# Saw Blade Cabinet



## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

I have saw blades stacked underneath the TS and have to root through them when I want to switch to something different or special. As I'm working on getting the shop organized, it seemed like a good time to build a cabinet to store the blades and make them easier to find. Planning to make two cabinets, side by side, but with an extended top so that I can store my Rockler Sled flat and out of the way on the top.

I'm making the trays out of a lamination of 1/4" MDF and 1/8" hardboard. The trays are glued up, and I should be able to cut out the centers tomorrow to form the recess for the saw blade. I'd thought about cutting the circles out of the hardboard first before gluing to the MDF but thought that this way would be less work - will find out tomorrow.

With 16 trays to make, I made a quick jig to hold the parts aligned while I put a brad at the center of each edge - the corners have glue only as I plan to drill a hole on the front corners so I can pull the tray out of the cabinet. It worked out pretty good as I was doing a tray every 5 - 10 minutes, including unclamping/reclamping - went a little quicker at first when I was able to use the quick-action clamps before the pile got too thick. What really slowed me down was having to file off the ends of the brads before I could add each one to the pile - the smallest brads I have are 3/8" and so wound up with about 1/16" sticking out the back.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

this is a long delayed project for me. Started it some time ago but the 3/4 Orange box ply splintered so badly I put it on hold. Next time it's 3/4 Baltic Birch for the case.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

DesertRatTom said:


> this is a long delayed project for me. Started it some time ago but the 3/4 Orange box ply splintered so badly I put it on hold. Next time it's 3/4 Baltic Birch for the case.


Tom, 

If you mean the plywood from Home Depot, that's what I was planning to use for the case - the 3/4" Sande plywood that they carry. I've use it quite a bit lately for shop cabinets and been pretty happy with it. Of course, I've never cut dadoes in it. Guess I'll make a couple of test cuts and see how it goes, if not I'll have to do the same thing and buy some Baltic Birch.


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## Eugd (Jan 29, 2015)

I made a simular type of cabinet last year, I would cut the dado's on the table saw,with a dado stack. The peice is more supported than with a handheld, plus it's easier to space things out with less measuring, I made my cabinet with 1/2 inch dado's and 1/2 spaces between, so I moved my fence every 1", I think i did 10 dado's in 10 min. Yours is going to be much nicer than mine because did it from scraps Of 1/4 inch plywood and rough cut the blade cutouts with a jigsaw. Not pretty but functional.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

tomp913 said:


> Tom,
> 
> If you mean the plywood from Home Depot, that's what I was planning to use for the case - the 3/4" Sande plywood that they carry. I've use it quite a bit lately for shop cabinets and been pretty happy with it. Of course, I've never cut dadoes in it. Guess I'll make a couple of test cuts and see how it goes, if not I'll have to do the same thing and buy some Baltic Birch.


There was a layer of strips of bamboo that splintered like mad. I had a piece about 14x38 inches and intended to cut the slots all at once, then split it apart to make the back and sides. One other alternative would be to glue and pin 1/2x1/2 trim every inch to make the slots. This would allow using half inch baltic birch for the sides for a lighter build. I really only have 7 really good blades, plus another few that came with saws and are dreck. If I do this again, I'm going to make it 18 inches tall and attach it to a wall near the table saw.

For the shelf, I'm thinking 3/8ths ply with a 1/4 Masonite cut out (10 1/4 diameter opening). This will make for a fairly tight fit, but well within the 1 inch spacing of each shelf. The ply layer will have a2 inch hole cut near the front edge to push the saw up so it's easy to grip.


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## greenacres2 (Dec 23, 2011)

Looks like you're well on the way Tom!! I like it.

I set out to build a blade rack a few years ago, and either designed or took inspiration from somewhere (I had to have seen something similar!!) the box below. About a 24" cube on wheels that sits below my extension table. The 2 panels slide out either side and could hold up to 16 10"/12" blades, though I have a dozen mounted and the 4th side has 6 7.25" and 8" blades. Blades hang on 3/4" wood screws--nothing fancy--some day i'll replace them with dowels!! Dados for sliding panels have enough drag to allow them to slide out smoothly, but not too easy to risk falling. Pegboard end has dado stack, miter gauge, couple of grippers, etc. The shelf portion is about 5" deep on one side for screw storage, and 18"-ish on the other for miscellaneous. Rules, combination squares, protractor, dividers, calibers, etc sit on the top. For some reason I never took a finished pic, and it's raining too hard to go out now. Not fancy or elegant, but one of the most useful shop cabs I've built.

earl


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

DesertRatTom said:


> There was a layer of strips of bamboo that splintered like mad. I had a piece about 14x38 inches and intended to cut the slots all at once, then split it apart to make the back and sides. One other alternative would be to glue and pin 1/2x1/2 trim every inch to make the slots. This would allow using half inch baltic birch for the sides for a lighter build. I really only have 7 really good blades, plus another few that came with saws and are dreck. If I do this again, I'm going to make it 18 inches tall and attach it to a wall near the table saw.
> 
> For the shelf, I'm thinking 3/8ths ply with a 1/4 Masonite cut out (10 1/4 diameter opening). This will make for a fairly tight fit, but well within the 1 inch spacing of each shelf. The ply layer will have a2 inch hole cut near the front edge to push the saw up so it's easy to grip.


The only time I've cut any kind of groove in the Sande plywood was when cut the pull holes in some drawer fronts - you can see that the center layers kind of look like strips laid up side by side, although there was no splintering. I'm only planning to make the grooves 1/4" deep - I'll find a scrap piece first and cut a couple of test grooves to see how that works out.

Not much production today - wife took the son to pain management today while I made a batch of fish chowder in the crock pot (new recipe, but I figured any recipe with 1/4 lb of bacon as the second ingredient had to be worth a try -and it was). Then I got a call, she had a flat tire. Got to the tire store on the donut, tire had a hole in it (a little over a year old too) and not repairable so had to put a new one on. So, an oil change and front end alignment while the car was there anyway - finally ready to leave and the bay door at the tire store was jammed and they couldn't get it up to let her car out. After they beat on the mechanism with a hammer for a while it finally opened. So that kind of wasted the whole day, other than the chowder. Tomorrow is another day, maybe can get back to this project.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

@greenacres2

Nice cabinet, but I don't have room for anything that big as it has to fit on the shelf under the RH extension on my Unisaw. The two cabinets will have a total of 20 grooves/16 trays, thinking I may make a couple of deeper trays to hold the various odds and ends I use at the saw. Side by side, they'll be 24" wide x 12" deep; I'll put a top over the two big enough to hold my Rockler sled so it can lay flat and out of the way - kind of two birds with one stone thing.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Well, I got the centers of the trays cut out with only a minor hiccup - Note to self, when making multiples, check the first piece for size rather than the last. I was a little disappointed in the up-spiral bit I'd bought as I thought that it would pull the dust (no chips, it's hardboard) out of the groove somewhat but it seemed to be packed in just like a regular straight bit. Didn't get to cutting the cabinet parts as it was raining cats and dogs today, tomorrow is supposed to be nicer.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Well, the "Honey-Do's" kind of got in the way the last couple of days but I managed to sneak out and get a little done this afternoon.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm making the box pieces out of 3/4" Sande plywood from HD. I was pleasantly surprised to see how clean the dadoes were, particularly since they were cut cross-grain. Only see some minor splintering at the end of the dadoes at the outfeed end, but you really have to look to see it. Of course, it could be the Freud dado, can't say enough good things about that. Still have to cut the rabbets on the top and bottom edges for the top and bottom, may be able to get that done before the wife is up and about tomorrow morning and get them glued up.
:wink:


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Another one for the to do list. Nice plans


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Got the two little cabinets put together, still need to do a little sanding and clean-up. As the TS sled is going to sit on it, there will be a stringer at each end and between the two cabinets to support the top - the sled is 24" x 24", a 3" projection on back and front will give 18" so it will only overhang the top by 3" back and front, I figure that will be enough to provide support and eliminate any warping of the sled. Planning to use up some 1/2" MDF that I have lying around. 

Made one minor error, and I kind of knew it was going to happen - you can see the tape added on the parts afterwards to show the orientation - the pieces are almost square and top/bottom and sides are almost the same size, but not exactly. Naturally, I trimmed the wrong edge on one piece (before I marked them) and the part wound up 3/16" short - and then I had to trim the other three to match. The gap between the top tray and the u/s of the top should have been 1/2" and wound up 5/16", still works though. Thinking that I'll make a deeper tray for the top on one side and use to to store the gauge and dial that I use to check the fence as well as a couple of other TS accessories, and have them at hand when needed.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

It's done, just need to clean out the shelf under the saw and get it loaded up. Managed to use up some more scraps for the supports and top strips.

So many projects to do, but I think the next one is going to be modifying the Rockler Clamp Rack.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Quick photo showing the cabinet about where it's going - I need to clean up the other side of the saw as I have "inventory" (mostly offcuts of Avonite) stacked up against it, now thinking I need to build a little rolling cabinet to go there to stack all the little pieces. When I get it cleaned out, the Rockler sled will sit on top, letting me store it flat and out of the way when not in use - and now thinking I may not need it much any more now I have my MFT (track saw) table operational.

And it turns out I can't count, got more blades than slots.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I was thinking I might put some sort of dowel down through the top and each drawer so the blades can't slide out. Not sure I'd want to reactively grab for the open front if it tipped for some reason. Those carbide tips would probably cut your arm to shreds. I'd use wood rather than metal, no need to chip carbide teeth on steel rod.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

@DesertRatTom

It's pretty stable now, and don't think it will be going anywhere once I get it all the way on the shelf. But I can always run a couple screws down through the bottom of the cabinets into the shelf. Plus the blades are captured in the recess, may have to drill a hole in the trays so I can poke them out from the bottom.


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

Finally got around to taking a photo of my large saw blade storage. I have 10" blades for my tablesaw in the top 4 drawers and 8" for the miter saw in the lower 3. Are you putting faces on each slide or leaving the front open?


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Very nice, that looks good. I stayed with the utilitarian look, what you saw was what I've got. Maybe if it was more exposed, but it's sitting on the shelf underneath the TS side extension and out of the way.


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

If I had mine under the tablesaw it would need to be in a plastic bag too. I have the DW745 contractors saw and despite dust extraction there's loads flies out from everywhere. But the box does at least keep blades safe and dust free.


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