Making it real: the tool cabinet

A few weeks back, I've made good progress working on the carcass for the tool cabinet. This cabinet is one of the three pieces of furniture (work bench, tool cabinet and the shelves for consumables) that define my workshop. 

Space is at a premium, and getting the proportions of the tool cabinet right felt like a crucial decision, with not a lot of room for error. 

What looks perfect on paper, may not feel right or provide an efficient work environment in practice. 

I wanted to get a sense of what the dimensions would look and feel like: whether the cabinet was too much in my face or not? Will I still be able to see what I am working on, or see my tools on wall (remember the first order of retrievability)? Can I still move boards and larger pieces of timber around?

What's the line of sight?

Making it real, is the way to find out. So, I made a cardboard mock-up and spent a couple of hours tinkering in my shed to experience what it would feel like. It worked well – it didn't feel 'in my face', I only had adjust the height slightly, to get a better line of sight on my tools. 

Mock-up of the tool cabinet

After I decided on the final dimensions, I continued with making the actual carcass, which was a straightforward job: just stick four boards together.

Building the carcass

I gave it a quick coat of varnish and then managed to squeeze it into its final position – which was bit of a real life Tetris game, but it fitted like a glove.

Putting the carcass in place

Since I have the actual dimensions of the carcass, I can now move on with the next step, and make a more detailed design for the tool cabinet.

Meanwhile I made these temporary shelves from scrap wood. 

Temporary shelves made scrap wood

And despite the fact that this is just a temporary quick fix, it felt like a giant step forward to me, I finally have some space to manoeuvre and tinker. 

The tiniest wood workshop is taking shape, one step at a time, it's getting real.