Category: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest

Any minute now I’m going to develop a complex regarding my undecorated tool chest. It’s pine on the inside and black on the outside. The only eye candy is a 3/16” bead on the skirt, plus the bumps and bruises inflicted on the chest these last 13 months.

No doubt some of you have seen what Peter Follansbee has been doing to his chest.

You can read all about the painting process on Peter’s blog. There’s a piece on period designs he used to inspire his work. Plus these two illustrated posts that show the painting process here and here.

And of course, there is some carving on the inside.

There are other ways to tart up your tool chest (and “tart” is not a bad word in my lexicon). Andy Brownell at Brownell Furniture has been building a traveling-size tool chest recently using some sweet walnut.

Note the bottom boards and the strategic placement of the sap. Very nice. Also worth noting are Andy’s shots of the chest loaded with tools – you can get a lot of stuff into this slightly smaller chest. He covers tool placement and organization in this post.

And do check out this post to see how his chain makes mine look like a Hello Kitty necklace.

And finally, Megan Fitzpatrick showed up at my door on Friday with the child’s tool chest shown at the top of this post that she picked up at a local auction. Likely from the 1920s, the chest has an awesome decal on the inside of the lid, complete with an eagle.

One of the little scenes on the decal shows a young boy holding a wooden hobby horse talking to an older boy holding a hatchet. I’m not sure what they are supposed to be doing, but I imagine the end result was like a scene from “The Godfather.”

The toy chest is missing its till, but it came with some of the tools, including the hatchet.

In a few weeks I head down to Roy Underhill’s school in North Carolina to teach a class in building tool chests. We are all going to use poplar, and I am contemplating some sort of decoration for the interior panel of my lid. Perhaps a pair of painted dividers a la the Lost Art Press logo, or a buxom barbarian woman holding a bloody dismembered head.

I could go either way.

— Christopher Schwarz

There isn’t a lot of hardware for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” but I definitely don’t recommend you buy the poorly made brasses at the home center. Unless, of course, you want to.

I purchased almost all my hardware from Horton Brasses Inc. with the exception of the chain and the casters. I bought the casters, somewhat ironically, from Home Depot.

Let’s talk about each element of the hardware for the chest and why I did what I did.

The Hinges
The hinges are the most important bit of hardware. I hate cheap hinges, and so I knew before I even began building the chest that I was going to use the Horton PB-409 brass hinges with slotted screws and a “dark antique” finish. These hinges swing without any of the annoying slop in cheap hinges. I use them all the time.

At first I thought that two hinges would be enough to keep the lid secure, and I was probably right. But after installing two hinges on the lid, I looked at the chest and decided to add a third. I don’t regret the extra purchase.

The Lock & Escutcheon
I ordered a lock from Horton and had second thoughts about installing it (I have an aversion to locks). But the chest looks wrong without a lock and an escutcheon. I used the CL-5 Chest Lock from Horton, which is a half-mortise lock. After installing some full-mortise locks in chests, I’m a half-mortise guy. The Horton example is nice. The only disappointment is the finish on the key. My key is shinier than the one shown in the photos and looks too shiny.

So I’m gonna sandblast the sucker. Some day.

The escutcheon is the FE-8 Keyhole Escutcheon in “dark antique” from Horton. It’s sweet. I love it so much I put it on the dedication page of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”

Ring Pulls
A minority of tool chests use ring pulls on the sliding trays, but I really wanted them on mine. I’m glad I added them. For the top two trays I used the 1-5/16” RP-4 ring pull in “dark antique.” For the bottom tray, I used the 1-7/8” RP-6 ring pull in the same color.

The Lid Stay
I agonized over this for a few weeks. Ultimately I bought a couple brass eyelets and some brass chain from some jewelry supplier. I stripped them of their lacquer and dyed them to match the other hardware. It was a pain. One internet blogger called my chain “too twee.” I’d like to see a better alternative that really works and is as simple.

And the Casters
I didn’t want to buy rubber casters. Why? I don’t know. Sometimes I make these decisions after a couple beers. So I searched and searched and finally found the casters of my dreams at Home Depot. They are somewhat crude, but they look right.

So there you have it. The only other metal bits are cut nails from Tremont Nail Co. and slotted pyramid-head screws from Lee Valley Tools.

— Christopher Schwarz

On Friday we sold the last beige copy of the second printing of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” and are now shipping the charcoal third printing, which includes a full index and a slightly extended ending.

The page count is now 494 pages, but the price remains $37 plus shipping.

The new printing is also on its way to our retailers. Yesterday I shipped 612 pounds of this book to Lee Valley. (Note to self: Write shorter, lighter books.) Plus 200 pounds to Highland Hardware.

One final note: All the copies that we sell through our store are autographed. I’m only mentioning this because we get this question a lot.

The third printing of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” is available here in our store.

— Christopher Schwarz

We have a box of slightly damaged copies of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” from the first two printings that we are offering at the reduced price of $18 plus shipping.

The damage to these copies is cosmetic: A corner was bruised during manufacturing or shipping, there is a small tear to the cotton cover, or a drip of glue from the bindery.

All the copies are 100 percent readable.

All the copies are also marked as damaged with a green marker across the bottom. All sales are final on these copies. We have only 14 damaged copies. Once they are gone, they are gone.

Update: We are sold out of the damaged copies.

— Christopher Schwarz