Custom Fossil Storage Drawers

[Julia Cecchetti]

Last weekend I made myself a set of custom storage drawers for the thin specimens in my collection! I've been meaning to do this for a while, since buying nice thin drawer sets like this is super expensive and storing my fossils in boxes makes it hard to appreciate them often. 

 

I was able to make the whole thing with a budget of around $250! I got a set of 12 industrial sized 18"x24" (46x61cm) baking sheets which are 1" (2.5cm) deep and made a frame to make them into drawers using finished maple plywood. All it took was a hand held circular saw, some nails, and wood glue. I lined the bottom of the sheets with black toolbox foam. I'm super happy with how it turned out and just couldn't wait to fill it. 

 

I plan on adding wooden fronts and handles to the drawers eventually to make it look nicer, but it works as it is now. 

 

Now I need to go find more thin fossils to fill it up haha!

[FranzBernhard]

2 hours ago, Julia Cecchetti said:

12 industrial sized 18"x24" (46x61cm) baking sheets

Now that is some really useful use of these things .

 

2 hours ago, Julia Cecchetti said:

adding wooden fronts

For dust protection, you may just add some kind of curtain*.

 

Great work and extremely useful. Thanks for sharing.

 

*I have this done for some storage drawers made from discarded cardboard boxes.

 

Franz Bernhard

[digit]

Great idea! Hope this inspires someone here looking for a place to store their "thin" fossil collection.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Fossildude19]

This is a great idea.

Do the trays slide with no problems, or do you coat the rails with anything to help with that?

[JamieLynn]

nice job! I have a bunch of those baking sheets- I have only ever used them for baking! I will now look at them slightly differently....

[Julia Cecchetti]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

This is a great idea.

Do the trays slide with no problems, or do you coat the rails with anything to help with that?

Thanks! The trays slide really well. I made sure the rails were flat and smooth, and since the drawers are light there isn't much friction.

[Julia Cecchetti]

27 minutes ago, JamieLynn said:

nice job! I have a bunch of those baking sheets- I have only ever used them for baking! I will now look at them slightly differently....

Thanks! I was originally going to make each drawer out of wood, then thought of maybe bending sheet metal, then I thought wow that looks just like a baking sheet . Sure enough they were super cheap in bulk!

[Julia Cecchetti]

7 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Now that is some really useful use of these things .

 

For dust protection, you may just add some kind of curtain*.

 

Great work and extremely useful. Thanks for sharing.

 

*I have this done for some storage drawers made from discarded cardboard boxes.

 

Franz Bernhard

Who needs cookies when you can have freshly baked Pennsylvanian Flora! Haha. Thanks for the curtain idea.

[Meganeura]

What do you use to make sure the fossils stay in place? Such an awesome way to store them though, I love it!

[hadrosauridae]

Very nice! love the creativity.

[Julia Cecchetti]

12 hours ago, Meganeura said:

What do you use to make sure the fossils stay in place? Such an awesome way to store them though, I love it!

I lined the bottom with thin black foam usually used for toolboxes. It is good at keeping rocks from sliding as well as tools haha.

 

12 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

Very nice! love the creativity.

Thanks!!

[FossilNerd]

Nice use of baking sheets for storage.  
 

I’ve been keeping my eye out for used large flat file cabinets but they are just so expensive. This would be a decent alternative. Thanks for sharing.
 

5 hours ago, Julia Cecchetti said:

I lined the bottom with thin black foam usually used for toolboxes. It is good at keeping rocks from sliding as well as tools haha.

 

I do this as well in the cheap plastic drawers and glass cabinets that I currently use for storage. Works great!