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I don’t know about you, but when I have to do some work around the house or somewhere away from the shop, I usually use a five-gallon bucket with a Bucket Boss to transport my tools. I’ve been using that for years and it has worked fairly well.  It’s great for hauling my portable drill, screwdrivers, hammers, chisels, etc.  

Over on WoodNet, Bob Strawn (aka “CedarSlayer”) is showing off his portable “roll-up” tool tote.  He even went so far as to use a home-brew finish on it. 

Here’s what Bob said about the construction of the tote:

All the details are there, and it is a good first work. It gives you a place for tools and most of the materials are inexpensive. The leather strap can be a bit more expensive. I made mine out of pine, brass screws, brass tacks, epoxy, screw posts and horse butt. The horse butt was the most expensive, but then I can strop with the straps. I would advise going to a saddle shop and getting vegetable tan leather for the inner fittings, so that you don’t have too many salts in the leather eating your tools. Getting straps from them or using belts from a resale shop would do well.

As far as the one I made goes, The Hex end on mine has 4″ long sides. The boards are 24″ long and 1/2 thick. The end peices are a touch thicker. The inside straps are 1″ wide, the outside straps are 2″ To avoid near impossible clamping issues, I taped the whole thing together and marked boards and ends. I predrilled the three fixed boards, screw holes, to the end pieces. I used masking tape to avoid a mess with the epoxy, and used a slower set epoxy and brass screws to hold the sides together during gluing.

I wanted a rougher finish than the mirror smooth one that came out of my thickness planer, so I sanded at an angle across the grain with 80 grit, to give the look and feel I wanted. Sort of an old sawmill look. This way dings and scratches add character instead of ruining the appearance.

Click here to read more and see more photos of this handy tool tote.

Posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 am. Filed under Hand Tools, Woodworking.
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