Cutting in the Wilderness - A Lack of Space for Woodworking

DietCokeTin

So the last two apartments I lived at, I was close enough to my cousin who so graciously lent out the lower level of his garage apartment for me to keep my shop. However, my new place is around 50 minutes away, and there is no space inside for me to set up a shop. There is, however, a large outdoor area the landlord has set I can use, but the problem is it's 3 floors down, and lugging down tools, hardware, and lumber everyday would be a giant pain in the ass, so my idea is to build a wood chest that I can keep most of my tools in, and lock it when it's not in use. I'm not looking to set up a full shop like I had before, but something modest, mostly just hand tools, power tools, portable worktable set up on saw horses, etc. I'm not too worried about security, as the area is kept behind a rather large 12 foot iron gate with padlocks, and I plan to make the chest pretty sturdy and weight it down on the inside with a couple of bricks or cinder blocks. My primary concern is storing the tools outside, but I can mitigate most of that with a solidly built chest. My question is: am I missing anything, or does this seem like a solid plan?

Improvolone

You don't have a second bedroom? This sounds like a major pain in the ass. You could also rent out a storage unit near by.

DietCokeTin

I do but 1.) I'm using it as my home office for a dev studio I'm trying to start with a couple of friends, and I'm trying to distinguish my work area from my play area, and 2.) the outlets in 3 rooms are not grounded and are on the same circuit, so I'm essentially sharing one 120v curcuit with just about everything else in the apartment. Outside is sadly the only area I have available to me.

wmelon

I'd probably look into to some way to chain the chest down at the very least. If you're not against spending some money you could always pick up something like this:

Tractor Supply

EWom

If you have the resources to cut metal, I would reinforce the tool box with some iron, both for weight, and to help prevent against people trying to break into it. You want this shits to be like a pirate treasure chest.

I too think that you will want to find a way to fasten it to the ground. Sure you're behind a 12 foot gate, but that doesn't mean your neighbors won't want to steal it and sell what's inside of it. You're going to want big heavy locks, that lock to big heavy pieces of metal, not some flimsy padlock and an aluminum locking hinge, attached to some particle board.

I think really your time, money, and effort is better spent, coming up with a way to make lugging your tools around much easier. Maybe build a custom box that attaches easily to a dolly. Consider how much your tools cost, and how much its going to suck when they get stolen out of your chest.

You could also build a small work bench that stays out side, and doubles as a box for your left over word and such, which wouldn't need nearly as much security.

meeker

Shed dude.
Other option is to look for someone on craigslist who can rent out part of a garage.
You might also find a rental storage place that allows this sort of thing. I had a buddy who ran his painting business out of a storage locker.

Dark_Side

If you're in a larger city, you could always look for a hacker collective. They're basically community run workshops for people to build their projects in.

http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Hackerspaces