Category: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest

When it comes to the issue of transporting a fully constructed Anarchist’s Tool Chest home, not every woodworker owns a truck. And even though the finished dimensions of the chest are easy to calculate, some people’s eyes are bigger than their Impalas.

I have had to do some wacky things to chests to get them into cars. On a few of the weirder ones, I am sworn to secrecy. Among the less weird:

• Shrink-wrapping it to the top of a Honda, “Beverly Hillbillies” style.
• Building it completely without glue so it can be flat-packed like Ikea stuff.
• Abandoning it at the school!

This week student David Eads pulled another common trick: Taking the car door off the hinges to get just enough space to sneak the chest into the back seat of a sedan. The whole process took 10 minutes. Tips: Have a box below the door and helpers so you can remove the door gently without destroying the wiring or dropping the door on the ground (this has happened.)

I head home on Sunday with this tool chest on my mind. We are getting the electronic files ready for our sixth printing of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” Love it or hate it, this is the book that let me quit my job. So thank you for buying it.

— Christopher Schwarz

One of the interesting aspects of the book “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” is how many of the readers are active members of the military, government officials or managers in huge internet corporations.

I have lost count of the number of e-mails that begin like this: “I would like to order this book, but I don’t think it can be mailed to me on base, and I can’t have it show up on my credit card.”

We are happy to oblige and always ship our books in a plain brown wrapper.

This last week I’ve been teaching a class in building The Anarchist’s Toolchest at The Woodworker’s Club in Rockville, Md. The club is an interesting place – you don’t see many clubs like this except on the East or West coasts of the United States or in Europe.

Essentially, The Woodworker’s Club is, first of all, a place where you can pay a monthly fee to use a fully equipped and impeccably maintained workshop. There are lots of workbenches and an impressively equipped machine shop (a 16” SCMI joiner with a Shelix head?).

There is a lot of staff support, and the Maryland club also has an entire Woodcraft store up front.

As we were building a dozen tool chests this week, I got to watch the club’s members work among us, both in the bench rooms and in the machine room. I have to say this: Without a doubt, I have never seen a more diverse group of woodworkers. There was a healthy mix of men and women of all ages, races and ethnicities, working away at their personal projects.

It was very cool and quite heartening. If you live in the D.C. area and cannot set up shop in your apartment or condo, stop by the club and talk to Chris, Matt or Amy. They will be happy to help you get started in the craft without having to invest a year of your salary in machines alone.

During this class, I lost track of how many of the students were connected to the military or the government. And after a Thursday-night open house at the club, I was overwhelmed by the response of people to the anti-establishment ideas I write.

So now I think it’s a good idea if I sneak out of town before anyone notices what I’ve been teaching.

Yeah, we all built rectangular boxes this week, but what is radical is what goes inside.

— Christopher Schwarz

If you have ever wanted to build a full-on dovetailed Anarchist’s Tool Chest and want it done quick, here is your chance.

Due to a slight mix-up, we have two openings in my Anarchist’s Tool Chest at The Woodworker’s Club in Rockville, Md. They are prepping the poplar for the build today and tomorrow, so if you sign up now, you can be cutting dovetails on Monday morning and your chest will be done by Friday (except the easy innards. Hmmm “Easy Innards” would be a good band name…).

Sign up here. Or call 301-984-9033.

These classes are brutally fun. We work like dogs and then are mean to our livers.

— Christopher Schwarz

To build an English-style tool chest, you don’t need a chest full of hand tools. Here is what I consider the minimum tool kit necessary to build this chest during a class or in your shop (as soon as you have your stock dimensioned).

Handplanes
Block plane: for smoothing surfaces and trimming joints flush
Jack plane: for gross removal of material
Moving fillister, skew rabbet or large shoulder plane: for cutting rabbets
Plow plane: for plowing the groove in the lid
Beading plane: 1/8” or 3/16” (optional)

Saws
Dovetail saw
Tenon saw
Coping saw, such as the Olson, and extra blades (10 or 12 tpi)

Chisels
1/2” bevel-edge chisel
1/4” or 5/16” mortising chisel
Chisel mallet

Marking & Measuring
Cutting gauge, such as the Tite-Mark
Dividers (one or two pair)
Marking knife
Mechanical pencil
Dovetail gauge or sliding T-bevel
Tape measure
Combination square: 6” or 12”

Miscellaneous
16 oz. claw hammer
Nail sets
Hand drill with a set of bits up to 1/4”
Sharpening equipment

Depending on how you cut your dovetails, you can skip some of the equipment. If you cut pins first, you can get away without a marking knife. If you like your dovetails a little irregular looking, you can dispense with the dovetail marking gauge and the dividers. If you truly cut your dovetails “by hand” then you don’t need a dovetail saw (you ninja).

— Christopher Schwarz