Building Easy Shop Cabinets

[Tom Clark]

More Photos

These two photos show what I meant about no longer using doors under eye level. The four-drawer bench was built in my early woodworking days. At first I liked it very much, but before long began to dread having to try to find anything that wasn’t in the drawers.

The shelves below were full of paints, stains, tools, and many other things. Most of the time you had to get down on your knees with a flashlight to find whatever you were looking for. It wasn’t long before the idea of a replacement bench with all drawers was dreamed up! The old four-drawer became a permanent base for my radial arm saw. The shelves below are used for storage of items that you don’t use every day.

Construction of both benches is identical to the cabinets show above, other than both have a single layer of 3/4 plywood for tops, and the 18-drawer bench top was covered with Formica. (It makes cleaning up paint spills a lot easier.) Single layer tops are fine for tool benches unless you are hammering on them frequently. Then they seem to be a bit “springy.” (Parts tend to bounce around instead of the bench top absorbing the blows.)

To tell the truth, once you have built your first drawer unit or two, all-drawer benches become as easy to build as ones that contain shelves, and they are so much more convenient to use.

[steve-norrell]

These two photos show what I meant about no longer using doors under eye level. The four-drawer bench was built in my early woodworking days. At first I liked it very much, but before long began to dread having to try to find anything that wasn’t in the drawers.

I echo this sentiment - more and more so as this 70 year old back gets even older.

In shop-made cabinets where doors were already installed or in store-bought cabinets, I have installed sliding shelves. Use 3/4in plywood and side or bottom mounting 100% drawer sliders. Working around the cabinet frame and door may cost some shelf surface area, but the savings on your back is a well-worth-it trade-off.

Regards, Steve.

[RyanM]

Edging?

Tom, how do you finish the edges of the plywood face frames? I do not see laminated edging in the pics. Do you edge band?

[paulstenlund]

Tom
What length drawer slides do you use. I'll be starting soon for a small saw thats been sitting on my workmate. I'm thinking you screw the side piece of the slider onto your side/center braces. Screw the bottom mount piece onto the drawer box and insert drawer. I'm thinking 22" sliders

[coxy]

Guys,

I don't know Tom from adam, but I did order his book on shop cabinets a few weeks ago. Best money I have spent on a book in a long time. It explains everything you need to build exactly what he is explaining. Lots of pics and ideas. Not associated in any way just a satisified (very) customer. Thanks again Tom.

Randy

[tedkitch]

Can someone post a link to Tom's book from Amazon so that the site gets the referral credit?

Thanks,

[radhak]

I don't think he sells it on Amazon. You get it pretty low-cost at his site itself : http://www.shop-cabinets.com/

[Tom Clark]

Bare Naked?

Tom, how do you finish the edges of the plywood face frames? I do not see laminated edging in the pics. Do you edge band?

Ryan:
For shop cabinets I leave the edges of the plywood unfinished! I never would have had the guts to try it, except that I built hundreds of telescopes in this manner, and surprisingly, they look quite nice. I know this sounds like sacrilege, but if you could walk through my shop and see the cabinets you would realize that sometimes breaking the rules works out quite nicely. For all cabinets destined for inside the home, face frames were made from solid oak, and they really look professional - but I still maintain that it is overkill for simple shop cabinets.

Paul: I use 22.5" slides, and you guessed right on their installation. They are very simple to install and work great!

[TB Roye]

My small 10 x12 shop need a major reorganization. I got Tom's book yesterday and spent last eventing and this afternoon going through and measuring up my shop. I plan on building the 18 drawer cabinet to put along one wall of my shop. I figure I can get rid of all the white Melmine cabinets I have and will have plenty of storage. This will free up two walls for other things. The thing I like about Tom's approach is it is simple (KISS) and can be done fairly fast and have good results. I love learning all the other joinery methods, but for the shop it won't turn into a major project, that will take weeks to complete. Being retired I should be able to get this done in 3 or 4 days. Taking my normal afternoon naps and grand daughter breaks. I do have a couple of more complicated projects lined up but need to get some working room first. Great book Tom well worth the money, less than $13 shipped. and beat a book on turning ordered 3 days before and costing $10 more getting here. For a begining woodworker it is a good way to start simple and work into the more complicated aspects of woodworking later.

Tom

[bigstick509]

[billme]

Very nice,

I am a beginner at woodworking and your photos sure do provide inspiration. Cabinets was going to by my first priority, once my table saw arrives.

thanks,

[Tom Clark]

Machine stands

Dear Billme,

Since you dug up this old post from last summer, I might as well add a photo to it. In the first post I was talking about the making every inch of space count in our workshops. below is a recent photo that shows some cabinets that are near 20 years old and some of the first I ever made. If I was building them today, most of them would have all drawers instead of shelves, as drawer units hold far more. Shelves do make a place to hold larger items that won't fit into drawers, so you do need a few of them.

All machine stands have been tossed and all my small machines sit on cabinets that double as stands and storage areas. Here we have two belt sanders, two disk sanders, a jig saw and a scroll saw, two drill presses, a radial arm saw, bench grinders, and an oscillating spindle sander all sharing a very small area, while providing a tremendous amount of storage area underneath the same space! These cabinets are capable of easily supporting hundreds of pounds of weight. The center cabinet has around 700 pounds sitting on it, yet I have walked on top of the cabinet while working on the shop also! The simple cabinets shown under construction in this post are quite strong while being simple to make.

When you build your own 'machine stands' that work double duty by providing useful storage space, your shop space is increased many times. And who couldn't use more shop space?

Tom

[milanuk]

Tom,

I haven't noticed too many pictures of your shop that show many wall cabinets - the kind you'd hang over a work bench, etc.

Any particular reason you don't go for those so much?

Thanks,

Monte

[Tom Clark]

wall cabinets

Monte,

Good question. Personal preferences, I guess. I just don't have a lot of reachable wall space. My previous three shops had concrete block walls, which are easy to hang things on, but the current steel building does not have walls like those.

Another reason is that at 5'8" I am rather short and can only reach so high. My workbenches are not against walls, but in the middle of the shop. I do have shelves over the workbenches to hold things that are in constant use.

Another reason is that I have tried to not build built-ins. I am in my fourth shop in the last 35 years. People usually move every seven years on average. Another reason is that I am hooked on drawers. They hold more since you can fill them to the tops, and are easy to find things in.

Wall cabinets would be fine if you have a bare space going to waste. Just hang them on cleats, strips of wood with a 45˚ angle on the top, and a matching cleat on the cabinet back.

[gjat]

Very practical and efficient. What kind of joinery is done to make the drawers?