New West Design: Tool Chest

I’ve decided to finally use up the last of the lumber from the Maloof Rockers (yes, the Rockers are not yet done; though the first is very close) and make a tool chest for a bunch of hand tools. There is a rickety set of drawers in which many currently reside but they are not big enough and not nearly stable enough. I already have a top cabinet built which is lidded so I will be making a set of drawers to sit underneath. The boards I’m using weren’t used before because some of them have “character”. Which will pair nicely with the existing top. I really like working with cracked boards sometimes as there’s a lot you can do to press them up and have fun with the defects.

Rickety Set of Drawers to be Replaced and Existing Top Unit

The first step will be to rebuild a board which had cracked completely in half and strengthen a couple other boards which are well on their way. I routed a slot in the wavy edges of the split of the board which broke, which allowed for the insertion of a series of splines to align and strengthen. I glued this up with regular wood glue and let it set up.

Routing the Slot for the Alignment Splines

Splines Glued Into Place on the First Half

Clamping the Board Together Using Some Cauls

Once the initial glue up was done it was time to fill the cracks in the reconstructed board as well as in a few others. First step was to completely cover the underside of any cracks and knot holes with masking tape. I then prepared a batch of epoxy and added a few drops of black India ink to the mix. The ink does two beneficial things, the first and most obvious is that it turns the mixture absolutely black, which I think looks really sharp. I’ve used this technique on cherry and maple so far with great results. The second effect the ink has is to make the epoxy more viscous, this is great because I then pour the epoxy into the cracks in the wood and the runnier it is the better a job a filling voids it does. I use a slow setting epoxy as this generally takes multiple applications; The epoxy flows into all the nooks and crannies, often bubbling as the air escapes up through it. Which allows for more epoxy to be added. The addition of ink does seem to extend the curing time of the epoxy so though the recipe says fully cured in a day I have learned through making a black sticky mess that waiting for two before sending one of these boards through a thickness planer is a good idea.