Building Easy Shop Cabinets

[THyman]

What did you use to finish yours. I am making a drill press tabletop with drawers and have not determined what to use.

[Tom Clark]

finish?

My shop cabinets get finished with satin polyurethane to bring out that golden glow of oak plywood.

[LarryG]

Just tricks of the wide angle lens makes it look huge. ... Shop is 40x45. Building is 40x60.

In other words, it's huge. But as we've discussed before ... please don't take that as a negative comment, or one born of jealousy. Shops like yours give the rest of us something to aspire to someday, and we're all happy you're hear sharing your knowledge and experience with us.

I'm glad this thread was bumped, as that reminds me I've yet to remember to order your book.

Tom, looking at the various pictures of your shop, I just now realized what I think is missing: a central dust collection system. I see a shop vac or two sitting around, but I don't recall seeing a DC or cyclone and its attendant duct work. Do you not have one? (Maybe it's there and my memory is faulty; I don't have my copy of the magazine at hand.)

[Tom Clark]

yes to dust

Larry,

In keeping with my lazy ways, I did not put in dust collector piping. Things are spread out too much. My band saw has a 1hp dust collector. I use it a lot and it use to make a giant cloud of dust. The table saw, shaper, and planer all share one G1029. Very simple plumbing by having them all together. It just didn't show in the other shop photo.

[gettools]

Tom,
I bought your book & just wanted to say thanks for sharing. If I can gleen just a little bit from everybody here I might not make so many mistakes & have alot more time to enjoy the shop. THANKS

[Woodshark]

Tom,

Another kudo for your book. Mine just arrived yesterday. May I say that it is the best $13 I have spend for any educational material ever. Lots of detailed photos, which are a big help when you are trying to visualize a project.

Thank you for providing a easier way to create what most of us need; more shop cabinets and storage.

A word of advice, if you order the book, it might come in a "Amateur Astronomy" envelope. I almost threw mine away thinking it was junk mail.

[dgee28]

What is the best way to wall mount the cabinets?

Hi Tom,

Enjoyed you book very much. I would like to mount the cabinets on the wall. What is the best way to support the extra weight? Would 1/2" back panel strong enough?

David

[Tom Clark]

Wall mounts?

David,

I have never hung cabinets on a wall, as all my wall space is usually taken up with machines or tall floor cabinets. Anyway, let's let others answer this question, perhaps in a new post.

I think 1/2" backs would be fine, but I would dado them into the sides rather than just nailing them on the back. That would put all the pressure the wrong way on the nails - thus asking for eventual failure of the joint.

Tom

[rnelson0]

Enjoyed you book very much. I would like to mount the cabinets on the wall. What is the best way to support the extra weight? Would 1/2" back panel strong enough?

I just saw Nahm's show on the wall-mounted tool box. He used a thicker back (I *believe* it was 1/2" but not sure) that was slightly recessed from the back by a little over 1/2". The back was dado'ed into the sides. Then he took a 1x8 board that was the proper length to fit the width of the recessed back. He cut it in half lengthwise at a 45" angle. He secured the top half to the top of the tool box from the inside. He then secured the bottom half to the wall. He said when he installed it he would hang the box on that wood, then secure it again to that wood.

Unfortunately, that was the oldest show I had recorded on Friday. Add the four shows I recorded over the weekend, and I never got to see the end of it. It seemed like a nice and easy way to hang a cabinet when the back can afford being recessed (or you don't need a flush mount) but I didn't see it through to completion. Also, his cabinet was only about 6" deep though it was meant to hold some heavy tools in it. With a deeper cabinet you might need a second block at the bottom to secure to.

[jovani]

easy shop cabinets

Tom, thanks for putting together the book. I received mine and read it all in one day and have been reading again. Now what we need is a video with some extra diagrams, for those of us that are newbies and slow to learn unless we see things been done.

Jovani

[gjat]

I've got the book (and love it's simple practiclity).

Tom doesn't have hanging cabinets because drawers are most efficient and you aren't going to hang those above eye-level. If you have to have cabinets in a shop, I've always used a hanger rail incorporated with a stiffener. The thought of a cabinet falling apart and the contents dumping because I overloaded a weak cabinet makes the extra effort more than worthwhile.

[JimD]

I use a hanging rail and a 1/4 plywood back. If you recess the back so you can scribe to the wall, it might be important how strong the back is but I usually do not recess it significantly, my walls have been OK. With the back of the cabinet on the wall, friction is the main thing holding the cabinet up. The fastener just pulls the cabinet against the wall so the friction is high.

The best illustration of this was a cabinet in our former house. I made new cabinets and installed them one at a time when possible due to limited shop space. This cabinet was wide, maybe 36 inches, and held all our daily dishes - it was over top of the dishwasher. When I removed it, I found it was hanging by one drywall screw. The other one had been put into the waste stack and had rusted off long ago. I plugged the hole in the pipe, removed the drywall that was moldy, and hung the replacement cabinet correctly (4 screws, two through the hanging rail into studs and two at the bottom with washers throught the 1/4 plywood).

Jim

[Woodshark]

Tom,

I read the book again last night and had question. You described how you layout the cabinet with drawer heights and locations. OK, got that. My question is has to do with calculating exactly where to install the doublers for the drawer slides.

Lets say, to use one of the examples in the book, we have a 10" drawer that starts 22.25 down from the top. We draw a pencil line across at 22.25.

For a typical bottom mount drawer slide, is the doubler installed with the top of the doubler flush to the line, bottom flush to the line or dead center on the line?

I know I'm way over-thinking this. If I was actually building one, it probably would be obvious, but I keep thinking there needs to be some vertical adjustment for the height of the drawer slide hardware.

[Tom Clark]

slides go on bottom of the drawer

Tom,
I know I'm way over-thinking this. If I was actually building one, it probably would be obvious, but I keep thinking there needs to be some vertical adjustment for the height of the drawer slide hardware.

Woodshark. I like that! Nice handle! Turn down the record player. you have the theme to JAWS playing too loudly - looking to complicate the simple.

The slides go on the bottom of the drawer. The doublers go where the slides go. Look at the photos in the book and it is clear. The only catch is to put the bottom drawer at least 1/4" above the bottom face frame for clearance for the drawer bottom. The doublers are 1.5 wide, but the slides are slightly smaller than that. There is the adjustment your mind is looking for.

You are right - when building a cabinet with all the parts in front of you it becomes much easier than trying to sort it all out in your mind. That is why building cabinets is far easier than writing the book to show others how to do it, or writing a post to describe and explain the process.

I am grateful to everyone for the 6000 views of this post. I hope that 5000 of you are now out in your shop and building much needed shop cabinets. There is no such thing as too many drawers in a shop!

[vanguard]

Then he took a 1x8 board that was the proper length to fit the width of the recessed back. He cut it in half lengthwise at a 45" angle. He secured the top half to the top of the tool box from the inside. He then secured the bottom half to the wall. He said when he installed it he would hang the box on that wood, then secure it again to that wood.

I think I've heard Norm refer to this as a French cleat.