Wayback Woodworking: Shopmade Tool Chest

Are wooden tool chests becoming extinct?

The tradition of the shopmade tool chest seems to have passed. With lightweight carryalls made from space-age materials so readily available, why make a heavy, wooden box? There’s no point right?

Still, I was struck by this plywood mammoth from our February 1978 issue. Probably nostalgia. It reminded me of a heavy chest my father used to haul around in his big, orange, 1979 Suburban. The truck is definitely gone, and I imagine the chest is too.

For those of you who’d like to dabble in a little workshop nostalgia, you can download the plans (Page 1, Page 2 and Page 3) for our workshopper’s chest. And I’d love to hear how it turns out.