Category: Anarchist’s Gift Guide

When Leatherman released its first multi-tool, I immediately bought one. I can’t tell you how many times I have been stuck somewhere without a set of tools. The Leatherman seemed to be a great stop-gap for when you needed some makeshift pliers, or a screwdriver, knife or file.

But after using it a few times, I found it insanely uncomfortable (among its other limitations). So I threw it in a drawer and instead filled a small Klein canvas bag with essential tools and stashed it in my truck.

Fast-forward more than 25 years. I’m at the farm of my friend Narayan, and he is using one of these tools in the field. Really using it. Carrying it on his belt every day. I asked to take a look.

It was the Leatherman Skeletool, and it was nothing like my old boxy Leatherman. The handles are ergonomic, the build quality is much better and all the tools work well, if not superbly.

Gone are all the oddball tools that you won’t need unless you are fishing on an asteroid. Instead, you have heavy-duty pliers with wire cutters. There’s a good knife that locks in the open position – like a traditional locking folding knife. Plus a hex-bit chuck (a Phillips and straight driver are on board) that will take standard hex bits Leatherman’s flat bits. You can buy lots of these flat bits from Leatherman (I did).

Plus there is a carabiner that works as a bottle opener.

The Skeletool comes in three colors (I got it in green so I could easily find it). And there are some customizable options for the fancy lads. The base Skeletool is $65, made from stainless steel and is made in Portland, Ore. I’ve been using mine regularly and am so glad I gave the company a second chance.

— Christopher Schwarz

Read other entries from The Anarchist’s Gift Guide here.

Back in May, I served up some high praise for the “Atlas of Furniture Design,” published by the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. If you haven’t bought this book for yourself, please have your family buy it for you for the holidays. 

The “Atlas of Furniture Design” is one of those books that is going to be discussed and referred to by many future generations. Primarily, it is a glimpse at furniture design of the 20th century, though it occasionally looks further afield.

It is part reference book – you can easily look up any piece by the name of its designer. And it is – apologies for the term – outstanding bathroom reading. You can open up this book to almost any page and read a bit about an outstanding design, the people who made these pieces or the social context in which they were made.

It also is a drop-dead gorgeous book. Crisply printed. Fantastic binding. As a publisher, I am jealous and somewhat amazed they could make this book (it was a 20-year project) and sell it for only about $180 U.S. The book is available in both English and German. You can buy it directly from the museum or from a variety of other sellers.

— Christopher Schwarz

Read other entries from The Anarchist’s Gift Guide here.

Some woodworkers scoff at owning a level because it is regarded as mostly a carpenter’s tool. Furniture doesn’t have to be level and plumb, does it?

A small level – about 12″ long – is a great thing to have in the workshop. You can use it to level your workbench. And then you can learn a lot of things about the chairs, stools and boxes you build there. 

For me, a 12″ level is indispensable when leveling the legs of any piece of furniture – including a chest, table or chair. You can buy a cheap aluminum or plastic level from the home center. Or you can spend a little more and buy a vintage Starrett machinist’s level for $20 to $40. (Yes, there will be a temporary shortage and price spike because of this blog entry. But it will go away because Starrett made tons of these.)

These cast-iron Starrett levels are gorgeous. The three vials are replaceable. The tool’s underside is relieved so it sits nicely on a round surface, such as a chair stick. This level will remind you of how things used to be made for people in the trades.

There are fancier levels out there (Davis Tool and Level for starters). And there are some modern makers out there who do stunning work that is worth supporting, too. So get a level. And get one that makes you want to take care of it.
One more thing: If you want to get fancy, buy an inclinometer, too. These can help you precisely dial in the pitch of a chair seat, for example.

— Christopher Schwarz

Read other entries from The Anarchist’s Gift Guide here.

When I design a new piece of furniture, I start on paper, but I almost always mock things up before committing my ideas to joinery and glue. And a big part of mocking things up involves arranging parts temporarily then physically stepping back from the mock-up to give it a gander.

For this step of the process, I use a removable adhesive that goes by a lot of names, including Sticky Putty. It’s basically the stuff that you use to hang posters on the wall without push-pins. You can get it at any well-stocked grocery store for $2-$3 for a lifetime supply. It’s reusable, and it’s valuable for a wide variety of other workshop tasks.

In addition to holding furniture parts in place temporarily, I also use it to temporarily secure tools while I work. A dab can hold a square or sliding bevel as I sight against the tool to drill a hole (note: apply the putty to the side of the tool’s handle, not the base). The putty doesn’t leave residue behind or interfere with gluing, finishing or mind-control waves.

I keep my putty in a zippered plastic sandwich bag to keep it fresh and clean, though I don’t know if that’s necessary. The putty says it never dries out, but “never” is a long time.

— Christopher Schwarz

Read other entries from The Anarchist’s Gift Guide here.

Earlier this year I wrote about these rules after conceding defeat in making our own versions under the Crucible brand name. If you haven’t bought your own, what the heck are you waiting for? Are your eyes getting younger?

The black rules with white marking are extremely easy for older eyes to read when it comes to the quarters, eighths and 16ths on one face of the rule. Turn the thing over, however, and it’s a white smeary mess of 32nds and 64ths. Basically unusable for woodworking or machining. So ignore that face of the rule and just use the quarters, eighths and 16ths.

We use three rules in our shop. The typical 4R 6” rule, the flexible 6” rule and the 12” 4R rule. All are useful in a woodworking shop, but if you have to buy one, get the 6” rigid 4R rule. As of today it is $6.90 – a huge bargain.

We asked SPI if they could make us a couple thousand 4R rules without the 32nds and 64ths. They said no. Then we asked to become a retailer, and the wholesale price wasn’t any cheaper than the retail price at MSCDirect (which owns SPI). 

So just buy them from MSC and be done with it. 

The rules are fairly durable. The only problem I have found with them is that the white paint in the engraved numbers gets a little yellow with use. But you don’t notice it until you compare it to a new rule.

No it’s not a Starrett. But you can read it with old eyes and it’s durable enough for the long haul.

— Christopher Schwarz

Read other entries from The Anarchist’s Gift Guide here.