The new saw till and slotted hangers for compass and drawknife

 

As I mentioned in my last post on this blog, I had a pent-up list of projects that I couldn't begin to work through until my church commission was completed. The most insistant need that cried out to be addressed first was to re-configure the mounting arrangements in my traveling tool box for the saws and framing square. I had initially hung the saws and square on the inside face of the lid. However, I found that the tool box bounced around while on the way to shows, causing the tools to shift, and sometimes come loose. So I had been looking at other woodworker's chests, books and articles, anything for some inspiration. Then a month or two ago, Chris Schwarz featured a simple notched braket on his Popular Woodworking blog that, when screwed to the bottom of a toolbox, provided secure storage for up to three saws. Equally important, the 3-1/2 inch x 5 inch brackets were both simple in plan and elegant. Just the thing I needed. With my saws now stored in the bottom of my toolbox, the now empty inside face of the lid suddenly offered a bonanza of new real estate for hanging my other tools. As always, one thing immediately led to another, and I found myself feverishly obsessed with a mad rubics cube like project. Rearranging tools on my bench top and the reshuffling them again, trying to fit things together as neatly as possble.

 

The picture posted above gives you a view of the notched brackets in the saw till. I found that two  narrow, flat tools, the scribe compass and draw-knife, which couldn't be fitted on the lid because of handle diameter, and a protruding locking nut, perfectly filled the void between the box's inside front face and the saws. In this shot you see the two tools housed in slotted hangers screwed to the front inner face. The tools hang below the ledger strip that supports the upper drawers. The drawers in turn will, when set on the ledger strips, sit over the tools holding them in place.  Neat.