Inspired by the handcrafted tool chest on the back of Fine Woodworking’s latest issue of tools and shops with french-fitted compartments for frequently used hand tools, I have challenged myself to build one for myself. Before any tool is lifted or wood is selected, I needed to design the chest. And the best way to design the chest is to work from the inside out – to determine which tools would make the cut and which ones would be left out. I decided that power tools would be automatically cut. My goal is a traditional tool chest. No circular saws or electric drills here. I tried to think of tools which would be used on a regular basis and not include too many specialty tools. I also tried to avoid any redundancies while including enough tools to work efficiently. This is the list I came up with:
