Woodworking: tool tote

 When there is something to do around the house i usually need a drill, lbits, evel, screws, stud finder and pencil.  Some I want screwdrivers, sockets, wrenches, a ruler.

I was using a fabric bag that came with my drill.  It barely fit the drill and all the other items would gather in the bottom and mix.  Changing the contents for different jobs (plumbing, appliance fixing vs hanging things) meant emptying everything out & restarting.

I decided to make a wooden tool tote with an opening in the end for the drill to stick out.

I used pallet wood because it's free and often is good quality wood.  I think the pallets I had included southern yellow pine, spruce, maybe another pine?, walnut and oak.

The shell is spruce or the other pine, glued to make wider.

The ends are rabbeted as you can see.  There is also a dado the bottom fits in.

The sides are grooved and the bottom slides into it.  then the sides are nailed to the ends.  Simple.

The handle is made from a white pine branch that fell in my backyard a few years ago.  It dried out and the bark fell off.  A peg holds it in and can be removed if it ever breaks and I need to replace it.

Inside I have 2 boxes.  They are dovetailed and made from pallet wood also.  The bottom is rabbetted and fits into a groove in the sides.  One is walnut, the other (shown) is southern yellow pine.

 

When they're both on the bottom, the drill can't slide back.

So far it's worked really well.  I can add tools easily. Swapping out tools is easy too.

The boxes let me arrange things when I'm working on the floor or lawn or wherever I work.  I might make more.  If I don't have things sticking up, I can stack them which is very handy.