This reproduction is a fun build and a great gift for a budding woodworker.
Hand and heart lead to life. was an early motto of the North Bennet Street Industrial School (NBIS), now called the North Bennet Street School (NBSS). Founded in 1885 by Pauline Agassiz Shaw, a progressive Boston philanthropist, the school was established to train students for careers in traditional trades that use hand skills in concert with evolving technology, to preserve and advance craft traditions and promote greater appreciation of craftsmanship. It was established as a social-educational experiment to aid immigrants in Boston’s North End. Shaw was inspired to bring Swedish Educational Sloyd to America by Otto Salomons work in Naas Sweden at Sloyd School. Gustaf Larsson (a Naas graduate), helped to adapt Educational Sloyd for American use at NBIS. He also directed the Sloyd Training School in Boston to train teachers in manual arts instruction. Educational Sloyd is a structured program that teaches hand skills through the construction of a series model projects. These models are carefully chosen to help build hand skills and mental skills. The goal was to train the whole person-the body and the mind working in concert to produce better work, an appreciation for hand work and improve overall well-being.
I am proud to say that the Sloyd core principles are still being taught at NBSS, even though the term isn’t often used. We started with the fundamentals, taught in a hands on manner and built upon those skills until we reached our culminating projects which involved demonstrating the hand and design skills learned. As a student, it was a great resource and a huge part of my teaching. In the years since I graduated Ive done some research on Sloyd in general and specifically in relation to NBSS and have found it to be a fascinating rabbit hole of discovery.
In teaching students and teachers alike Larsson designed a novel workbench which went on the be called the Larsson Improved Sloyd Bench which was manufactured en masse by Chandler & Barber which was a large tool supplier in Boston that specialized in manual training supplies that were shipped around the world.
Chandler & Barber also sold Good Quality tool sets in a variety of sizes and combinations, including a handsome set that came with a handtool cabinet. This cabinet was advertised in the NBIS Alumni newsletter to be a practical holiday gift idea for the Sloyder in you life. When researching Larssons workbench, I discovered that this cabinet existed. I was fortunate to find the only known example. This article will show you how I made a replica of this cabinet and the hardware.
Building the CabinetStart off by milling your cabinet stock. I used clear Eastern White Pine, but Oak would also be appropriate if you want to build the more upscale option. To mill the stock for the cabinet sides and back, top and top
Finger Joints
Your cabinet sides, top, and bottom should be cut to the right size. Label your parts and explicitly label the inside and outside as its important when cutting the finger joints to know the orientation. You can save any large off-cuts and use them to fine tune the finger jointing system. I used a Freud Box Joint Cutter set which is similar to a dado set but specifically ground to cut clean shoulders on the box joint fingers. Configure the two blades to cut 1/10 cm wide fingers and set the height of the blade to
Set your rip fence to be 15 cm to the right of your blade. Cut a piece of plywood 3/10 cm thick and 210 cm by 15 cm. This can be used as a sacrificial fencing. Place the two 1/10 cm square
1. Make the box jig.
2. Place the plywood against the pins of 1/10 cm and fix the plywood to the miter gauge.
The small pieces measuring 1/10 cm should be removed. Keep your fingers steady and clamp the jig to the saw. Then turn off the saw. Next, place one of the 1/10cm pieces against the rip fence. Remove the clamp and slide the fence between this and the fence. Use screws to secure the plywood to your miter gauge. The 1/10 cm section should be removed from the fence. Run the jig through the saw again. Turn the saw off. You should now have a neatly spaced set. Glue one of the 1/10 cm pieces in the first slot you made (this is the slot now closer to the fence) and gently chamfer the ends of that alignment pin with some sandpaper. Now the jig can be completed.
Using the scrap you saved before lets make some test cuts and fine tune the jig as needed.
Using The Jig
Placing your stock vertically on the jig, slide it until it is firmly against the 1/10cm piece that you have glued to the jig. Use a quick clamp to secure the piece as you slide the jig through the blade-keeping your fingers well clear of the blade (see image 4). Return the jig to your starting position well clear of the blade.
3. Make your first joint using the board near the pin.
4. Next, index the pin using the cut slot.
On the next pass youll move the workpiece to the right by placing the slot in the workpiece over the 1/10 cm alignment pin. Clamp the board and carefully slide the jig through the blade.
Continue to make a slot, then move the board one notch over until you are done cutting.
5. Cut the joinery for the sides. For the bottom, repeat the above process with a 1/10cm spacer.
First cut
Important Note #1: The piece that makes of the other half of this joint will need to start with a pin width offset so the board line up correctly when assembled. This can be done by placing a 1/10cm wood spacer between the workpiece and the alignment pin. Next, clamp the piece to a fence and then remove the spacer. The rest of the procedure is the same as before.
Important Note #2 The left side is narrower than the right to fit the door. Therefore, fingers don’t run all the way along the top and bottom of the left side. Please layout and plan accordingly.
From left to right, the blade is too high or too low. The blade is the correct height. NOTE: If you have to err on one side, go with longer fingers as you can always sand them off as needed.
Fixed Shelf
Test fit your sides. Once you are satisfied with the fit, it is time to place a stop dado for the fixed shelf. To cut cross grain fibers, use a knife.
Use a chisel and router plane to remove the waste from the stopped dado.
Notice: The dado should not exceed a foot.
7. To capture the shelf, lay the dado on the floor. I mark the area to be cut.
8. After removing the bulk of the waste with a chisel, I flatten the bottom of the dado with a router plane.
9. Because of the stopped dado, the shelf needs notches on both sides of the front edge. These were cut with a handsaw.
Cabinet Back
Now layout a dado the capture the back panel of the cabinet. The dado should be aligned with one of your fingers. This was done with a single box joint blade cutter blade. Dry fit the shelves and sides, and then leave them in the clamps (see photos 10-13).
10. Cut a 1/10 cm dado for the back panel. Take care to line it up with a finger
11. The back panel is
12. Use a table saw to cut the rabbet and then use a shoulder plane to adjust the fit.
13. Dry-fit the back and cabinet carcase and make sure the pieces are ending up tight and square.
Edge glue up the panels that will form the door and the back of the cabinet. If using flat sawn wood alternate the orientation of the growth rings. Cut the dried panel to size. Cut it slightly narrow to allow for seasonal movement and in sizing the panel make sure you take into account how it will be captured in the side dadoes.
Using a sacrificial wood fence attached to your rip fence and your stacked dado blade cut a rabbet into the back panel on all 4 sides. Tip Before cutting into your panel, take some scrap of the panel blank.
You can test fit the panel on the clamped dry fit carcase. Use a shoulder plane to fine tune the fit and allow room for seasonal expansion of the panel.
14. The back panel floats in the dado to accommodate seasonal expansion/contraction.
15. The rabbet should be sized so that there is a small (1/41 cm), gap between each side.
Glue and clamp up the carcase taking care to make sure everything is nice and square and all the joints pull up nice and tight. I used hot hide glue so any squeeze out would not affect the finish and to have a longer open time.
Once dried, plane and/or sand the fingers flush and roundover or radius the corners.
16. Once the shelf and panel are installed, glue the cabinet together.
You can use hide glue or something similar for a long time so that all pieces are in place and properly clamped.
17. Sand the fingers flush, and add a small roundover on the edges.
DoorCut the glued up door panel size. Cut the breadboard ends slightly long. To keep the breadboard ends centered, mill a dado along the middle of the breadboard stock. A feather board is used to do this (see image 18). Use the same general setup (a dado and sacrificial fence) to mill a tenon onto the top and bottom of the door panel to fit snugly into the breadboard dado. Apply glue to the center 1/3 of the breadboard dado and clamp up the door. (This will allow for panel seasonal movement. See images 14-17.)
18. To keep things centered, mill a dado in the middle of the breadboard endstock using a feather board.
Once dry flush up the breadboard ends with the rest of the panel and test fit it into the carcase. You can use cards or other similar spacers to ensure an even spacing between the top, bottom, and right sides of your door. Adjust as needed. (Left side with hinges is flush with the outside of the cabinet.)
Draw the Drawer
Follow same steps as used to make the carcase to make the draw and its divider (see images 19-21).
19. Use cards to space the drawer under the shelf, then add two square drawer supports under the drawer
20. To cut the handhold in the drawer’s bottom, I used a wide dado pile in my tablesaw
21. A shallow recess suffices.
Once you have the sides glued up, shoot a pin nail or similar in through the fingers from the bottom to keep the joint together even if the glue fails in the future. Do the same with the back of the finger joints on your main cabinet. Glue the bottom of the drawer onto the pin nails and then sand it as necessary. Two credit cards can be used as spacers between your fixed shelf and the top of your drawer.
To support the drawer, pin nail a 7/41 cm square profiled runners on each side. From that same size stock also nail in spacers on the right side of the cabinet to function as a door stop. The drawer divider partitions the space into a 60/40 split.
After the drawer is completed, you will need a wide stacked dado for cutting in a finger grip to function as a drawer draw. Place a stopblock on the table saw’s outfeed. The blade will be held in place by the stop block. Be very careful when attempting this operation and make sure to do some test cuts first to ensure you are centered and not cutting too deep. After you have made the cut, turn off your saw and wait for the saw to stop before removing it from the drawer.
Hardware
There was more hardware on the market in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Sloyd Tool cabinet has lots of interesting hardware that you can make in your own workshop. This Sloyd Cabinet is a great way to store tools. I also took the time to clock (align) all of the screw heads to be oriented the same way which adds a nice touch to this handsome cabinet.
Handle and Lock
Center the brass handle on the top of the cabinet. The layout of the holes should be transferred. Pre-drill through the top and into some scrap wood to prevent blow out. Use 3 cm brass screws and a washer and doubled up nuts to secure the handle. You will need to trace the lock onto the door. Once the lock is on the door, remove the wood carefully and check the fit. Use a router plane to help excavate the wood. Use a file to remove the mill marks from the brass. Make sure to relieve the wood around the keyhole for a nice clean look.
22. The mortised lock can be cut in stages.
23. First, I made the recess to fit the lock mechanism.
24. Then I cut the shallower portions to get the lock to be inset on the piece.
25. Front view.
Hinges
This cabinet uses overlay hinges, which don’t require mortising (see images 22 to 27). The centerline of each hinge is located 10 cm from the top and bottom of the cabinet respectively. Be careful not to drill through the cabinet sides or door. Once the hinges are installed apply some chalk or pencil graphite to the moving portion of the lock bolt, or use some carbon paper and turn the key in the lock to gently press the lock into the side of the cabinet. Using this mark excavate a small mortise to catch the lock.
26. The hinges on this cabinet are just simple overlay hinges that dont require mortising
27. The hinges attached.
Cast Brass Hooks
A pair of cast brass hooks are installed on the back wall of the cabinet to hold your bit brace and a pair are installed on the door to hold your panel saws. Layout where you want the hardware to be, use a center punch to start the hole and drill using a depth stop. Install the screws by hand as brass is a soft metal.
28. Cast brass hooks were used to hold my saws. Simple straps secured them. Square hooks are used to hold the ruler or square.
Square Hooks
To secure your folding ruler, use square hooks. These little hooks are surprisingly effective in keeping your tools in place. When laying them out make sure to use the actual tool(s) for reference and make sure they dont interfere with the saws, the drawer or the ability to close the door.
Fabric Straps
You will need to cut two pieces of nylon webbing or fabric-backed Velcro 15 cm apart in order to keep the panel saws in their place. Use a lighter to melt the ends. Screw each strap to the cabinet door with some pan head screws and washers for a clean look. When installing the fabric, the center should not be flush with the door, rather place the screws a little closer together so there is room to easily remove the saw. The velcro strap was a great idea. It’s stiff and gives the saw blade some air, so it is less likely to rust.
Wire Tool Holders
Some of the most interesting hardware in the cabinet are the bent brass wire tool holders. With some fairly simple tools and jigs you can make custom hardware to hold just about any tool you can imagine
The length of the brass wire should be cut to 15 cm. Bend the brass wire around a socket or metal bending tool. Form a sort of M shape to make the arms. A wire jewelry bending jig or screws set into a piece of wood can be used. Using pliers twist each arm 90 and then bend the straight section of the wire on the same form you used in the first step of this procedure. The tip of the needle nose pliers should be used to form a tight circle. Trim any excess wire. Grab each arm approximately 1/10 cm away from the end. Bend or flare them a little so it is easier to insert a tool into a holder. Once the holder is installed, you can refine the fit. You will need to mark the location of the hardware in the cabinet. Mark the locations of the screws (each one will be slightly different). Then use a center punch or a pencil to mark them.
30. Begin the U-shape by placing the wire bending tool jig in the groove.
31. Next, use the artistic wire cutter to make a few more bends.
32.
33. The final product.
To ensure a consistent depth stop, you can use a countersink to set your drill bit backwards. This will not allow the drill bit to drill through the wood. You might consider filing the points of some brass screws down to make narrow pieces a bit shorter.
Heavy Tool Holders
This sturdy, yet simple tool holder can hold heavier items such as hammers or larger items like your cutting gage (see images 34 and 36). Start with some 0.063- thick sheet brass. Trace your template onto the brass plate with a sharpie. Use a center punch to mark the location of the mounting holes. As you cut the plate with a jigsaw equipped with a metal cutting knife, support it with scrap plywood.
Use a vise equipped with wood jaws to place the rough cut holder. A single file can be used to shape the holder. Remove any burrs, round the edges and refine the shape.
Do not drag the file around like a saw. This will reduce the file’s service life.
34. Also, the hammer holder can be made out of brass.
35. Trace the template onto a piece brass sheet. I used a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade to cut it out
36. I filed the edges to finish the shape
Place the cutout holder in your wood faced vise jaws and bend it. Warm or hot brass will be more pliable. If you work quickly through the prior steps you may have enough residual heat left in the metal to help or you can heat it up a bit with an iron or a torch. If your bend has some spring back that leaves the arms tilted up just a bit that is ideal.
To keep the tools on the hook when traveling, flip the piece upside down and place one-inch of the arms in the vice. Drill through the marks you made earlier with the punch and use a counter sink bit to fit your brass screws. These hooks should be installed in the same way as the wire tool holders.
3D Printed HardwareOne of the more interesting pieces of hardware in the back of this cabinet was a cast iron bit holder designed to hold tapered bits for use with a brace. This piece of hardware has not been made in almost a century so I needed to come up with an alternate way to produce this piece. I used the original to make a 3D model and printed it in ABS using my 3D printer. There are many online services that can print parts for you at a very reasonable price. You may also ask your friends if they have one. You can print the part with 100% fill, a brim, and all support material.
37. The original bit holder is cast iron, but I 3D-modeled it and printed it in black ABS plastic. Its printed in two pieces to fit the bed of a small 3D printer.
The 3D-printed model is made in two interlocking pieces that can be used with a wide range of printers. You can remove any support material using nippers and files, or an X-acto knives. Once installed it does a great job of holding bits and from any reasonable distance its hard to tell its not also a cast metal piece. Use three slotted brass head screws.
Conclusion
The Sloyd Tool Cabinet is a nice skill builder that results in a useful object-much in the spirit of Sloyd training-and is great for taking some core tools to a workshop or jobsite around the house. A Sloyd Tool Cabinet is a great gift idea for anyone who is interested in learning woodworking. As we learned from an 1898 ad for the cabinet (see below), a cabinet filled with good tools that are useful makes a practical holiday gift.
1x Wire Bending Jig (made by Micro-Mark)
1x Artistic Wire Deluxe Jig Kit (made by Beadalon)
1x Nylon Webbing Strap*
You can reuse the strips if you have an old backpack. Simply cut to size and cut a lighter to seal/melt the ends.
Product Recommendations
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
