Sign Writers Tool Box Design

Box Drawing

Design drawing for a signwriter's box
as used in this project.

Signwriter's Box

A signwriter's toolbox needs to hold everything likely to be used for site work, and should also provide a versatile platform for standing or sitting on while working.

The box is a tool in itself, and all the signwriters I have ever known designed and made their own, each slightly different but broadly similar, with varying degrees of cunning and sophistication.

The box must be big and strong - there are a lot of tools to carry, and it is also meant for standing on, giving the maximum elevation. But it needs to be portable, so the weight should be kept to a minimum.

Common features are drawers at the top for holding brushes and other tools, a shelf for rolls of paper, and an area below for paints and solvents - these will inevitably produce spillage, so the bottom of the box is constructed as a well to capture and contain any mess.

Box Frame

Skeleton box frame with shelving in place.

When designing your box, it is wise to make an inventory of the items it will carry - and to measure them - before making a scale drawing and a cutting list.

Fittings such as hinges, catches, knobs and handle should also be considered before starting work.

Using fine joinery and quality timber is ideal if you have the tools and the skills, but it is not essential, and a typical signwriter's studio will already have basic woodworking tools and plenty of plywood off-cuts to hand.

There is a lot of cutting to do, so access to a saw with a guide fence (e.g. a plunge saw) would be helpful, and routers or jigs are useful in the hands of an expert, but you can only work with what you actually have.

Hiring tools is an option, of course, but then so is contracting the job out to a professional carpenter - traditionally, a signwriter makes their own box.

Box Lid

The frame with the lid and the well section.

The Project

The signwriter's box in this project is made entirely of plywood scraps - leftovers from signs made earlier in the year - with 12mm sheet used for the frame and 4mm used for the shelves, drawers and cladding, plus a few pieces of 9mm for drawer fronts and reinforcing braces.

The external dimensions are 22 x 16 x 9 inches (approximately 560 x 410 x 230 mm) - quite a monster, but this box is designed to hold a very particular inventory, including items that come in a standard size. Any bigger and it would be unmanageable, any smaller and it would be impractical for its purpose.

No power tools are actually necessary (though they are quicker), and handsaws, a small chisel, a surform and a knife can do all the cutting and shaping. A steel rule, a straight edge and a T-square are used for layout, various clamps and a spirit level help with assembly. No screws, nails or pins are used - everything is held together with wood glue (lots of it).

Box Backed

Main box with cladding and extra partitions.

Dovetail jointing in plywood is normally best avoided, but the box is a sturdy workhorse, not fine furniture, and it is going to take a battering in its lifetime.

I chose this method for the frame, but the outer box could instead be made of floorboards glued and nailed together (with no joinery) and still be stable and solid.

The box interior is more intricate, a customised array of drawers, shelves, nooks and crannies - everything that a signwriter might need when practising the craft on site will have its designated place, made to measure.

The main box and the lid are treated separately. In this design the lid has pockets to accommodate various A4 papers (tracedown, blotting, letterheads, reference material), which are kept clean and protected.

Geometry tools and chalkboard pens can be stored in the lid, and there are spaces for a clock, a camera, a radio and a tablet computer.

Box Assembled

Assembled with drawers and knobs in place.

Where the lid joins the main box a 'well' area is created. In this design the hinges attach to a cross-piece above the well, which is dovetailed to the frame and braced for extra strength. The well pieces can be assembled separately and hinged to the lid, which allows for adjustment of alignment before final fitting.

The box itself has two rows of drawers: brushes and gold leaf go at the top, with tapes, chalklines, pounce bags and sundry tools underneath. Below that is a shelf for paper rolls (drawings, tracing and lining paper), which also serves as a rack for dippers.

The bottom of the box can hold paint tins up to a litre in size (with room for a smaller tin on top), and a cut-out in the shelf above allows for a 750ml bottle of white spirit, upright. Other items carried in the well area include rags, sundry bottled fluids, larger tools, anything potentially dirty, and a disposable dustsheet.

Paint is the heaviest item, so only colours that are likely to be needed will be carried (black and white will always be present). Where the job involves pictorial work - or is an unspecified "could be anything" callout - a larger selection will be included, up to a full range.

Box Fitted

Stained and varnished, complete with fittings.

The partitioning of the box interior takes all items to be carried into consideration, and influences the overall dimensions at the design stage - wide enough for a long steel rule and a standard paper roll, tall and deep enough so that brushes, paints, solvents and numerous other essential tools can each have an allocated space with carefully calculated clearance.

The main well area is deliberately left open plan for maximum versatility, but carefully cut temporary partitions, low and designed to be wedged in place, might be carried - the space under the cross-piece for the hinges is useful for various items, including a 500mm steel rule and a three-piece mahlstick.

The Construction

The frames for the main box and the lid are cut first. Before assembling them it is necessary to chisel out rebates for the shelves, braces and hinges.

Cut the largest pieces first - as construction progresses there will be lots of small parts needed for drawers and partitions. Once the frames are glued - and square - the shelves and other parts can be fitted, but remember to sand these smooth and do any planned cut-outs before gluing. When everything is in place (and dry) you can fit the lid to the main box.

Box Loaded

Loaded with gear and ready for action.

The drawers can then be added, small pieces of 4mm plywood butted together, with the side runners slightly proud of the bottom and back, and the front made of 9mm material. The interiors can also be partitioned, which will help to organise smaller items. The drawers should fit snugly (but not be too tight) and each will need a finger hole in the front or a suitable knob.

The Fittings

There are many options when it comes to case fittings - brass, steel, wrought iron, wood and more, in various sizes and finishes.

Practicality is always the primary concern, followed by cost and aesthetics (though not necessarily in that order). In this project, the fittings are the only items to be bought specifically (total cost about £20) - everything else comes from general stock.

Handle, hinges and catches are required items, corners and drawer knobs are optional. According to Signwork by Bill Stewart, "most signwriters will fit a mortice lock or a padlock for added security", but I have never seen an example - a bike lock fed through the handle might be more useful, as unlike the contents the box itself cannot easily be replaced.

Box Branded

Update: The box shown here first saw action in January 2014, when I stood on it to do some house numbers on columns in Belgravia - no stepladder required.

The hinges need to be strong, and the handle requires particular attention, as it will bear a lot of weight - it must be bolted on (not simply screwed to the top) and should not be so lengthy that it doesn't allow you to stand comfortably on the box.

Some fittings can either be screwed or riveted in place, but before any permanent fixing is done the box should be sanded smooth and painted (or stained and varnished), subjects in which a signwriter will need no instruction.

The Result

The empty box weighs in at 15 lb (7 kg). It is designed so that the contents will move around as little as possible when in transit - a bag of rags (which will be present anyway) can be useful in this respect.

When loaded the box will weigh at least twice as much. It is not meant to be carried far - if you don't have a vehicle, use a cab, though public transport may be an option if you live near a station (or use a case trolley), and some cargo bikes could cope.

Signwriting the box itself can be done later if desired, but be aware that scuff marks and paint spatters will accrue over time if the box is used in the wild as intended.

It's not a work of art, it is the art of work.

Richard Gregory
December 2013