We will open our doors to the public on Saturday, July 29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 837 Willard St. in Covington, Ky. We’ll be selling our complete line of products, signing books and – most of all – talking about woodworking.
I’ll display a bunch of the furniture I’m building for my next book, “The American Peasant.” Plus, I’ll be happy to demonstrate the grooving cutters I use to add spells and wards to the furniture.
We’ll also show off the Anthe building – the 1890s-era factory we are restoring to become our new headquarters. If you would like a tour of the Anthe building, we’ll lead walking tours that leave from Willard Street to 407 Madison Ave. The tours begin inside 837 Willard St. (our current building) at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
If it’s too hot for you to walk (or you have mobility concerns), you can drive your car the 0.7 miles to the Anthe building and meet us there.
Please keep in mind that Anthe is under construction, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes with good traction. There is, however, electricity, plumbing and HVAC there. Other than the two tours, the Anthe building will not be open to the public that Saturday. Our fulfillment employees don’t work on weekends. So if you show up there (outside of the tours mentioned above), you’ll find the doors locked.
One of the tool chest forms that has been on my list to explore is the Swedish chest, which I’ve encountered a few times both in the United States and Europe. It’s similar to the Dutch tool chest, with its slanting front lid. But the Swedish one is in many ways simpler.
The chest shown here came from the family of Johan Lyrfalk, who owns Rubank Vertygs AB, a woodworking supplier in Stockholm, Sweden. Last Saturday, he brought it out for us to inspect and measure during a visit to his store.
Note how the bent hasp holds the lid open and accessible.
The chest is most likely pine and it is assembled with through-dovetails at the corners. The top and bottom are screwed to the carcase. The slanted lid is kept flat with two battens that are neatly joined to the lid with blind sliding dovetails. The steel hinges are let into the carcase and are screwed through the lid and into the battens, increasing the reach and strength of the screws.
The interior of the chest is fairly open. There are openings for three drawers (this chest had only two of them remaining). The drawers are assembled with half-blind dovetails (two dovetails per corner). One nice detail of this chest is the top edges of the drawer sides are beveled to the inside. That reduces the number of corners you will bump into when you reach for a tool.
The middle drawer. Note the bevel on the drawer side.
The drawer frame and dividers appear nailed and screwed to the chest from the outside, keeping with the aesthetics of the chest.
The interior walls of the chest are lined with tool racks. And there’s a tool rack on the lid.
How the tool rack on the lid was used was a question among the woodworkers looking at the chest. The lid is propped open by its hasp, which allows the tool rack to be handy. But you’d have to remove the tools to shut the lid. Some speculated perhaps this chest was rarely closed and used mostly in a workshop environment.
Dimensions are: 32” wide, 18-1/2” high and 19-1/2” deep. The top is 11” wide, as is the drop lid. Most of the stock for the carcase is 7/8” thick.
The interior tool racks.
This chest is definitely one on my to-build list. We are always looking for tool chest classes that teach a variety of good lessons for classes (or for publication). The Anarchist’s Tool Chest is my personal favorite to work out of; but as a class, it is mostly about through-dovetails and nails. Even in a one-week class working flat out, it is difficult to get to making the lid, much less the rest of the interior bits.
The Dutch tool chest, as a class, is a more balanced experience. You get some dovetails, dados, rabbets, maybe some tongue-and-groove.
The Swedish tool chest could be a primer on through-dovetails and half-blinds, for the drawers.
I’ll have to build one to find out.
The tool chest at the Vasa.
After we spent an hour poring over Johan’s tool chest, he returned it to its resting place. The next day we went to see the Vasa exhibit. And there, right next to one of the workbenches from the Vasa, was an almost-identical chest (just a little longer). Perhaps the universe is sending me a message.
One of the other suggestions for a replacement for the beloved Hold Heet glue pot is to use a coffee mug warmer, such as this one. I chose this particular model because it has two heat settings that are ideal for heating glue (122°F and 140°F), plus it has a timer and an automatic shutoff.
I’ve used it a few times, but the limitation of this kind of glue heater was obvious from the start: It’s too small to heat more than a little bit of glue. If you work on small projects and need only a few ounces of glue at a time, a mug warmer is ideal. But I had trouble heating enough glue for a chair class and had to break out the Hold Heet.
Honestly, it’s a lot to expect from a $20 appliance that is supposed to keep 8 ounces of coffee warm. It just doesn’t put out enough heat to warm a water bath and a plastic glue bottle. (You can’t put the glue bottle directly on the warmer; it will melt.)
One possible option would be to store your glue in a steel container, which could go directly on the appliance. I tried using a large ceramic vessel but couldn’t get the water above 100° F. The thing likes to heat metal.
So the best option was a steel vessel filled with water and a glue bottle inside.
So, bottom line: It’s great for people who need enough glue for a few crackers. But if you need enough for a big piece of casework, look elsewhere.
With the disappearance of the Hold Heet glue pots from the market, readers have asked for some alternatives that don’t involve purchasing industrial equipment.
I’ve tried several options. This entry is about using a wax warmer that is designed to heat body wax for hair removal. The machine is sold under a variety of brand names, but they all have similar specifications. So while I cannot compare the Aowosa to the Daordaer, my guess is these white sheet-metal waxers are quite similar.
First, the good news: They are inexpensive (less than $50) and they work. Just don’t trust the temperature scale (more on that in a bit). They heat up fast and hold the temperature steady. Like the Hold Heet, there is a removable double-pot with a handle, which makes it easy to keep the pot full of water during long days. The lid is fairly useless unless you heat small containers of glue.
Now the bad news: This is not by any stretch of the imagination professional equipment. Everything is lightweight and thin. I’ve had my Hold Heet for as long as I can remember. It is built like a little tank. I don’t get that same vibe from these wax warmers. I hope I’m wrong.
The main problem is that the temperature scale on mine is not even close. When I set it for 140° F (60° C), it raced up to 180° F. I let the machine run for a couple days to see if there was some sort of break-in period. So far, no. So I put a piece of tape on the scale and marked where 140° really is.
I will continue to use this machine during classes when we heat a lot of glue. And it’s convenient for making small batches of Soft Wax, too. But will I bequeath it to my children at my death? I’m guessing no.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. If someone can recommend a reasonably priced heavy duty unit to test, please post it in the comments.
The drilling jig in use. I cut some more notches in it after this photo was taken, which are shown in the drawing.
I am fairly jig-averse. Not because of some philosophical reason – it’s just not the way my head works. When I look for solutions to problems, “making a jig” is way down on the list.
But sometimes, jigs are the only way forward. Last week I taught my first-ever class in making Gibson chairs. I was an emotional wreck the whole time, trying to keep seven students on track while I revised my lesson plan. But everyone ended up with a nice elm Gibson chair.
In my recent video on making the Gibson chair, I use the same drilling jigs for the Gibson that I use for all my chairs. But when thrown into a classroom environment, the old jigs were too finicky and required too much setup in order to get the arm positioned in the correct place over the seat.
So I went into our machine room for 20 minutes and devised the jig shown here. I’m sure it can be improved, but for now I’m thrilled with how simple and repeatable it makes the process.
It is made from 2x10s from the home center. Here’s a cutting list:
1 Front piece 1-3/8” x 8” x 14”
1 Back piece 1-3/8” x 8” x 17”
2 Top stops 1/2” x 1/2” x 6”
1 Bottom stop 1/2” x 1/2” x14”
Screw the front piece to the back piece in the T shape shown above. Glue and nail the top stops to the top edge of the front piece. Glue and nail the bottom stop to the underside of the front piece. Done.
Now you need to set up the jig so it can be used over and over. Place the jig so it is centered between the mortises for the short sticks and long sticks. Mark on the jig the location of where the seat meets the jig. This allows you to put the jig in the right place every time.
Place the arm on the jig and position it for drilling (as shown in the video). The top stops put the front of the arm in the same plane as the front of the seat. Shift the arm so it is in the correct position over the front mortise (the inside edge of the arm should be tangent to the center point of the mortise on the seat – also shown in the video). Then rotate the arm so its rear mortise is directly in line – a 0° sightline) with its mortise in the seat. I do this with a laser in the video.
Now trace the shape of the arm on the jig. You just made the process repeatable. Shift the jig to the other side of the seat and repeat the whole process for the chair’s other arm.
