I hope no on has a heart attack upon reading this…but I will be turning in the completed manuscript for the long-promised Dutch Tool Chest book by the end of this month. This year. In two weeks.
Why is it so late? I am definitely the problem. I’m not great anymore at working 18 hours a day like I used to. And after a full day at work, well, I just want to go home and weed the garden (temperature allowing) – not stare at a screen. Or sit on the couch with my cats and read a book. But…that’s really no excuse. I’ve to some extent made myself busy during the day; Chris would absolutely have let me work less at the office and work more at home on the book. So there is no one to blame but me. I’ve become a lazy git. (See also: My house renovation is not done.) But the shame and pressure are now outweighing the laziness – on the book, not the house.
With that mea culpa out of the way:
I’m including a gallery of pictures from other makers that shows as many different interesting and effective layouts as possible of the interior. Cool adaptations for a specific set of tools. Cool adaptations for a non-specific set of tools. Interesting use of the spaces in the bay (or bays). Clever rolling bases. Wacky oversized (or undersized) chests. Mind-blowing uses of the back of the fall front and or/underside of the lid. You know – anything that is nifty and sets it apart from the basic interior shown below.
(Mind you, the basic interior works quite well. I like its flexibility, because my tool needs change depending on the class I’m teaching (this chest travels with me if I’m driving). In theory, anyway; 90 percent of my time on the road, I’m teaching either the ATC or DTC.
All images used in the book will, of course, be properly credited – and I’d love to include a sentence or two about your inspiration, and/or why you did what you did. I need high-resolution (at minimum, 300 dpi at 5″ x 7″), non-blurry, decently lit images. It would be great to have an overall shot of your chest open and closed, and detail shots of the clever bits. Please also include your name (as you wish it to appear) and your phone number, in case I am in desperate need of contacting you (though I’ll use email first…who talks on the phone anymore?!). The deadline for your submissions is June 7.
Here’s an excellent example of a clever idea…though a bad photo, hurriedly snapped by me during a class in our shop (it’s too close up, and without the context of more background, it’s a little hard to immediately understand that you’re looking at the side wall of the chest, outfitted with storage for large-diameter tools (how is it attached?!) and a clever pencil box. (Olivia, if you’re reading this and have time to send me better pictures…)
Please send pictures to me at fitz@lostartpress.com. (If the file sizes are too large to email, I can send you a WeTransfer or Dropbox invite – whatever you prefer.)
And thank you to those who’ve already sent submissions – I do still have them!
– Fitz
What exciting news! Looking forward very much indeed both to the book, and to putting its contents into practice under your tutelage in London this fall!
Also your mea culpa rather made me think of the inscription on the gravestone of the Swedish author Fritiof Nilsson Piraten: Här under är askan av en man som hade vanan att skjuta allt till morgondagen. Dock bättrades han på sitt yttersta och dog verkligen den 31 jan. 1972. (Here below are the ashes of a man who was in the habit of postponing everything to next day. However he mended his ways at death’s door and really died on 31 Jan. 1972.)
Excellent news. You must be relieved. Although I’ll enjoy the entire book, it’s the bit on the interior layout that I’m most looking forward to.
So excited to read this news! I can hardly wait to read it.
Megan, Great to hear the book finishing is in sight. I have been wondering what its status was for a while. Question: Do we have to subscribe in advance? If so, how do I sign up?
Thank you! And I’m relieved…or soon to be…of the pressure 😉 Nope – no subscription needed – and It’ll be at least a few months (there are some other books in line front of it to be edited and printed).
First, yay! so excited for you to get this monkey off your back and for us to be able to learn more about this interesting tool chest format. 🙂 Second, I have no pics to submit, but I love seeing Gunter getting down there in Olivia’s tool chest. Sometimes we all need a little “Piggy Pow-ah!” to get stuff done. 😉
I predict another 30 day delay as you agonize over the color of the bookcloth. 🙂
You may receive an admonition from the Procrastinators’ Club of America. Some day. Maybe.
Seriously, congratulations on bringing the book home.
I can agonize on what shade of blue while Chris is editing.
I like the chest attributed to @whitneyontv . Are any dimensions available?
thanks, Les
They will be; we’ll have video available on that one, the Swedish tool chest, sometime soonish.
thank you
At first, I thought Olivia had found a way to sneak in a baguette holder. What she actually did there is more practical. I’ve learned something.
super excited for this! i sent you some pictures in the first run (sliding till in birdseye pine). can’t remember if i sent high enough res pictures. will you let us know if you need better photos?
I will! (it is on my Monday list of things to do… to go through photos from last round)
Very excited for this as I’m just wrapping my first Dutch tool chest up. Albeit, I made it out of plywood and screws. (Please don’t judge to hard) Congrats on closing in on the finish line, it must feel nice.
May I ask what brush that is next to the Shakespeare insult bandages?
thank you
A baguette holder would be brilliant!
I’ve got my DTC carcass and some interior layout done with a few unique things you might like to see. Is “half done imagine the stuff that goes here” acceptable?
Hi Megan, just a small and easy request, would you please create a blog post of the clever idea pics that, for whatever reason, don’t make it into the book? Thanks in advance.
Sure. (But if the pictures are good/crisp/enough dpi, I’ll be using ’em in the book) And check this out in the meantime: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/editors-blog/dutch-tool-chests-readers/
I’m excited about the book, probably not nearly as much as you are! But I’ve come with a question about sharpening…
I’ve been struggling, recently, with sharpening chisels. Two different problems have emerged:
1) my narrow (5/8 or less) chisels end up skewed. I’m guessing I’ve done something weird to the Eclipse-clone I use, but I can’t figure it.
2) my wide chisels (1, 2″) are … dished? I establish a consistent burr and scratch pattern on the 1000 stone, but when I move to 4000, the polish mostly happens at the center section. I have to polish a looong time to get the whole secondary edge polished. It’s as if the stone is domed in the center – but I flattened it with a dia-flat.
Help? Where to start?
Thanks.
Oh! This isn’t the Open Wire! Sorry.
this is good news because i have a pile of dutch tools that need a home and a pile of money to buy a book with.
Megan, what wonderful news! I’m so happy for you (and us) and beyond flattered that you included a picture of my DTC!! I will definitely send you better pics as soon as I stop blushing! 😊
What is the deadline to send pictures?
June 8 (I’ll be out of town the first week of June, so…)
I remember working 18 hours a day for one full year, and that was hard, but I was young and motivated. I can’t help but wonder if this is the norm for you Americans. Do the majority work so long, and if so, why?
I don’t know if its typical. I just know I did for many years – Much of my mid 30s to mid 40s involved working all day (for pay) then going home and working on my house. Then I sold that house…and thought I could do it again. it’s taking longer this time…
I remember when you said you were renovating back in 2010
Life is hard and a bit too hard nowadays.
Oh – I finished that one! Sold it in 2015. Bought another one that needed lots of work, and now needs a great deal less. I’m making progress – just more slowly than I’d like.
Are you going to be signing the first printing of books?
“Fitz” would be an appropriate one
Can’t wait for it to be released , I have many of LAP’s books but this is one I’ve been hoping for.
I bought a fixer-upper house when I was working insane hours. I’m still working at it. On my fridge, I have a one panel comic of the devil offering a new arrival a choice of two entrances into hell. . One says “burn for all eternity”. The other says “live in your house while it is being re-modeled”. The forlorn new arrival looks, and says, “kind of a toss up, isn’t it”.
I too am looking forward for the arrival of the new book!! I would like to build a couple of them and am very interested to see all your ideas. Thank you all for all your great literature and guidance!