Lost Art Press

The Only Solution… is to Put in Drawers

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WCA-chest

From W. C. A., Detroit, Mich. — In the December number of Carpentry and Building, “C. C. B.” has Introduced the subject of tool chest construction, and In order to try and save it from the fate of former inquiries on that subject I will give the readers of Carpentry and Building my ideas of this phase of carpenter work. With the ordinary sliding tray or “Grandpa” chest only one side of the chest can be utilized; or, if both sides are used, then the tools must be dumped out on the floor every time one of the trays Is moved. The only solution of the problem is to put in drawers. In the September number for 1896 “D. T. C.” illustrates this, as well as “N.L.D.” in the August number for 1897. The latter correspondent has been requested to send drawings of his Improved large chest, but so far as I can discover he has not done so. In the May number for 1898 “Down South” says he has some original ideas on tool chest construction, and, although he has been asked, still, he has not sent his plans for publication. In behalf of about 75 percent of the wood butchers of the United States, all of whom are going to build the best chest in the world some time, I ask that both “N. H. D.” and “Down South” send in their plans.

I send a sketch, Fig. 1, of an idea that I am slowly developing as to what I consider a tool chest ought to be. It is to be noticed that there is one large drawer at the bottom and two smaller ones just above lt. The cover is made deep enough to hold the saws, squares and level. One tray and several partitions in the top should accommodate the planes and larger tools. A chest constructed on such a plan as this will have no waste room, and it will make a small, compact chest. I have planned this chest to be 18 x 30 Inches inside, with paneled ends and cover. The details of construction and partitions I leave for discussion. I hope the readers will take up the subject and not drop It until a perfect chest Is the result.

Note.—The suggestion of our correspondent is a good one and opens the way for a most excellent discussion of the subject of tool chest constructlon. We hope our practical readers will devote a part of the long winter evenings to preparing letters and sketches showing their ideas of what constitutes a satisfactory tool chest.

— Carpentry and Building, January 1901. Thanks to Jeff Burks for sending the letter. More from this series to come.

27 thoughts on “The Only Solution… is to Put in Drawers”

    1. Yeah, seems like a misprint… he said that it would be compact, but 80″ is larger than any piece of furniture I’ve ever made in my shop, certainly not something that I would think qualifies to be called “compact”.

  2. A problem, for sure, all the wasted space that must be devoted to allowing for till movement in the traditional tool chest. (But, doesn’t that space have to be filled with something, during transport, to prevent till movement? So, the space is, perforce, not wasted?)

    Drawers are one answer, but they introduce weakness and complication into a chest that must be sturdy and capable of being knocked about during transport, or by any apes on the job site.

    Why not fashion a tote to fill the space beside the tills? It would be easy to remove and would serve to hold tools needed for the immediate job at hand.

    I guess my comments reveal where I am coming from: I am a finish house carpenter who must transport my tools constantly from site to site. I would no doubt feel differently about drawers in my storage chest if I were primarily working in the shop. But then, if I had no need to transport my tools, I would probably opt for some other storage solution than a traditional chest.

      2. Yup, drawers do obscure. I have a chest of small drawers in my shop, some of which I look into only once every few years or so. Whenever I do go exploring in these drawers, looking for something I have a vague memory of, I am often surprised at some goodie I might find, and think to myself, I should find a place for that somewhere, out where I can see it.

      3. Drawers are supposed to obscure. We would all be wearing kilts if we wanted to expose.

  4. I’m laying out my chest right now. I admit, I am probably trying to stuff a few more tools into it than Chris, but not a large number beyond his stash. Two drawers is, at least for me, an idea that holds promise. True, they obscure, but with planning, you know which tools are obscured, and you can make them those that you rely on less in day to day work, but like to have on hand. I have two rows of wooden planes, I’ve chosen to lay them out on the two opposite long sides of my chest. (My chest is slightly larger than Chris’s, but again, not grossly so. I’d also like to hang my chisels and floats up, again, this requires one long side of the chest. Guess what, I without building a false wall covering my chisel blades, I have used up any space I could possibly use for trays. I do have enough saws that it requires a till in the lid, but this volume is above what Chris’s chest has, so actually, I’ve gained a little there. It’s filling in the middle that is so troublesome. To hold the spokeshaves and the screwdrivers, and let’s face it, Studley even allowed for some screw storage (from what I can gather). Tills just don’t do it all so perfectly that other routes shouldn’t be considered.

    This whole operation or arguement, however you want to look at it, may get down to a boxer’s vs brief’s thing where no one can answer the question for anyone but themselves.

    I for one feel like I’m working on a rubic’s cube, and one that the stickers won’t come off of, I’m terribly frustrated!!!

    1. I started reading through the linked publication, take a moment to look at the ad for Redwood on page 98. Up to 12 inches thick, as much as 30 inches wide in 20 foot lengths, “perfectly clear” how I wish.

  6. No drawers. I can see an inherently bad situation trying to load and unload a tool chest with drawers into the work truck, that will invariably come out throwing you off balance when trying to load or unload the tool chest.
    My dads tool chest had tills, but also had a removable tote that occupied the space in front of the tills. Nothing shifted during transport.
    Besides, we weren’t packing that thing up three flights of steep stairs in a Victorian age home.

    The removable tote gave us a way to haul the tools to were we were working, and saved a bunch of steps to and from the tool chest on the first floor. Locked up, and other trades couldn’t poke around where they had no business.

    Sam

    1. I agree. On occasion, I have had thought I might save time by moving base cabs with the drawers already installed. Bad idea, for just the reasons you give. Drawers sliding out everywhere, always at the worst possible times, such as at doors and or at a turn in some stairs. I guess a mechanism could be employed to lock tool chest drawers closed. I own a pre Civil War sea going portable writing desk that uses simple vertical pins to lock shallow drawers closed. Of course, these drawers never held anything heavier than paper, though they would have been subject to severe movement at times. My ancestor, who owned the writing desk, survived several hurricanes while at sea with this desk.

  7. I must say, Chris has the design right for shop, or job-site, the Atheist’s tool box fits the bill.

    “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

    1. An anarchist can be an atheist is he wishes. Pretty soon this new name for the tool chest is going to stick.

  8. I too like the sliding till concept. In recognition of every Craftsman using the materials available to him. What is the harm of using high molecular weight plastic for the till bottoms, thus eliminating concerns about wear & sliding tills to and froe? If traditional looks outweight function, then restrict the plastic to the base ends by being countersuck and screwing into the till bottom of the tills where they rub against the sides of the chest. Care would be needed to shorten the tills to make certain that the till box ends do not touch the sides of the chest.

    The tills could be constructed (with or without dovetails) to be attached through the bottoms with screws and restricted in depth such that multiple overlaying tools would not be a problem. Then, simply increase the number of tills to contain the number of tools required.

  10. Hmm. So – there wasn’t a ‘right’ answer to the question of toolchest design in 1901, and there still isn’t. I suppose when we all have an identical kit of identical tools, and all do identical work in identical ways, we could come up with a ‘standard’ toolchest. Until then, it’s all down to individual circumstances and tastes – do your own thing – and after all, isn’t that consistent with anarchic principles?

    1. There is something about human nature that leads many of us to be obsessed with little cubby spaces, drawers and the like. Somehow they are a lot of fun (and in the end many of whose love our own Wooten Patent Desk for our tools) even though one can make a strong argument they aren’t always the best solution. Maybe some kind of evolutionary bio-psychologist, time-and-motion expert joiner has the answers?

  11. Did anyone else catch the “editorial” on page 1 (page 12 of the PDF)? They only had limited supplies of this issue and were selling them at $5. Wolfram Alpha lets me know that that is $151 in today’s dollars. Quite the magazine!

  12. I have to admit I’ve been considering a pull out tote that sits in front of the tills for my tool chest as a way to store some of the items that don’t fit in the tills easily like the bit brace and larger mallet. I didn’t build this chest myself but acquired it from someone who had it listed on CL as a coffee table. Glad to be able to rescue it. Any evidence for tool chests with totes like that in the wild? Here’s a link to an early blog post on I did on it:

    http://www.thenewyinzerworkshop/2012/05/one-less-coffee-table.html

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