Lost Art Press

SOLD: Fancy Anarchist’s Tool Chest

Posted on by fitz

overallopen

EDIT: Sold. (But I’d be happy to build another if asked!)

With my extra time during the lockdown, I was able to complete this hand dovetailed sugar pine Anarchist’s Tool Chest. Its exterior dimensions are: 39-3/4″ wide x 23-1/2″ deep x 24-1/4″ high (including the battens – aka rot strips – on the bottom). It has hand dovetailed bird’s-eye maple tills with quartersawn white oak shiplapped bottoms affixed with cut nails. All three tills are 8-1/2″ from front to back. The top two tills are 2-3/4″ high with 1/2″-thick bottoms; the bottom till is 5″ high with a 5/8″-thick bottom. The top till is 36″ wide, the middle till is 35-1/2″ wide, the bottom till is 35-1/4″ wide.

The remainder of the interior fittings – the slides for the tills, the tool rack and the moulding plane corral – are of figured hard maple.

The tool rack is slightly different than what is shown in the “Anarchist’s Tool Chest” book; I bump it out from the front chest wall to allow for the hanging backsaws behind the chisels, screwdrivers and other tools in the tool rack. (I find this not only protects them, but makes the saws easier to grab than from a bottom-mounted saw till.)

The chest bottom is tongue-and-groove pine boards affixed with forged Rivierre nails. The hand-forged hardware is the new “Anarchist’s Tool Chest Re-forged kit” from Horton Brasses.

The chest is $4,200 as is (including your General Finishes milk paint color of choice); that also includes crating (LTL shipping is paid by the buyer; it’s typically less than $250). Add-ons (real milk paint, an iron crab lock, casters (either new or re-conditioned vintage), custom interior fittings, etc.) are available as well. First one to respond with a definitive “yes” gets it. (My signature below is linked to my email.)

If you’d like to see more (including entirely too much on dovetail how-to) and outfitting the interior, check out my Instagram feed.

— Fitz

interior

uptop

closedhandle

32 thoughts on “SOLD: Fancy Anarchist’s Tool Chest”

  2. Fitz, I thought I was being so original when I spaced out my rack the same way. How far did you do yours? Beautiful job BTW.

    1. I bump it out by about 5/8″ and make the rack itself about 1/2″ wider. I did that on my first one 10 years ago, because I kept cutting myself reaching into Chris’ for his saws 🙂

  3. Megan, looks great. I have a question about the backsaw hanging set up. I am planning on building my own ATC in the near future. Are you able to hang a large tenon saw (mine is a Lie-Nielsen) With that configuration or would it hit the bottom?

    Thanks

    1. I just tested it – the standard LN tenon saw does fit, with about 2″ to spare (there’s 17-1/2″ under the rack)

    2. Oh — but you might want to bump it out by 3/4” instead on 5/8”; that will allow for a less/tight fit of the tenon saw (and still work for a DT saw)

  4. you didn’t mention that it has pretty little finger prints all inside of it.

  7. Is that some of the sugar pine I sold to you guys a couple years ago?

  8. Beautiful, as usual. But I have a question. This may have been answered in the book or at some time in your blog, but I just don’t remember the answer. Why do you run the bottoms of the tills side to side, rather than front to back? I know the tills aren’t designed to carry much weight but i would think front to back running bottoms would provide more support for the contents.

    Just curious,
    Doug C.
    Vienna, Va.

    1. Thank you! The till bottoms actually get more support running end to end, because they rest on the runners at the sides of the chest. That way, it’s not just nails that provide the support.

  9. Looks great but way out my price point!😳 I have to make my own but you know what they say; “if you don’t have money you have to work!” 😜

    1. Making your own is fun (I have two, myself — one at home, one at LAP) … but neither are quite as fancy as this one.

  12. Looks great. Bout how many hours does it take you to build one of these?

    Also, on the tool rack, holes on 1 1/8″ or 1 1/4″ centers? Is the spacing for slot behind 1/2″?

    1. Thanks. The overall time involved varies, depending on the interior, the hardware and the paint. But the case and lid take me about 38 hours these days from stock prep to finish…if I work fast (I prefer not to…fast is risky).

      The tool rack holes are a little less than 1-1/2” on center (I need enough room for the 5/8” square blocks between the holes, which is why it varies slightly from the book). So 5/8” is how much it’s bumped out; 1/2” isn’t quite enough for my backsaws to hang straight down (but that could vary depending on your saws).

  13. Not surprised someone grabbed this one so quickly, such beautiful work, Megan! Now chop chop! 😀

  14. Fantastic job Megan! The trays could not be more gorgeous! Excellent choice of wood, the maple and oak combo, wow!

  16. I’m a bit late to the party here, but just wanted to chime in and congratulate you on a fantastic looking tool chest. I’m not often attracted to flat woodworking, but this makes me want to throw out my chairs and make a chest. An heirloom for sure. Glad to hear it’s been sold already.

Comments are closed.