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Since I can't ever seem to turn off my brain, I find it interesting to see what it comes up with when I let it have some freedom now and then. The last time it was inspired by a very cool toolbox design that I have mostly worked out over here. This time I had discovered an old, but cool looking clarinet case for less than a five spot. I wasn't completely convinced that I should get it, but it seemed very likely that I could turn it into something else if I did. I walked around the store while holding on to it and ultimately decided that I'd spent more money on worse ideas and brought it home with me. The idea of turning it into a small toolbox for leather tools started to grow and I kept staring into it trying to envision how it would all be laid out. It was difficult to do that until I pulled out the felt cover insert that was meant to hold the clarinet parts. After that, it seemed like everything fell into place in an instant. I got some paper and sketched a rough idea of the layout while the ideas were flowing. After that, it was just a matter of hacking up some bits of cardboard to mock up the ideas, test, and adjust as needed with the actual tools that might be in it. This is what I came up with... The idea is to have one section that will fit a #4 Garland rawhide mallet and a few other various bits and the other area divided up to hold punches, modeling tools, a few swivel knives and a good number of other small tools with handles. The area with the swivel knives and modeling tools will have loop type straps to hold them all to that panel, which is also a lid for the area below it. With the lid lifted, you can see that it has a fair amount of space and keeps the contents relatively captive. The section next to it will have the punches, and the exact count is 33. That doesn't mean there isn't room to toss in a couple more, but that's about all that will realistically fit there. The idea I have for the part that hold the punches is that it will be hinged and lift up much like you see in the picture. I plan to have it lock in both the open and closed positions. This will keep them accessible while open, but also keep them from spilling out everywhere while closed. Here, you can see that it was originally intended to carry a few music books. This seems to be a great place to carry any pattern books you might have that will fit, or risk being folded to fit in it. All in all, I think it looks good and shouldn't be too difficult to make the necessary parts from a few bits of thin plywood. Maybe someone else in here will be inspired to cook up one of their own.

Just thought I would share a few pictures of an organizer / toolbox that I just picked up. I'm still trying to organize my work area and I think this will hold all my rivets, snaps, eyelets and anything else that doesn't have a spot yet. My local Tandy store has a fishing tackle box that they have to support with a block of wood when they open it or it tips over and spills the contents I like that I can remove the separate bins as I need them and the best feature is the "built in support" for the top shelf when you open it (2nd picture). I think it is a reasonable price at $29.99 ( in Canada) I'll post some pictures once I get some stuff in it. Have a great day.