Wood cabinets for tool, parts or nuts and bolts or even your socks. please show them

drivesitfar · Jan 17, 2016

Geo: what are the dimensions of that big old cool cabinet? do you have a plan of what you are putting in the drawers?

BB: yes i guess we can drool over a few of those you found. i can't even tell you how much those would sell for up here. some people buy them for sock drawers.

Outlander: nice cabinet and nice that it also has some family history

Tarnished: you bet you can post your Gertsner boxes and please post more pictures of them showing what you have inside them if you use them.

Lilredex: thanks for showing what's inside the drawers. what are you cutting the bottoms off of to make those plastic containers? plastic oil containers or do tell?

lilredex · Jan 17, 2016

Yes, those are 1 LTR, oil jugs cut down. Easily done if you slice into them with a blade, then cut down, and around, to the height needed with a pair of snips.

The cardboard nail boxes are the packaging that used to be sold in stores, they can also be made up from Coke box cardboard, or similar, like the CC sleeve below.

geologist · Jan 18, 2016

drivesitfar said:
Geo: what are the dimensions of that big old cool cabinet? do you have a plan of what you are putting in the drawers?

There are 54 drawers total. The cabinet is 49" wide, 60" tall, and 18" deep.

The top-most 52 drawers are 11" wide, 4" tall, and 16" deep.

The bottom-most drawers (2) are double drawers. They are 24" wide, 6" tall, and 16" deep.

Every drawer can have a center divider, and multiple smaller dividers. They're all cut for these, and almost all of the drawers have dividers in place. Each section of the cabinet is boxed in, independent of the rest. I could scrap every drawer in it and still have 54 separated storage areas. :thumbup:

It was a pain in the *** to load it in my Silverado (along with another bin-type storage unit of similar size), but at least I had help loading it. It was just me unloading it, which required a good bit of manipulation and using a wee bit of leverage and high school physics to make it easier. It was still tiresome.

I have no idea on the weight, but the drawers and faces are solid pine. The bottoms of the drawers are Lauan ply. The center dividers are pine, but the cell dividers are Lauan. Those boxed in cells where drawers slide in... You guessed it... pine sides and facing, Lauan *shelves*. The left, right, and back side are all either 3/4 or 1" plywood (didn't take an exact measurement).

There are dings, shop dust, grease, etc. but it's still ridiculously solid.

I paid $75 for the cabinet, but when I got there to pick it up, he gave me the matching bins you see beside it:

So, all in all, I'm in it for $37.50 a piece. Realistically, you couldn't buy the drawer pulls and label holders for $75. I also ended up getting a nice pedestal grinder for.... $20.

Waterlooboy2hp · Jan 18, 2016

I guess this counts. It is both old & new. I made this a number of weeks back to hold the tooling and all the parts, for 2 products I produce.

The top, sides and bottom are made from scraps of industrial packing crate wood and held together with glue & wooden pegs. (Some of the wood from the 1940s).

I used the wall mount brackets, that came with the bins, on the inside and short oval head SS screws.

The 4 back panels are from a store delivery packing crate, that had Pears in it, from the 1950s.

The Oak ******** the back was added to straighten out one of the panels, that was bowed inward. The strap was part of the keel, on a 42 foot sailboat, that was built in 1898. It was a shallow draft boat, with a drop centerboard and used on Great South Bay, off of Long Island.

Prettied it up with a router, a bit of brass bling, some dark Walnut stain with 2 coats of semi-gloss Polyurethane and there you have it. Maybe I have to much time on my hands. ---- John

tombell572 · Jan 25, 2016

My wife and I go to quite a few tag sales and have found many treasures over the years. The first photo is a 40 drawer cabinet found in the basement of a family that had once owned hardware store. They took it home after the store was closed. It had been painted gray over the dark stained oak when I found it and had a few other problems. I repaired some broken drawers then stripped, stained and refinished it.

The second pic is a jeweler's workbench also rescued from a basement. It must have sat in water for quite a while since there was quite bit of rot in the bottom. The two large doors on the right cover what was a knee well. I Installed shelves and made the doors. It had been painted light green over the original dark stain finish. It now houses tooling for my machine tools.

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drivesitfar · Jan 26, 2016

Dex: nice idea on how to hang your carpenter squares.

Geo: i feel your pain having to move those big cabinets yourself, but look like they have found a goid home.

2hp: nice and thanks for showing and telling how you built it.

Tom: of course those are amazing. Care to share what you put in drawers and maybe a few more pics?

nine4gmc · Jan 26, 2016

Awesome cabinets guys, keep the pics coming!

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Empty Pockets · Jan 28, 2016

Being a wood butcher, I am jealous of you guys..... but it gives me some ideas on the odd chance I find similar pieces

lilredex · Jan 30, 2016

Cannot imagine the amount of work it took to rehabilitate those finishes, Tom, very nice work.

Fixed that jeweller's bench picture for a better look...hope you don't mind.

Gasgt1 · Feb 1, 2016

A couple of the wooden cabinets in my shop

Gasgt1 · Feb 1, 2016

Dennis Leigh Henry · Feb 2, 2016

Drivesitfar, another great thread..

Here is a wooden parts bin from my father's auction / estate.. I didn't land it as it went for upwards of $500.. a bit too steep for my blood..

Dennis

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nine4gmc · Feb 2, 2016

Nice boxes Gas!

Dennis, you always post the coolest things! Thanks for sharing!

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Gasgt1 · Feb 2, 2016

Dennis, I have always wanted a wooden cabinet like the one you posted.
Can never find one or afford it if I do.

Looks like a build project sometime.
I already have more wood stashed than I can use in a lifetime (or 2)..............All i need is a bit more time to pull it off :dunno:

Dennis Leigh Henry · Feb 3, 2016

nine4gmc said:
Nice boxes Gas!

Dennis, you always post the coolest things! Thanks for sharing!

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Three more from my father's estate... The 21 drawer workbench went for $800...

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drivesitfar · Feb 3, 2016

Dennis: thanks a lot for sharing the pictures of your Dad's old wood cabinets. i agree those library and small wood cabinets would be awesome to own and not cheap if you happen to find some. i had no idea the bench with drawers would sell for so much. you can practically get them for free around here if you have the ability to haul them out of a garage or basement.

ALL: so one of the worst decisions i've made in a while was not buying this old hardware store cabinet full of NOS screws and nuts and bolts for $250. i know, but damn thing was so heavy even empty and i really didn't have a place to put it at the time a year ago and probably still don't. i still like it so thought i'd share and see if any of you do too.

keep posting up those wood tool boxes and cabinets as you can and if i didn't acknowledge yours just know that i enjoyed the pictures and your post a lot so post more if you can. also post the insides of the drawers and how you have filled them because most of us need ORGANIZING skills.

Davefr · Feb 3, 2016

Drives,
Another great thread!

At first I thought someone else had the same cabinet as mine in your first post but it is mine!! Saves me the trouble of posting!!

Here are a couple. Old Gerstner signed by the craftsman that built it 3/1/1946.

And a dentist's cabinet found at a garage sale from the late dentists daughter (combination of wood and metal).

drivesitfar · Feb 3, 2016

Dave: i was hoping you would make your way over to this thread. also hoping that maybe you'd post a few more pictures of before, during and after the restoration of that cool old wood cabinet you restored. also if you want to tell how you made drawers for the ones that were missing. if i remember correctly some of the drawers only had the fronts and you made the drawers or did you end up making a few fronts too. in any case it is and maybe was in your case if you have sold it a fantastic cabinet.

cheers and thanks for the kudos. i have a lot of ideas for threads and some are good and take a little time to get going and of course there are those that just don't seem to work. i think this one and the metal cabinet one i started will be great once the guys (and gals) get more of their stuff on them.

I've passed on a few of those old dentist cabinets mostly because of cost, but some have been missing sides or parts and not sure how to make to restore them.

Davefr · Feb 3, 2016

drivesitfar said:
Dave: i was hoping you would make your way over to this thread. also hoping that maybe you'd post a few more pictures of before, during and after the restoration of that cool old wood cabinet you restored.

I'll see if I can find more images of the wood cabinet restoration. In the meantime here's a few more wood cases from a different perspective.

beatcad · Feb 3, 2016

not wood exactly, but related.
yesterday i got a suprize gift from a good friend.
a cover w/ my initials for one of my older large Gerstners.

rlitman · Feb 3, 2016

Davefr said:
And a dentist's cabinet found at a garage sale from the late dentists daughter (combination of wood and metal).

I've got a dentist's cabinet that has to be made by the same company. It's my favorite cabinet.

Did someone paint white over the drawer pulls on yours? Mine has black pulls.

The back of the top on mine hides away and pops up. And the black plastic top on mine was trashed, so I put a CL sourced butcherblock top on it.

The top drawers on mine (the most used ones) were bottomless frames (I think for holding a sterilized tray of tools). But that's not very useful to me, because even with a drawer bottom added, you lose a lot of space so I swapped them with I think the 5th drawer down, and swapped the handles so everything still looks right.

I've got to take a picture of it later...

Davefr · Feb 3, 2016

rlitman said:
Did someone paint white over the drawer pulls on yours? Mine has black pulls.

I'm not sure. The top lid, pulls and bottom are all the same trim color. My hunch is that they were available from the factory that way. They don't look hand painted.

These things are built like "brick shithouses" but there's wasted space given all the wooden carcass structure.

Stuart in MN · Feb 3, 2016

Davefr said:
I'll see if I can find more images of the wood cabinet restoration. In the meantime here's a few more wood cases from a different perspective.

Those tube cases bring back memories of the guy who would come to our house to repair the television when I was a kid.

Dennis Leigh Henry · Feb 4, 2016

Stuart in MN said:
Those tube cases bring back memories of the guy who would come to our house to repair the television when I was a kid.

Yeah... I was going to say the same thing.

Davefr, those look terrific and appear to be in very nice shape.. Thanks for sharing..

drivesitfar · Feb 4, 2016

Dave: those old TV repair boxes are WAAAAAY to Coooool. are they all yours? BTW i think i have a box of NOS picture tubes in original cases you might want to trade something to have them to fill up your cases?

post up more pictures and the steps you did to make that AWESOME wood cabinet you restored when you have time. did you sell it or do you have it sitting inside your house or garage still?

BEAT: never had a clue Gertsners had a cover, but yes it's pretty cool. post up more pictures of your old Gerts and other wood cabinets and tool boxes when you get a few minutes. don't you have maybe 20 of them by now?

ALL: thanks for all the posts and hope to see a few more before i head to the big tool boxes in the sky. don't be shy about pictures too because you know one just isn't enough.

thanks

zkling · Feb 4, 2016

Since Dave brought them up...

tombell572 · Feb 4, 2016

lilredex, thanks for the compliment and cleaning up my photo.

Gasgt1, beautiful cabinets and I especially like what's in them!

Tom B.

Tarnished · Feb 6, 2016

So many really cool cabinets here. Would love to have some of them in my shop.
Per Drives request, I will post my most recent grab.

Picked this up at local antiques market, and couldn't get it out the door fast enough. :lol:

Walnut W52 top chest, and WB52 base in good condition, (with both keys).

Has seen bit of use, but not abused. Should clean up nicely.
Will make fine addition to my growing wooden chest collection.

Perhaps someone can help me date it? I'm thinking pre '75, based on label. :dunno:

DBendr · Feb 6, 2016

So much more class :thumbup:

than these Lime Green-Urine Yellow abortions with USB connectors, shock absorbers and towelette dispensers for tear removal every time you make a pmt. and see you still owe thousands on the damn things.

DBendr · Feb 6, 2016

That dentist cabinet is a class act ! I bet you can almost hear the screams when you pull a pair of vice grips out of the drawer :eyecrazy:

rlitman · Feb 6, 2016

DBendr said:
That dentist cabinet is a class act ! I bet you can almost hear the screams when you pull a pair of vice grips out of the drawer

. Nah, I hear the song from Little Shop of Horrors.

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Davefr · Feb 6, 2016

DBendr said:
That dentist cabinet is a class act ! I bet you can almost hear the screams when you pull a pair of vice grips out of the drawer

...or when you open that top and see all the drill bits.

I think that porcelin tray is where the dentist originally kept the giant hypodermic novacaine needles.

It makes a good place to keep Dremel bits.

nine4gmc · Feb 6, 2016

I've got outbid on the last two dental cabinets like those above... One day, one will be mine for cheap!

Hankoh · Feb 7, 2016

I recently built this simple wall shelf unit to hold plastic coffee and drink mix containers I have collected over recent years. I find the containers handy for storing fasteners and various type of hardware, especially for my woodworking and general household repairs. I can easily take a container to my workbench or other repair/jobsite. Since my shop is an in an old barn and I have a variety of old and new fixtures I decided to paint the shelf unit with milkpaint.

Gasgt1 · Feb 7, 2016

Nice use of salvaged containers.
I remember all of the old timers making those up with baby food jars.

Hankoh · Feb 7, 2016

Gasgt1 said:
Nice use of salvaged containers.
I remember all of the old timers making those up with baby food jars.

Thanks. Yes, an old but good idea. Good thing is these plastic containers don't leave broken glass all over when you drop them like the baby jars or mason jars!

MarkG · Feb 7, 2016

Here's mine. I built it probably 20 years ago based on one in 'The Toolbox Book', Taunton Press, but only recently took a decent pic of it. I use it for my basic hand tools and trim carpentry tools.

I have a custom-built mobile base cabinet/planer stand infeed-outfeed table cabinet too, made of MDF and painted, but there's too much other stuff sitting on it right now to take a respectable picture. :S

Tarnished · Feb 7, 2016

Great re-use of the coffee cans. I remember only buying coffee in the 1lb size for months just to get the small cans.

Nice dove tail work on the tote Mark. Like the drawers for nails?? The one I pick up most often is a metal one much like yours without the drawers. Has no class, but easy to pack and go... You've given me inspiration to make a wooden model. :beer:

MarkG · Feb 7, 2016

Thanks! The drawers just have an ever-changing mix of smaller tools, small square, trim prybars, just a lot of various 'junk', beam compass points, compasses, a little wax container for screws, etc. Usually, the top open tray is loaded with a variety of stuff too, but for the sake of the photo, I removed about 75% of it. :S

Dennis Leigh Henry · Feb 7, 2016

Gasgt1 said:
Nice use of salvaged containers.
I remember all of the old timers making those up with baby food jars.

Yes, nice job Hankoh.. When I was a kid my father had all his nails, screws, bolts, etc. in metal coffee cans.. Its a fond memory, and how I started right after getting married...

Wood cabinets for tool, parts or nuts and bolts or even your socks. please show them

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