I managed to finish up and hang the router bit cabinet this weekend. Moved all the bits from their various hiding places and stowed away all the miscellaneous stuff that was buried under a pile of sawdust in the router table.
But before we get to the good stuff, let us look back into the past...let's have a gander at router bit cabinet version 0.9beta.
Beauty, ain't it?
I built that cabinet about two or three years ago and was one of my first projects. Looks sorta like something the kids would build in one of those Home Depot workshop classes. It held 20 bits, which was plenty back then. However, I didn't have the foresight to accomodate 1/2" shank bits (didn't have a router that would use them back then) and it was, well, just small. Not to mention the fact that it just irritated me...
So here's router bit cabinet version 2.0. It's a good bit larger than the old cabinet, that's for sure.
And, finally, a peek inside...
The one downside to building this cabinet is that suddenly I have router bit envy. At least now I have room for expansion!
The nice thing about this project is that I built it from scraps and other pieces of cherry that I probably would have either cut around or not used at all. The shelves are mainly the lighter sapwood which never looks spiffy in a project. But I think I convinced myself that the next time I see a piece of rough stock with a big ol' knot in it that I shouldn't just pass it by. Now that I know how to cope with such a piece, I think that I can use that to my advantage in other projects.