I started building trunks about 20 years ago. My wife needed a larger more sturdy constructed trunk to replace her cheap foot locker. The first was a basic box trunk with a sliding drawer design form some magazine. Since than I have redesigned the Basic Trunk with new design improvements. I have built and sold a few on consignment for a tack store, and built Tack Cabinets for my wife and her friends, to fulfill their equestrian needs.
Some were covered with a plastic Laminate (Formica), others painted, all stained and satin polyurethane inside. Each Cabinet or Trunk is slightly different than the other, and changed designs for rides preferences. Some of the cabinets and trunks pictures below were built by me, others have been made from my plans and purchasers have kindly shared their Trunk pictures with me.

If you decide to build one or have a friend or relative build you one,
please send me pictures and I will be glad to add them to this Web page.


Stable-Management
A Place to Put Stuff
by Jennifer Williams, Ph.D.

Excerpt from September 2007
article on tack equipment.

  Locker Designs
  If you have the skills to build your own lockers but aren’t sure how to create the
  design, you can purchase tack locker designs on-line. Elite Tack Design
  (www.elitetackdesign.com) offers several different tack locker plans. Bill Tschorn
  of Elite Tack Design started designing tack trunks and lockers over 20 years ago
  when his wife needed a place to store her tack. They now offer different plans
  that cost $44 each and include a list of needed materials and tools, plywood
  layout sheets to help you cut the plywood, and illustrated step-by-step
  instructions. Tschorn, who is a technical illustrator, drafter and graphics artist
  by trade, says, “I have carefully designed and illustrated each manual for the
  average home carpenter. This allows people to construct the cabinet with their
  own personal touch.


This early Total Tack Cabinet
was built on consignment.
Made with our “Saddle House” design, with 2 draws and a
plastic crate for storage.
Laminated in green Formica.

This early Basic Tack Trunk
was built on consignment.
Made with a large sliding /
take out draw and personal lid compartment door.
Laminated in black Formica.

I built this Armoire Tack Cabinet for my wife, “Chris”.
It's 18 years in use and still strong as the day it was built.
Painted black enamel and ¾” aluminum angle trim.


Armoire Tack Cabinet
by Bill Owen for his
daughter-in-law Trina..

Basic Tack Trunk
by Whit Prophet for
her daughter Rebecca..

Total Tack Trunk
by David Schircliff
for Paige Buckwalter.


Ken Smith built this Basic Tack Trunk
with few custom draws.


Thomas Lade and Tiffany Hart built this simplified version of the Armoire Tack Cabinet.


Lauren's Trunk
(Shown)

Basic Tack Trunk owners
Lauren & Elizabeth
Larry Guyer constructed two Basic Tack Trunks for his daughters.
He used Cherry Veneer Plywood and modified the Elite Tack Design plans to include tongue & groove joints.
The four corner posts and trim are made from Quarter-sawn Sycamore.
Larry also made a brush-tote tray that fits on top of the interior hatch lid next to the sliding drawer.


Doug Young constructed this Basic Tack Trunks for his daughter using 1/2" Birch plywood 
with a Rosewood stain. Basic Tack Trunk owner Kira on Ellie Mae. 

Hello:  I thought I would send you some pictures of the box I just finished for my daughter from one of your plans. I modified it to have a pullout saddle rack. I also changed the size of the lower compartments to allow for the lowest shelf to hold a large water bucket. The top shelf on the door was not cut out for polos but left to hold bell boots.
- Nathan Onfrichuk
   Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


Hi Bill,
My daughter Kelsey and I built her tack box from your plans. We used birch plywood and painted it.  The materials were a Christmas present (from me and her mom) and together we constructed it.  We had a blast and she loves it.  It turned out great and is the envy of the barn.
- Peter VanderMeer


Bill:  I found the handles; they were buried in a corner of the hardware section at Lowes. Thought you might like these pictures. The trunk is currently sitting on a small mover’s dolly tipped under it for ease of movement. I used Baltic birch laminate for the box. The base is yellow poplar. I happen to like the natural 'green' color of yellow poplar so you will see it used throughout. I even trimmed the hatch door edge with it to clean up the edge of the laminate. The upper drawer rails are red oak, as is the trim on the upper edges of the laminate for the box, and the corner trim. The face piece inlay on the top is a maple-walnut-alder-birch pattern. I stained it with a wipe on Honey Maple stain from General Finishes, and used General's Arm-R-Seal wipe-on spar urethane to finish it.
Both the trunk and the tack armoire came out to my wife's liking.
Cheer! -  Don Hooper


Hi Bill:  Just wanted to share with you some pictures of the tack cabinet we made from your plans.  My daughter has been asking for something like this for a long time, and I wasn’t able to find anything (that I could afford) that would suit her purposes, until I found your plans.  It turned out really nice and I wanted to share the pictures.  My husband made it and he is such a perfectionist!  We kept telling him it’s going in a barn, but he went all out anyway.  We gave it to my daughter for her 25th birthday and she really likes it, as do everyone else in the barn.  Of course they all ride western, so it wouldn’t work for them!  Hope you enjoy the pictures!   - Judy Keener


Dear Bill
I thought that I would send you some pictures of the Tack Cabinet I made for my girlfriend, Ransom Witt, for her birthday. She had some modifications that she wanted,
so I used your Total Tack Cabinet template and made the changes accordingly.
Your designs were very helpful and I know that she will love this... thanks again.
Sincerely - Mickey Loftis


Hi Bill:  Thanks for the compliments of my work. I am a tenant in Maureen’s apartment building and she knows I'm a skilled cabinet maker. So any time she, needs one of a kind masterpiece she calls me. I have built some incredible things for her over the past 8 years that in the normal world would have paid very well. I am just a poor carpenter, who loves woodworking so much, that even if I had millions, I would be in my wood workshop everyday!
Since I don't have any work space where I live, most of the trunk was built in my driveway, on saw horses, and concrete ground. Near the end we used Maureen mother’s garage to stain, varnish, paint and final assembly. It was also a good place to hide the trunk from Rebecca till Christmas. I got the hardware from ROCKLER.com. Maureen did reimburse me for the hardware, paint, varnish, brushes, sandpaper etc. The wood was free, leftover from my real job projects. It was truly a labor of love, having built my first tack trunk!
It wouldn't have been possible without you Bill.
Thanks,  Marc Bonner


Hi:  I recently purchased your plans for the Basic Trunk. We were building it for our daughter who shows steers in area fairs, she is a senior and we knew she would only use the box for 2 fairs so we put a little extra work into so when she travels to college she will take it and use it as a hope chest and storage. The plans were very easy to follow even by those with little carpentry skills. As you can see in the photos we added a few details, trim around lid and bottom, wheels and name plates for the animals Janna has shown. Thank you and please display photos and web site for others to see.   -   Sheryl Jo Legg


Hello there:  I just wanted to write to thank you for your fantastic plans. My dad and I built your armoire tack cabinet as a father-daughter project, in honor of my first horse. We are SO pleased with how it turned out. Your plans were easy-to-follow and complete, and we couldn't believe how well everything fit together and how nicely designed the box was. Everyone is incredibly impressed and we are getting many compliments. I'm directing lots of people to your website!  I've attached a couple of pictures of the finished box. It would be wonderful to see them on your website!
Thanks again for your fantastic design. We couldn't be happier.
Sincerely, Katie Taylor


Hi!  Wanted to share the pictures of my new Western Tack Cabinet built by a friend and co-worker from Lexington Fire Department (KY) Major Darryl Osborne with the help of FF David Gumm, FF Rick Faulkner and Darryl's son Darrin.  The pictures do not do this cabinet justice- it is absolutely beautiful. I am using it to hold a saddle seat saddle and all my stuff at a boarding facility. Your plans were great and my friends did an incredible job-it is gorgeous and fits my needs perfectly! (It is too pretty to put in a barn!)
 -  Carrie Bowling


Hello there!   So I finally finished my tack box, I had ordered the plans from you, and I thought I would send you the final pictures... There's still some saw dust/little wood ships/dust in there (I just finished staining this afternoon!) but I absolutely love it! There a couple of modifications, or I suppose I can call one a  "mishap", but nevertheless, it's awesome!!! My carpenter accidentally attached the trunk lid on the wrong side!  But the difference is negligible, haha... Also we decided for the saddle house roof, instead of putting it on a hinge, we have it  lifting out, because my bridle hook I guess was a little long, so it would've hit the hook, and plus it's actually pretty easy just to have it pulls out! I hope you like and that we did your plan justice!

It was built here in Calgary by D. Parker
Thanks again for all your help! - Heather Love


Dear Bill,   I was delighted to receive your Christmas card last month and I have since then been meaning to drop you a line. In fact, I have been meaning to drop you a line since I completed the tack cabinet based on your plans almost a year ago. I have no woodwork training but I found the instructions very clear and easy to follow, and I had a lot of fun making it. My daughter Heather is delighted with the tack cabinet and it is the envy of all her friends. I cannot tell you how many people have admired it since we put it in the tack room at the stables where her pony lives. Certainly it stands out from the other tack boxes in terms of design and finish. In fact the admiration makes me feel somewhat guilty because whatever about the finish, credit for the design belongs to you.
I had intended to give it a better paint job and had envisioned all kinds of colors and stenciling, but Heather in her impatience to take possession barely allowed me time to lash on a few coats of varnish!  Regards, Frank Henry  -  ( Ireland)


Hello Elite Tack Design: Your web site asks for finished photos of your completed designs. I've attached a photo of a variant of the "Armoire" that my husband built for me. I am an eventer so I have 2 saddles, 3 different bridles and more gear than most "one sport" participants. This version is 11" taller to accomodate the second saddle rack and the doors have been switched. It is stained and then poly-urethaned throughout. -   thanks Judy Labovitz

David Hoff - TC  
Burned plans Bill:  We built ours just like your plans call for and finished with a coat of linseed oil. The oily linseed rag we used to apply finish to the cabinet caught our trash can on fire in the garage, but everyone is safe.  The only thing we did different from your plans was to add a 1/8" sheet of plastic under the tack box area, the area the two milk crates sit and under the bottom drawer.  You will see them in the photos.  I thought that the plastic tack box and plastic milk crates would slide in and out smoother with plastic under them and it will also keep the wood from getting soiled.  We also put parafin on the bottom of the two wooden drawers on the right side so the drawers slide in and out easier. Enjoy, David Hoff
NOTE: Elite Tack Design replaced David's burned plans for FREE!

Elite Tack Design thanks our customers for sharing there emails and pictures.

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