Lost Art Press

Category: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest

Classes I’m Teaching in 2012

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Earlier this year, I announced that I wouldn’t be teaching any woodworking classes in 2012 in order to give my family a break from my sometimes-hectic travel schedule.

After stepping down as editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine in June, my wife and I reconsidered that decision, and I will be teaching an abbreviated class schedule in 2012. Many readers have requested my teaching schedule so they can request vacation days from their employer. And though I am still ironing out the details with a couple schools, I decided to go ahead and post my schedule as it stands now.

Some important caveats:
• Some of these topics and dates might change slightly, though my hope is that nothing will change.
• I also hope to teach a class on building “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” at Roy Underhill’s school sometime in 2012, but we are still trying to find the best dates.
• Registration has not begun at many of these schools for 2012 so you might have to be patient.
• What I am posting below is all I know at this point. So with those big caveats, here is the line-up.

Feb. 25-26
Woodcraft of Atlanta
“The Best Layout Tools Money Cannot Buy”
We build a Roubo try square, inlaid winding sticks and a traditional straightedge, three of the most important layout tools for the hand- or machine-tool woodworker. This will be a one-day class.

Second one-day class: Perhaps something on sharpening, dovetails or building a sawbench. We’re still working on it.

April 10-14 (yes, Tuesday to Saturday)
Marc Adams School of Woodworking
“Build an 18th Century Workbench”
We build the Old-School Roubo workbench using massive timbers and the traditional joints – including the through-tenon and sliding dovetail joint that connects the base to the top. This bench will feature a leg vise as the face vise and an iron quick-release vise for the end vise.

May 5-6
Marc Adams School of Woodworking
“Handplanes and Their Uses with Thomas Lie-Nielsen”
I’ve assisted Thomas Lie-Nielsen for six years now in this popular class in which we cover all the bench and joinery planes. We show you how to set them up and use them to make boards flat and ready for finish, plus how to cut and refine joints.

June 10-17
Dictum Workshops, Metten, Germany
We are still working out exactly which days each class will occur during my eight days there.

“Build Your Own Precision Layout Tools” (one-day class)
Wooden layout tools are lighter in weight, easier to maintain and less expensive than metal layout tools. And they can be just as accurate as metal tools, once you understand how to build them and measure their accuracy.

In this one-day class, we will build the three most essential layout tools for hand-tool woodworking: a one-meter straightedge, winding sticks with inlay and an 18th-century style try square. In the process of building these three tools by hand, you will learn the following skills.

• How to dress boards with handplanes so the work is completely flat and true.
• How to design wooden layout tools so they resist seasonal expansion and contraction and stay true.
• How to test layout tools to ensure they are straight and square.
• How to correct layout tools using simple strokes with a handplane.
• How to add simple inlays of geometric shapes to make your layout tools easier to use and more attractive.

“Master Metal Handplanes and Western Saws” (two-day class)
To the uninitiated, metal handplanes seem too heavy, awkward and complex for fine woodworking. However, once you understand the proper way to sharpen, set them up and use them, you will see why these planes are most popular form of tool in North America and England. Compared to wooden-bodied planes, iron handplanes offer some advantages that you can exploit to do extremely fine work. On the first day of the class, students will learn to set up and use metallic planes so they can produce precision work.

One the second day of the class, we will explore Western saws, including the dovetail, carcase, tenon and handsaw. Students will learn proper sawing technique and how to cut extremely accurate joints using these tools.

“Build an 18th-century Workbench” (five-day class)
Early workbenches were simpler, heavier and better suited for people who built furniture with hand tools. After disappearing from workshops for more than 100 years, these ancient workbenches have become popular again as hand-tool woodworkers have discovered their advantages.

I’ll be leading a class at the Dictum workshops where each student will build his or her own workbench using hand tools (for the most part) and common materials. These benches feature only the best joinery: mortise-and-tenon joints for the base, plus a sliding dovetail and through-tenon joint for the top. The vises on the bench are simple, accurate and heavy: A leg vise on the front of the bench and an iron quick-release vise on the end. You will be able to customize your bench for right- or left-handed work, and you will be able to build your bench so it is the correct height for you and the length of your arms. A properly sized bench is much less tiring to use.

All the benches will be constructed so they can be assembled and disassembled using metal nuts and bolts so they will be easier to transport to your shop.

July 16-20
The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Rockport, Maine
“By Hammer and Hand, Build the Dovetailed Schoolbox”
In this fast-paced class we build a Moxon, double-screw vise for dovetailing and a shooting board that works very well as a bench hook. Then we use these two appliances to build the Schoolbox featured in the book “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker,” an 1839 book of fiction written for the young apprentice.

July 30-Aug. 3
Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking
“The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”
We build the full-size tool chest from the book “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” This chest features lots of dovetails (you will become an expert by the end of the week) and a very nice raised-panel lid. We will have time to build only the outside of the chest – the shell, mouldings, skirts and lids – but we will discuss how to divide up the interior for efficient work.

Sept. 4-8, 2012 (Tuesday to Saturday)
Marc Adams School of Woodworking
“By Hammer and Hand: The Dovetailed Schoolbox”
In this fast-paced class we build a Moxon, double-screw vise for dovetailing and a shooting board that works very well as a bench hook. Then we use these two appliances to built the Schoolbox featured in the book “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker,” an 1839 book of fiction written for the young apprentice.

— Christopher Schwarz

Other Tool Chest Designs

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When researching and writing “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” I had to leave a lot of material on the virtual cutting-room floor.

Much of that discarded stuff should never see the light of day, especially the autobiographical junk about how we used to trick buzzards into thinking we were dead and how to pass off cat food as “taco meat.”

But still, there was lots of research and notes that I wish I could have included. So because this blog is almost-free to me, I’m going to dump some of my background research here for you to enjoy, ignore or poop upon.

Small, Medium and Large
The first thing to get out in the open is that chests tend to come in three basic sizes: small, medium and large. Small tool chests (17″ x 10″ x 7″) were intended for “gentlemen” woodworkers, or fancy handymen. These chests could fit a jack plane and a basic set of tools that would allow you to fix stuff around the house or build a birdhouse.

Next up are the “medium” tool chests (35″ x 20″ x 15″ or thereabouts), which were used by professional craftsmen on the move or the serious home handyman. These chests could hold full-size handsaws, a jointer plane if necessary and enough tools to install cabinetry on a jobsite. These chests might have one or two sliding trays for tools, plus space for moulding and bench planes. For a good example, see Paul N. Hasluck’s “The Handyman’s Book” (Senate). There was another form – much like a clamshell – that I want to discuss separately.

And then there are the full-size chests, the ones that I deal with in “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” These chests are more like 40″ x 24″ x 24″ and are designed to hold all the tools that a hand-tool joiner or cabinetmaker would need in his or her shop.

I have examples of all three chests in my house (sorry Lucy), and I think the large chest is the most efficient for the way I work. I rarely need to take my tools to another home to install cabinets. And the small chest is too small for even a half-serious tool set.

And that’s why I dealt with the largest-size chest in “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”

So let’s explore some other forms. One of the other forms of large chests is from Hasluck. Instead of three sliding trays, it has four trays and the saws are affixed to the underside of the lid.

In truth, this chest might be more space-efficient than the one I built, but I wanted to build a chest with a sawtill in the bottom of the chest – I already have one with the saws on the lid.

Some interesting data points about the Hasluck chest:

1. The lid and chest carcase are each rabbeted to mate together. This improves the dust seal, and I think it is quite clever.

2. While the chest has four sliding trays, Hasluck encourages woodworkers to French-fit each tool – especially chisels and gouges – into individual slots so you don’t nick yourself. One of the trays in Hasluck contains only 12 tools. That wasted space won’t fly in my shop.

3. The bottom of the Hasluck chest is captured in a groove in the carcase. As someone who has done this and has had to deal with repairs, I’m glad I chose the nailed-on bottom instead.

4. The top tray in the chest is covered by a hinged lid. This is a common feature on chests. It looks nice, but I’d rather have one less hand motion between me and my tools.

5. One last detail: The Hasluck chest has an ingenious way of locking the trays in place if the chest is turned upside-down in transit. Cool, but that is a rare concern for me these days. I hope.

More chests to come in the following weeks.

— Christopher Schwarz

The American Georges are 50 Years Late

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“Camoflaging of courses to make them appear vocational is becoming an art of its own, and it is amusing to see colleges listing the only vocational benefit derivable from their courses of art as that of teaching art.

“If a course is limited to training teachers and those teachers are to teach others, just when will the vocational practice of the individual begin? How some schools do hate to roll up their sleeves and begin on the dishes!

“They will teach the lofty principles, only the theory, and George can flounder around and find the application later. And that is just why all the American Georges are about fifty years late in industrial art today.”

— Pedro J. Lemos, Leland Stanford Junior University, “The Industrial-Arts Magazine,” 1919.