Here it is with the lid closed. I haven't decided what hardware to use on it and am waiting to see what turns up at the local flea market. The lid is massive because it holds a tilt-out saw till which has a four saw capacity. In addition, there are six backsaws which are held by handle fixtures.

This view is from the back and shows the hinged supports that hold up the lid. The tops of the supports are not cut square but are at a 5 degree angle so that the lid may tilt back slightly when open. I got this idea from the 'Toolbox Book' by Jim Tolpin.

This view shows the toolchest with the lid upright, both of the two sliding tills, and the lid with the sawtill in the upright and locked position. The sawtill is made of mahogany and curly maple, mainly because they were what I had at hand.

This view shows the saw till leaning forward. This allows easier storage and retrieval of the handsaws and allows access to the Disston backsaw and Jackson dovetail saw which are held in place by handle fixtures. My Independence Tools dovetail saw (#187) is positioned above the saw till.

This view shows the empty saw till and the backsaws. When upright, the saw till is held in place with a wooden catch. The till is attached to the lid with two hinges.

This is a recent view of the left side of the lid. It's been four years since I finished the toolchest and I've managed to cram in fixtures for my wooden spokeshave (with Ron Hock iron), my favorite Buck Bros. paring chisel and fret saw.

This is a recent view of the right side of the lid. As above, it's been a few years since I finished the toolchest and I've been busy obsessively using up empty space. I've added fixtures for my Boker pocket knife, 'best' D.B&S.reference square, two Disston 10" backsaws, a Disston veneer saw and Dunlop 'pizza wheel' marking gage.

The open handled dovetail saw is a Pete Taran era 'Independence Tools' saw.

This is a view of the chest lid with the current set of handsaws. I have more saws than I can fit in the chest so I rotate them. Currently, housed are a 'H. Disston & Sons' thumbhole rip, 'Disston Phila' #12 crosscut, a 'Disston Phila' #16 crosscut and 'H. Disston & Son' #9 crosscut.

I'm beginning to run out of room. Actually there are still a few nooks and crannies to store things in, I guess it just depends on how much packing density I want to achieve.

Here are the two sliding tills. The upper till holds my layout tools. The Superior Tools marking knife and rules (far end of upper till) are housed in slots plowed into pine pieces. The layout tools in the middle of the till are all French fitted as is my Stanley #79 side-rabbet plane. The near end of the till holds block planes and such.

The lower till holds 'boring' stuff such as drill bits, hex screwdriver tips, doweling jigs, and various such Galoot accessories. A block plane, a Stanley #71 router plane and a Stanley #93 shoulder plane are in the near end of the till.

The upper till has been lifted out here to show some detail of the lower till. The drill bits etc., are held in troughs which were plowed into pine with a Stanley #45 combination plane and a nosing blade. I hit upon the idea of using U-shaped troughs after finding it difficult to retrieve round slender bits from the square bottomed recesses in standard toolboxes. A sliding section (lower end of till here) allows access to more bits in the bottom of the till. To the north of the troughs a punch block holds hex screwdriver bits. Nearby is a Stanley #59 doweling jig and the #71 router. The small gray pieces between the ends of the till and the side of the runner are Teflon(TM) tabs that are designed to be placed under furniture. They have eliminated any racking of the tills. The Teflon tabs are also used to support the tills on the runners. The runners are sugar maple strips which are glued to softer wood. I was running low on maple.

Here the tills have been removed to show the bottom of the chest. Two bays hold a modest assortment of woodies, a half set of hollows and rounds, a ECE scrub plane, a Jackson backsaw with an attached fence, spoke pointer, hollow auger and miscellaneous tools I couldn't fit in the lid or tills. To the right, a chisel till holds a couple of dozen chisels and half a dozen squares. The chisel till is fully enclosed and a fixture on the side of the till holds my Witherby 7" drawknives.

In this view, a few of the chisels and squares have been removed to show the blade slots.

This view shows the completed toolchest placed behind my bench and in use. My Rack O' Eggbeaters, and sundry other articles are hanging off of or on the shelves above the toolchest. The shelves on the left wall are hanging from stringers which are attached to the sill plate on the concrete block foundation of my basement. At the end of the bench is my Shelf O' Planes.

It's a cozy little shop. Yep. Cozy.

This is a schematic of the construction technique used to assemble the basic box.

This illustrates the design for the lid.