System is not work, but is simply a law of action for reducing work. It does not require special executors, but permits few to accomplish much. It loads no man with labor, but lightens the labor of each by rigidly defining it. Hard work begins when system relaxes. System never, under any circumstances, interferes with variations in human action, but includes them. Elasticity is not a quality of system. Comprehensiveness is.
System is the result of two rigid laws: a place for everything and everything in its place, and specific lines of duty for every man… .
In many shops half the things are everybody’s business and never done; the others are nobody’s business and half done.
— James W. See, “Extracts from Chordal’s Letters” (American Machinist, 1880)
“The things you own end up owning you.” — Tyler Durden, “Fight Club.”
I am not a wood collector. After you finish reading this blog entry, however, you’ll probably call me a liar.
Yesterday I and a couple friends filled a 17’-long U-Haul truck with wood and drove it three hours to my home, where it sits outside my house this morning. The wood came from the basement of a woodworker who is winding down his craft. It is stuff he amassed during the last 20 years.
He approached me a few months ago about buying it, and I resisted. I never like to buy wood unless I have the project ready to build. Why? Oh there are so many reasons.
1. I don’t have the space to store wood. Every scrap of storage space in our house is given over to books – the basement, the guest bedroom, the sunroom, the garden shed.
2. I think you get a better color match if you use wood that all comes from the same tree. It’s easier to get it from the same tree if you buy small quantities right when you need it.
3. When I have had a stock of wood sitting around, I find that I always end up with too much or too little wood for what I need. So I end up buying more (with a poor color match) or having little bits of waste sitting around. And I have no space for that.
I could go on and on. But the question of the day is why did I say “yes” to this guy after saying “no” to similar offers since 1993?
It must have been the 30”-wide clear cherry and the 20”-wide walnut. People do dumb things for wide wood. And so Megan Fitzpatrick, Ty Black and I spent all day yesterday loading up this huge U-Haul truck. Today I will spend all day unloading it. Sorting it. Making a pile of stuff to burn through the winter.
I don’t feel like I own this wood – it owns me and I don’t like that. Already I’ve started looking for specific projects for these pieces. Megan needs walnut for a blanket chest. Ty needs mahogany for a drawing table. We need bookshelves galore.
But right now, I need two ibuprofen and some clean gloves.
A while back I sent you pictures of an old tool chest I was able to get, and I thought you might like to see the mostly finished chest. It was in rough shape and needed a lot of work. I have been diligently plugging away at it as best as one can who has two small boys and a full time job. Now I finally have it mostly done, am working out of it, and I think it looks pretty good considering what I started with. I hope this is not imposing too much but I sent you a video I made about the chest, this seemed the best way to show folks about it. Sorry about the larger file size, just let me know if you’d prefer a photo or two instead.
I feel like the chest is about 100 years old, based on the size and quality of the boards used in it, but I am only guessing. My feeling is that the original owner was more a carpenter than a joiner, and I suspect the sides are just nailed together under those metal plates. I had to repair the lock mortice, replace a missing portion of the rails that the tills slide on, repair the upper skirt, replace the casters, and, oh well you get the idea. I stripped as much of the paint as I could get out from the interior, and the wood is beautiful! The outside was repainted with Federal Blue milk paint and the hardware cleaned up.
Due to the depth of the lid I opted to store some tools there, and I may add a few more. My saw till tilts out so that the larger saws can be removed without any difficulty. I also made some gravity-actuated turn-buttons on the saw till to keep the saws from sliding out in the event the chest is jostled while closed. I am limited with the tills in that they are all the same depth, and one day I may make a new bottom till that is step-sided so that I can make it deeper. I am also a bit limited with the depth of the bottom area, as the moulding planes cannot be placed on their ends. I do plan on adding a dividing wall to the center of the main well to separate the space and hang some tools like my draw knife. I do like the little side latch, the finger recesses in the back wall, and the external lid support
Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience with you, since I blame you for getting this tool chest idea in my head (that is a good thing, though). I bought the ePub version of your book and I really enjoyed it, well done. I am in love with the tool chest idea – it is absolutely the best option I have in my very limited space, and I am enjoying working out of it. Thanks too for all you do for the woodworking community. On my recommendation the academic library that I work for has purchased some of the books from you at LAP and we are hopefully going to order “Mouldings in Practice” next. Keep up the good work and thanks again!
Reader Jason Frantz of WoodShop Artisans sent me a photo of a tool chest that has been in his family for many years. The corners are bound with brass plate, both on the main carcase and on the plinth, upper skirt and dust seal on the lid.
I like the cove shapes that the owner cut into the brass plate. It’s a nice touch on what could otherwise be a pedestrian job. Thanks Jason!
It’s raining. I have Lost Art Press’s world-class collection of tarps at the ready. But the truck that’s supposed to deliver “Mouldings in Practice” hasn’t shown up. Perhaps the driver is waiting for a thunderstorm to kick in before backing a semi down my street.
So instead of drinking some of the beer from the Upper Midwest that a student brought me, I attached the steel binding to the Traveling Anarchist’s Tool Chest. I stink at metalwork, so I took my time hacksawing all the pieces to length and drilling the bores and counterbores.
As a result, this was a fussy three-hour job for me.
I’m fairly happy with the results, however. I managed to get almost all the counterbores at the right depth, and the screws from blacksmithbolt.com look great. The only task that is left is to file the metal corners flush and remove any snaggy bits that might bite me or my students.
Now I get to turn my attention to the chest’s interior fittings. I tried to dig up enough pine for the sliding tills from my wood rack, but I’m still awash in mahogany from building campaign furniture. I know I’m going to catch some grief for using such a bourgeois wood on a proletariat project, but I don’t want to buy more pine and wait for it acclimate.
So mahogany tills, here I come. Now where did I put my pocket square and ascot? Oh Muffy, have you seen my velvet smoking jacket?
