Last week, we sent the revised edition of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” to the printer. It will be released in late June. The book has been updated throughout, including the section on building the chest. The new chest holds more tools and takes about half the time to build (sacrificing nothing in the process).
If you’ve ever thought about building one of these chests, I have good news. Alexander Brothers now offers a kit of wood for the chest in gorgeous and perfect Eastern white pine. Check out the details here, but everything is milled so you can get started. Price: $575. (Alternatively, they will sell you a bundle of rough lumber if you want to save money and do that work yourself.)
This pine is fantastic. I bought the pine for the new chest from Alexander Brothers (at full price – this boy doesn’t take discounts). They have access to clear and wide stock that we simply do not.
Eastern white pine is – hands down – the best wood for this chest. It is lightweight, strong and a joy to saw and plane. Highly recommended.
And because the internet sucks, I have to mention this: We don’t get any royalty, kickback or affiliate money from Alexander Brothers, a family-run business in Virginia. Like Alexander Brothers, all we care about is getting good material in the hands of people so they can build stuff.
— Christopher Schwarz
About doing business with people you know and like – and I’m sure this is no new concept to anybody here: I am happy to pay full price, I’d rather give my money to them instead of a faceless exploiting megacorp.
I will get the book, once rugbank or Dictum stock it. Easier construction sounds very tempting!
Thanks. Always on the lookout for a source of good wood. Out of curiosity, what width do the boards come in for the carcass? One piece or glued up?
Looking forward to the revised book. First one make me make a complete pivot from planning to be Norm Abrams shop. I used all my cash to remodel the garage and figured it would take a year to save up for the tools and bought your book to see what tools I should own. Of course, I thought the book would list a bunch of machines, my mistake on that but a good mistake.
Semi-related, I just saw this YouTube video and thought this would make a cool tool chest. How about we call it the Stark Tool chest?
https://youtu.be/-941NaRoLIs?si=cphRQbTrLi9soXSh
Clicked on the link. The width of the boards (i.e. depth of chest) is 24 inches.
I’ve purchased from Alexander Bros before and couldn’t have been happier. Very responsive and fast.