental tool

by Carl Dorsch
W
ood chisels are some of my favorite tools. I have a rath-
er extensive collection that includes two sets of bevel-
edge chisels: one set of five for general work and one
set of seven for fine paring. Rounding out this collection are a cou-
ple of firmer chisels and three mortise chisels that I made. I had
built a large, double-door cabinet for my handplane collection,
and there was enough space on the doors to hang the chisels. But
I knew I would despise the rattling when opening and closing the
cabinet doors; besides, I wanted to store the chisels in their own
case to reflect my appreciation for them.
The small, single-door wall cabinet shown here is perfect for the
chisels. Although a bit extravagant, the cabinet fulfills my storage
needs and was fun and easy to make. Cabinet construction is
straightforward. The two sides are doweled into the bottom and
top, as shown in figure 1 on the facing page, and angle toward the
front at 15; the cross-grain quartersawn oak sides further empha-
size the concave door. The chisel handles rest on narrow shelves
and magnetic strips hold them in place. You could substitute deep-
er shelves and other fasteners to display your favorite collectibles.
Tablesawn cove moldings trim the top and bottom.
Building the cabinetMy chisel cabinet was inspired by James
Krenov. After seeing a curved-panel cabinet he had made, I knew
just what to do with a warped panel left over from another project.
I had glued up the book-matched, in.-thick oak panel, but never
used it because it bowed about in. across its width. While nature
did a good job creating the curved panel that became the door on
my chisel cabinet, a more controlled approach would be to cooper
the door by gluing up beveled staves (see FWW #56, pp. 36-39)
and then shaping the panel with a round-bottom plane. This way,
the door can be made to predetermined specifications to suit your
requirements. For this project, though, I would still make the door
first and then build the cabinet carcase to fit.
Since the door was already done, I began by cutting identical
pieces of oak for the top and bottom so that my cabinet
would be in. wider than the overlaid door. This leaves in.
showing on either side of the door. The ends of the top and bot-
tom are mitered at 15, as shown in figure 1. Crosscut two in.-
thick cabinet sides to 35 in. long and then rip them to 4 in. wide
with the blade tilted to 15 to match the angle of the top and bot-
tom. With the blade still at 15, rip in.-wide by in.-deep rab-
bets on the back inside edges of the sides to accept the cabinet
(continued on p. 84)
The slanting sides of this chisel cabinet em-
phasize the subtle concave curve of the door. Al-
though Dorsch used magnetic strips to secure his chisels, the
cabinet could easily be customized for other types of collectibles.
back. With the blade at 90, cut matching rabbets in the top and
bottom pieces. The cove molding will hide the ends of these rabbets.
If you want shelves in your display cabinet as I did, you should
crosscut their ends 15 to match the angle of the sides. Then dado
the cabinet sides to receive the shelves. I used a marking knife to
trace the outline of each shelf end onto the sides and then I pared
the dadoes with a chisel. You could also rout the dadoes using a
straightedge clamped across the sides as a guide.
To locate and drill the holes for the dowels that join the sides to
the top and bottom, I made the maple doweling jig shown in the
photo below. When using the jig, keep the cleats that are nailed to
the edges of the guide block on the outside and rear surfaces of
each piece, as shown below. Securing the jig to the workpiece
with 4d finishing nails keeps it from shifting during drilling and
the nail holes are hidden when the carcase is assembled. Drill the
dowel holes in. deep to prevent the 1-in.-long dowels from
bottoming. The -in.-thick doweling jig also makes a good depth
stop when inserting the dowels into their holes. (For more on this,
see FWW #70, pp. 69-73.)
Before glue-up, I dry-assembled the carcase to ensure every-
thing fit and the carcase was square. When you are satisfied with
the fit, disassemble the carcase, put glue in the dowel holes in
the cabinet sides and insert the dowels. Then put glue in the holes
in the top and bottom pieces, and assemble and clamp them to
the sides. Measure across the diagonals and clamp as needed to
square up the carcase; don't overtighten the clamps or you will
bow the sides. When the glue has dried, measure and cut the back
to fit into its rabbets. I used in.-thick hardboard, veneered
on the inside face with goncalo alves, for its striking appearance,
and on the other side with mahogany, to balance construction and
prevent bowing. I test-fit the shelves and back, but didn't perma-
nently install them. I'll do this after I apply the finish later
in the construction process.
Making and installing the cove moldingsRather than rout the
edges of the top and bottom, I made and attached cove molding
from a separate piece of straight-grained quartersawn oak. This
eliminated shaping endgrain and also conserved wood by reduc-
ing the thickness needed for the top and bottom. Although the
molding can be made from 1 in.-thick stock, I didn't have any
this size and so I laminated in.-thick poplar to the back of in.-
thick oak. It is easier and safer to make all the molding from two
4-ft.-long pieces of stock and then crosscut and miter the individ-
ual short pieces to length.
I coved the molding by clamping a fence diagonally across the
tablesaw and running the molding stock over the blade at an angle,
taking very small cuts and raising the blade slightly after each cut, as
discussed in FWW #87, p. 51. I then beveled and rabbeted the back
edge of the molding following the sequence of tablesaw cuts
shown in figure 2 on the previous page. When making the fourth
cut, be sure to clamp braces to the tablesaw, as shown, to support
the molding. If your cabinet sides are angled 15, then the mold-
ings should be mitered at If not, you can figure the angle for
each miter by measuring the included angle between the front and
side and dividing this angle by two. Subtract the result from 90 to get
the correct miter-gauge angle, and cut the miters on the tablesaw.
Glue and screw the front pieces of molding to the top and bot-
tom of the cabinet and then fit each side piece individually. If the
miters do not fit as cut on the tablesaw, pare the side molding
miters with a sharp chisel to match the front moldings. After the
front corner miters fit, trim the back ends to length by crosscutting
at 15 Attach the side moldings with a dab of glue and a screw at
the front and with a screw that fits into a slotted, countersunk hole
at the back, to allow for seasonal wood movement.
Hanging the doorFitting the door to the cabinet is the most
critical part of construction because there is little room for error.
Install the moving half of the knife hinges in notches cut in the
door, and then test-fit the door to the cabinet. Because my door
was slightly bowed along its length, I had to spokeshave the cabi-
net sides' edges to accommodate the bow, as well as slightly trim
their 15 bevel to the door's curve. When the door fits, use it to
mark the top and bottom for the locations of the pin half of the
hinges. Pare the hinge mortises with a chisel, but stop short of the
mark for the hinge end. Test-fit the door again, this time by hold-
ing the pin half of the hinge on the door while sliding the hinge
into its mortise. Do this for both the top and bottom. Center the
door on the cabinet by adjusting the length of the hinge mortises.
The door is held closed by two round magnets that are epoxied
into holes drilled into the edge of the unhinged cabinet side.
Strikes for the magnets are epoxied into shallow mortises drilled
into the inside face of the door with a Forstner bit.
Now, remove the door and the hardware before finishing the
cabinet. I applied a light coat of Minwax Golden Oak and rubbed
on a mixture of tung oil and polyurethane. I added extra polyure-
thane to the mixture that was applied to the shelves and bottom
for more protection where the handles of the chisels will rest.
When the finish is completely dry, slide the shelves into their da-
does from the rear, fasten the back panel into its rabbet with 10 #6
by in.-long screws and reinstall the door.
The magnetic strips that hold the chisels are screwed to the
cabinet back from the rear. Although magnetic tool holders are
commercially available, I think they look too bulky and their mag-
netism is so great that they make tool removal awkward. So I made
my own holders, as shown in the detail in figure 1 on the previous
page. For each holder, I used cyanoacrylate to glue three flexible
magnetic strips together and then into a dado in a piece
of oak. Flexible magnetic strips are available from most craft-sup-
ply stores and many mail-order tool companies. The three strips
provide just enough magnetic attraction to keep the chisels in po-
sition, yet allow them to be removed easily.
I hung the cabinet on beveled cleats at the bottom and two
small L-brackets at the top, as shown in figure 1. Cove molding
around the top and bottom hides these attachment fixtures when
the cabinet is hung on the wall.
This jig guides the bit for drilling dowel holes, and serves as a
depth gauge when setting the dowels. Be sure to position the
cleats against the outside and back edges of the workpiece.