My favorite part of a project isn’t the joinery – it’s the assembly. Today I got to attach the lid to the base of my traveling tool chest using hinges made by blacksmith Peter Ross.
These are, in a word, bada%&.
Unlike simple butt hinges, these hybrid butt-straps (as I like to call them) are designed to resist the typical stresses on a chest lid. The weakness of using a butt hinge in a tool chest is that the screws in the carcase tend to wrench out – especially when the lid has an integral stop system to keep the lid standing open.
These hinges from Peter resist those forces. And they look awesome. Peter is now working on the crab lock for this chest. So stay tuned on that front.
I also attached the cast iron lifts to the ends of the chest today. These vintage lifts were given to me by a reader, who acquired them in a box of stuff. The funny thing about adding all this metal hardware is that it seems like it should make the chest more difficult to lug around. But the opposite is true. The lifts and hinges make the chest a svelte thing to move around by myself – just like my vintage traveling chest.
My plan is to sneak down and install the steel banding this week, though I probably will be thwarted by you, the loyal reader. We have almost 1,000 orders to fill for “Mouldings in Practice” starting tomorrow morning. So my woodworking will be taking a backseat to my taping and cardboard-folding skills.
Lots of people have inquired about how I’m going to install the steel banding. Here’s the straight dope: I’m going to butt joint it and screw it to the chest.
Why not weld the corners? I haven’t seen any extant chests with welded corners.
Why not dovetail the steel corners? I’ve done steel dovetails when building infill planes. I know it’s easy. But I haven’t seen any extant chests with dovetailed steel corners.
Why not join the steel corners with my heat vision? Sadly, I have no superpowers.
Oh, speaking of the fact that I lack superpowers: I screwed up this tool chest during the glue-up. I’m telling you this because my students take a crazy amount of gleeful delight whenever I make a mistake. When I glued up the carcase it ended up out of square by 1/16” over the 18” depth. That’s not enough error to see with the naked eye, but it is enough to mess with the construction of my two sliding tills.
So I’m going to make my tills as parallelograms in plan view. Fun on a bun.
I’ve been traveling with tool chests since 1997, and so I have found their weak points. Or, to be more precise and passive in voice, their weak points have been found by elevators, loading docks and falls to the concrete.
Here is a list of parts that take a beating.
1. The bottom rim of the plinth. Even if you have casters on the bottom of your chest, the plinth gets dragged over concrete blocks, door jambs and the like. My latest chest, which is only 18 months old, looks like a spastic 5-year-old attacked it with a rasp.
2. Speaking of casters, this is also a weak point of a chest. Simply screwing casters into the carcase is no good. As soon as the caster drops into a hole, it gets ripped off the case. The best solution is to bolt the casters through the bottom boards. Yes, it’s a pain and it’s ugly, but it works.
3. The lid. Oh the poor lid. Its top corners get wacked by all manner of things. Lumber gets stacked on it. People sit on it and make rude noises with their bottoms. TV stars stand upon it to speechify as if it were filled with soap.
To remedy problems No. 1 and No. 3, I’m adding steel plate to the rim of the plinth and the lid. This is mild steel, and 1/8” x 1” x 4’ strips cost about $5 at the hardware store. Last night I rabbeted the lid’s dust seal and plinth – the entire process took about 30 minutes with a rabbet plane.
I’m going to attach the steel to the chest using slotted steel screws. I have found an outstanding source for these that I will write about this weekend.
TOOL chests are still in constant demand: if not frequently, at least steadily. It is curious, too, that no matter what the woodworker may subsequently execute, nothing affords him greater pleasure than the making of a really good tool chest for his own use. The one shown here makes no claim to being a work of art. Its two merits are its all-round usefulness and its lasting strength.
From Fig. 1 (and more particularly from the sectional elevation, Fig. 2) it will be seen that there are three drawers, or tills (A, B, G), which slide forwards and backwards on runners. The top drawer has a hinged lid (D). The saw till (E) slides up and down inside the front of chest, At Fig. 2 it is shown slightly raised.
The carcase may be of clean white deal. Yellow pine would of preferable, but the price may be considered prohibitive. The fittings of the original chest described were of mahogany, the inside of the lid being veneered. Plain hardwood used for the fittings must be of the best quality. The over-all measurements suggested are about 3 ft. long by 1 ft. 9 ins. wide, and about 1 ft. 10 ins. high to top of lid. These sizes are approximate, and, after the worker determines his carcase length, width and height, the other parts can be made accordingly.
For the front and back two pieces (approximately 3 ft. by 1 ft. 8 ins., and 3/4 in. thick) will be jointed up to obtain the width. For the ends two pieces about 1 ft. 9 ins. by 1 ft. 8 ins. (also 3/4 in. thick) are required. These four sides, after squaring up, are dovetailed together, the dovetail pins being about 2-1/2 ins. apart. Before glueing, trench both ends to take a length of stuff 4 ins. by 1/2 in. (F, Fig. 2). This forms compartment G (Fig. 2) for moulding and beading planes.
The bottom, which will be screwed on, is of 3/4 in. tongued and grooved boards, the boards running from back to front of the chest (not lengthways). Level the edges and mitre and sprig on the bottom plinth (H), 4-1/2 ins. high, with a 1/2 in. ovolo moulding. The top plinth (J), 2-1/2 ins. wide, can be similarly fixed, keeping it down 1/2 in. from top edge.
Around the top edge of chest it is wise to glue and sprig a mahogany slip, 3/4 in. by 1/2 in., mitred at the corners Level it inside and outside. A good lock will complete the carcase.
FITTINGS — These may of course be varied to suit individual requirements, but the suggestions here apply to the average kit. Reference has been made to the compartment G (Fig. 2) for moulding planes. Alongside this is a larger compartment (K) for bench planes. For covering these compartments a sliding board is provided (L, Fig. 2). This board will be 10 ins. wide by 1/2 in. thick, and should be clamped at both ends to prevent twisting. When drawn to the front of the chest it covers the compartment K. To provide a bottom runner for this sliding board, two pieces (preferably of mahogany) in. square are glued and sprigged to the ends (see M, Fig. 3). These, standing 9 ins. from the bottom, are stopped 2 ins. from the front of chest to allow for the rising saw till (E).
The three drawers (or tills) are seen in Fig. 2 and enlarged in Fig. 3. For the bottom runners of the third till (C) two pieces 1-1/2 ins. by 1/2 in. are required (N, Fig. 3). They are screwed to the edges of two pieces 3-1/2 ins. by 7/8 in., which in turn are screwed to the ends of chest above the sliding board, allowing the latter freedom to slide to and fro. Above these, two pieces 3 ins. by 5/8 in. are similarly fastened. Fig. 3 makes this clear. All the runners must stop exactly 2 ins. from front of chest to allow the saw till to be inserted.
THE TILLS (Fig. 3) are 8 ins. wide and respectively 2-1/2 ins., 3 ins. and 3-1/2 ins. deep, dovetailed together, the lap-dovetail being used on the fronts. For the fronts 1/2 in. mahogany is an advantage; the sides, backs and bottoms may be of good white deal, finishing at 3/8 in. The bottoms are not grooved in; the till fronts are rebated and the bottoms screwed on, the screws being countersunk. The upper till may have a 3/8 in. or 1/2 in. mahogany top, hinged to open as a lid. The top till may be divided into four equal compartments, the second into three and the bottom one into two.
SAW TILL (see E, Fig. 2). — This is really a shallow tray (2 ins. deep, outside measurement) fitted vertically. It runs the entire length (inside), but is 1/2 in. less than the height of the chest. In Fig. 2 the till is shown slightly raised. In it are hung, by means of slots and turn-buttons. the hand, tenon and dovetail saws and the large square. The top should be of mahogany, 3/4 in. net, the remainder being of white deal. The back may be grooved in. The drawer runners hold the saw till in position.
LID — If to be veneered inside as suggested, the lid should be of good yellow pine, free from knots, 7/8 in. thick net (deal is of too resinous a nature to take kindly to veneer). It should be clamped at both ends to prevent twisting, and then squared up to about 1/16 in. larger than the chest all round, to allow for subsequent fitting. It is now toothed on the inside, and a piece of curly Spanish mahogany veneer laid to within about 2-3/4 ins. from the edges. When dry, the veneer can be cut all round with the cutting gauge set to 3 ins., and the waste removed. Next, with the compass set to 2-1/2 ins., mark off the comers, cut with a sharp penknife, and remove the veneer; this can easily be done with a chisel after the application of a hot smoothing-iron. The margin is of walnut veneer, crossbanded, i.e., the grain running the short way, butted up against the mahogany veneer; the comer pieces are made in two mitres. If preferred, the comers may be left square, and the margin simply mitred.
When dry, the veneers can be cleaned off, and the lid properly fitted; it is then hung with three strong brass butt-hinges. A rim is mitred round the edge of lid to shut down on the top plinth; the joint may be broken by a 1/8 in. bead.
It only remains to have the inside of the lid and all mahogany parts french polished, and the white wood stained mahogany colour. Small knobs can be fitted to the three drawers and saw-till.
It seems advisable to make clear at the outset the fact that this is not a book telling how to transform some object that is no longer wanted into some other object that has even less excuse for existence. In its pages will be found no formula or design for making a goldfish tank out of an orange crate, or a Turkish tabouret out of a sardine tin and two broomsticks. What it does attempt is to bring back something of the self-reliant craftsman of early America, when a man’s chief pride and satisfaction lay in his ability to practice any or all of the common crafts.
— Henry H. Saylor, “Tinkering with Tools” (1924, Little, Brown & Co.)
The thing that stinks about studying lots of chests is that you want to try out a lot of different interior arrangements and details. And so you build more chests (see also: bench-building syndrome).
On the traveling chest I’m working on this week I’ve been trying out some details that I’ve gathered in my notebook while doing research for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” On both the lower skirt and upper skirt I’ve added a 5/8” x 1” bevel, which reduces the visual bulk of the skirts.
At first I thought the lower skirt was too wide, and that’s one of the things that stalled me on this project. I kept looking at it and thinking: Ugh, how am I going to fix that or take it off?
With the addition of the bevels, I’m happy.
Other details I’m considering:
1. Binding the edges of the top with 1/16” x 3/4” iron plate that is attached with screws. I’ve seen many old chests bound in iron. It looks cool and it protects the corners. This chest is going to get messed with on the road.
2. Store some backsaws on the lid. I have a sawtill on the English-style chest I built in the 1990s, which I don’t like. It eats saw totes for breakfast. This till will prevent the saws from scooting left and right and into the hungry jaws of the lid.
3. A tool rack on the inside of the front wall.
4. Iron chest lifts (I have a pair of lifts around here somewhere).
5. Mahogany fronts on the tills. I probably won’t do this, but I have so much mahogany sitting around from my campaign furniture projects that it is tempting.
6. A hinged lid on the chest’s top till. Again, I probably won’t do this, but it is a fairly common feature on old chests.
7. Some veneering on the top edge of the case. Some chests have this feature. I might do this, again, because I have a lot of thin mahogany stacked up in the shop.
