Rolling shop cabinet

I suspect that all woodworkers love getting new tools. Opening the box, putting the parts together, trying out the tool-maybe even reading the owner's manual. But for those who work in a small shop, that excitement of getting a new tool is tempered with the issue of where to put it. A new drill can usually be squeezed into a drawer or hung on the wall, but larger tools, such as a scrollsaw, require more room. That's where the design challenge lies for this cabinet. I made this cabinet short enough to fit under other shop furniture, such as a bench or the wing of a tablesaw. I also thought about how a lot of people I've talked to say they like to sit down when using a scrollsaw. With this cabinet's height, you can pull up a chair to the saw. The unit has locking casters, which means you can roll it out from storage, lock the wheels when in use, then roll it away when your job is done.

At its core, this project is a simple plywood cabinet. I chose contrasting wood to add visual appeal. Walnut drawer fronts and edging for the top provide a nice dark contrast against the pale maple and birch of the rest of the cabinet. I also made my own maple drawer pulls to add a little flair.

Before you begin, check the materials list and make any adjustments to the dimensions to suit your particular tool and your shop. I used a lot of pocket-hole joinery in building this project, but biscuits, screws or nails would also work well.

Prepare the Carcass
Begin bringing your stock to size by cutting out the pieces for the sides, bottom and back of the cabinet. Get started on the joinery by drilling pocket holes. They should be positioned on the inside faces of these pieces, so they are hidden when the cabinet is complete. Three or four pocket-hole screws along each connection, together with some glue, should provide plenty of strength to the cabinet joints.

Drill pocket holes along the front and back, as well as the top of the two side pieces. The cabinet is fairly short, so I recommend leaving the top off until later to give you access to the inside for mounting the drawers. However, you'll want to make sure you drill pocket holes in the top at this stage for mounting the top later.

Next, drill pocket holes along all four edges of the back. The bottom section requires pocket holes along both sides, as well as along the front. Fasten the bottom to the two sides, then fit the back between the sides, tightening the screws securely. Glue squeeze-out isn't a concern; these joints will be hidden.

Cut the top to size now, and rip enough walnut to 1 1/2" wide for the edging. Again, drilling pocket holes in the underside of the top helps to align and attach the edging to the top. A rolling cabinet is liable to bump into things on occasion, so it's a good idea to round off the sharp corners of the top. Draw a small-radius curve and cut off the corners with a jigsaw or bandsaw. Chamfer the edges with a hand plane or run them over a roundover bit chucked into a table-mounted router. With this done, set the top aside until later.

Frame It
Before cutting the face-frame members to length, check the dimensions of the actual cabinet. Drill two pocket holes in the end of each rail and fasten the pieces together. Leave a four-inch gap for the top drawer and 7 3/4" for the bottom one. The pocket holes you made in the cabinet earlier should now be used to attach the frame to the front of the carcass.

I built my drawers with Baltic birch plywood. We tend to think of this material as being a half-inch thick, but its actual thickness is 12mm. Keep this in mind as you check measurements and set up the dado blade in the next steps.

Raised Panels
If you have a panel-raising bit for your router, you can use it in a router table to turn your drawer fronts into raised panels. Raised panels can also be made on the tablesaw with the following simple jig. Cut a piece of plywood four to five inches wide x 14" to 18" long. This is the base and will ride along the saw fence. Cut another piece about six inches tall x 12" to 14" long. This will be the face to which the drawer front is clamped. Finally, cut two vertical supports about three inches wide x six inches tall, but cut one of the tall sides at an 80º angle. Fasten the vertical supports to the base and the face to the vertical supports. The face board should now lean back at a 10º angle. Leave the tablesaw blade at the standard 90º as the jig features the needed built-in angle.

Clamp the board to be cut to the face of the sled, set the fence width, raise the blade to about 1 1/2" and make the cut. In order to leave a ridge, which defines the edge of the raised panel, the left side of the blade should just clear the board, while the right side should remain embedded. Test cuts are crucial as you set up for this cut. Hold the sled tight against the fence as you push your stock through the blade.

You may find that the end grain burns a little bit with this jig. This is easily remedied. After making the first cuts on all four sides of the panel, loosen the fence and tap it a smidgen closer to the blade, about 1/32". Run the end grain parts of the panel through the saw again. Just a tiny amount of wood will be removed, and the burning will be almost totally eliminated-anything left can be sanded out.

Something to Hold Onto
I quite like stainless-steel bar handles as drawer pulls. But because they're pricey, I designed pulls from shop scraps and a section of maple dowel. They have the look of the large bar handles, but they cost less and suit this project.

Cut two pieces of half-inch dowel to length. Next, cut four end blocks from maple. Carefully set up your drillpress and drill 1/2"-diameter holes using a Forstner bit, about 3/8" deep into each of the end blocks. Use a fence and stop block on a drillpress table to ensure that all the holes are drilled in the exact same location on each block. Place a few drops of glue in the holes, push the dowels into place and set them aside to dry.

Attach the drawer faces and pulls to the drawer boxes using countersunk screws. You can also position the cabinet top in place now and fasten it down.

On a Roll
The final step in this project's construction is to mount casters on the bottom of the cabinet. Cut some mounting blocks, roughly five inches square, from scrap walnut. Without the blocks, the weight of the cabinet would be carried completely by the bottom of the cabinet. This would place a strain on the joint between the bottom and the sides. The mounting blocks sit under the sides, and help bear the weight. Choose walnut to balance the project visually-so there is walnut trim both at the top and the bottom. Attach one pad at each corner of the cabinet, set in about a 1/4" to create a shadow line. Fasten the casters to the blocks.

When finishing the piece, avoid aggressive sanding. The face veneer on modern plywoods is thin. For best results, I usually skip straight to fresh 150-grit sandpaper, followed by 220-grit. Vacuum off the dust and wipe on a coat of boiled linseed oil. Wait five minutes and wipe off any excess. After 12 to 24 hours, apply a second coat of oil.

Once the project is dry, buff it with a soft cloth and apply a coat of paste wax to complete the job.