How To Make a Tool Box

What better way to protect and store your favourite tools than with a bespoke wooden tool box made to fit your workshop essentials.

This bespoke carry box features storage space for all your favourites with a design that can be easily adapted to suit the tools you have. It also features a folding design for protection, portability and easy storage.

How to make a wooden tool box

In this article we show you how to make this bespoke carry tool storage box using birch ply with dovetail joints for added strength.

Watch Jason in our Woodworking Wisdom video guide or follow the steps below.

Prep your timber

The first thing to consider with this project is the layout of the tools you want to store within the box. Marking these out on a piece sheet material will act as a guide to the size of the box, then carefully set out the tools to be stored within this. Bear in mind the thickness of the tools. When happy with the layout, remember to take a photo! Then measure the size of the box required.

Cut the dovetails

Set up the router to use with the dovetail jig. If using a guide bush within the router base, ensure this is central. Use a centring cone to accurately adjust the base plate on the router.

Cut the materials to size, ensuring that these are square and labelled so that you know which piece is which. Cut a few scrap sections to help set up the dovetail jig.

Lay out the board and mark out the face edge and side, this will help position these within the dovetail jig.

Set up the dovetail jig following the instructions, do several test cuts to adjust the depth of cut, and position within the jig. Both sides of the jig will need setting up with the same settings.

With the jig set up cut the joints. Plywood requires a slow feed speed to create a clean cut. Working too fast through the task will tear the laminated grain of the plywood. Extraction is important. Top tip: holding the base of the router adds more control than the handles, as it lowers the centre of gravity adding more control to work through the cut.

Dry assemble

Dry assemble the joints to form the four sides of the box to ensure that these come together correctly. Mark a line on each section to show where the groove needs to be cut.

Set up the router table with a slot cutter to cut the grooves to hold the front and back in place. A false fence set up adds more support and reduces the breakout due to the cross grain of the plywood. Using a digital depth gauge makes setting up to the required 6mm depth an easy task.

Position the double stacking feather boards line with the cutter to provide constant equal pressure, whilst also guarding your fingers from the cutter. Cut the grooves in the carcase boards and assemble the carcase parts. Measure the size of the front and back, cut to size, and then reset the cutter to cut the rebate around the outer edge of the front and back.  Assemble to ensure this comes together correctly.

Create tool fixings

You can now begin creating the holds points and fixings to hold the tools in place.

Hand plane: To hold the hand plane in place, short sections of beech dowel are cut to length (57mm). These are central marked using a centre finder then pilot drilled on a pillar drill, held in a centralising vice. Mark out the position of these and drill through the carcase back/front board, and screw to fix in place.

Saws: The saws are fixed using the dowels fitted around the handle.

Marking gauge: The marking gauge is held in place on a small section of plywood. This has a two-size stage hole drilled and then cut through from the front edge to allow the bars to fit through. This sits in the hole.

Each tool needs looking at to think about how it can be held in place within the box. The box made contains several examples that can be used and adapted, including dowels, rare earth magnets, plywood sections with drilled holes. Small sections can also be glued together with super glue. It takes a little time to think of what will work to hold things in place, and allow access for the tools to be easily removed to use.

Clean up the box

With all the tool fittings done, the boxes are striped out and cleaned up. All the internals are sanded ready to be glued up. Glue and clamp the carcase, measuring corner to corner to ensure these are square. The tool fixing points can now be replaced, glued and screwed to fix in place.

Fix the hinge

If this is having a finish, this is best done before fitting the hinges and the handle. We applied a finishing oil.

To attach the hinge we made a simple jig from scrap plywood. This fits over the two sides of the carcase sections. The width in the top is measured or set off the width off the hinge you are using. Use a small milling cutter with the bearing running off the plywood. Once the cutter depth is set, the two parts of the carcase are clamped and held together, then positioned and clamped with the jig in place. Run the router through to cut the recess, then repeat for the three hinge positions. These are central drilled with a hinge drill.

A handle and catch can be added.

Made it? Share it!

If you have made our tool storage box then why not share a pic on social media, we would love to see it! Search and tag your photos @axminstertools on Instagram or Facebook.