Category: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest

As I finished up building my tool chest for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” I struggled with the idea of installing a lock on the lid.

Most tool chests have locks. The lock – and the sheer weight of the chest – are an ingenious pre-Industrial Revolution security system.

But I don’t like locks. Never have.

Growing up in Arkansas, we rarely locked our houses or cars. Our neighborhood was definitely a mixed-income ZIP code, with everyone from janitors to doctors. Factory workers at Whirlpool. The owner of the local roller rink – Golden Wheels.

So why didn’t we bolt our doors? Well what if your neighbor needed a cup of sugar? Or there was a fire and someone needed to save your dog? What if you didn’t have a key? Plus, in our family of six there was almost always someone home.

In fact, I’d have to say that the biggest difference of opinion between me and my wife is our locking habits. She always locks everything. She does it so automatically that she regularly locks me out of the house when I go for a run or walk to the store.

Or perhaps she is trying to send me a message….

In any case, I didn’t want to put a lock on my chest, both for psychological and symbolic reasons. I’ve always tried to be as open as possible when it comes to sharing my tools and what I know about the craft. Putting a lock on the chest seemed to send the wrong message.

I skipped the lock, painted the chest and called it done. But the next morning when I came into the shop and looked at the completed project it looked wrong. So I installed the lock and the escutcheon and am now pleased with the way it looks – except for the too-shiny key.

Skip forward a few months and I’m giving a presentation on tool chest design to a woodworking club and bring up the topic of the lock. One of the attendees raises his hand and makes a wry observation: The lockset I’d selected uses a generic key. In other words, thousands (maybe millions) of woodworkers have a key that can open my chest so they can root around in it.

That fact gave me comfort.

— Christopher Schwarz

Customers are starting to receive our new DVD “Inside the Anarchist’s Tool Chest” and here are some answers to some common questions.

1. Will this DVD be available through other retailers? Yes. We are working on that right now. Lie-Nielsen has agreed to carry it and we are shipping them a box today.

2. Will the DVD work on a regular TV, computer or both? It will work on both.

3. How do I access the “extras” on the DVD?

If you have a Mac, it’s just a couple steps. Double-click the DVD’s icon on your desktop. Double-click the folder named “Inside the Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” The files are in there.

If you have a Windows machine, here are the steps:

1. Quit your media player and navigate to your computer’s “Start” menu.

2. Click “Computer.” (Sometimes it says “My Computer.”)

3. You should see the DVD icon. Right-click on the DVD’s icon and choose “Open in a New Window.”

4. The new Window will show you the computer files on the DVD. Double-click on the folder named “Inside the Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” The files are in there.

What are the data files on the DVD?

A SketchUp drawing of the chest that you can study or alter to suit your set of tools. And an 11-page document that outlines the core set of tools in the chest, all of their brand names and model numbers. Plus hotlinks to where you can order these tools.

I hope this answers help. If you experience additional problems, leave us a comment and we’ll give you a hand.

— Christopher Schwarz

“Anarchism” is such a dirty, loaded and misunderstood word that I truly hesitated to use it as the title of the book “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”

Several people have suggested that I chose the word as a marketing ploy. If I did, then I’m a marketing moron because the book’s title has hurt sales. My mailbox has been stuffed by people who will never buy the book simply because I used that word.

But it is the right word. And when I see the word used in context and used correctly, it gives me hope.

Woodworker Adam Godet in Washington, D.C., has started a blog at his site: godetfurniture.com. And the first post is his take on the topic of anarchy in the workshop. It’s a good read, and I’ve added his blog to by RSS feed – and crossed my fingers.

— Christopher Schwarz

Ah, reviews. I am on both sides of this particular coin. I have to both administer them and receive them.

As far as reviews of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” go, I have been struck by how many people are taking me to task on the technical details when the overall message of the book was what caused me endless agony.

Today I received an e-mail from a reader that is typical of what individual readers send me. It is the reason I wrote the book. Here goes. This is from reader Adam Godet:

“I hesitated to buy ‘The Anarchist’s Tool Chest’ …I’m not sure why. The first time I read the description on the web page, I thought, ‘400 pages of tool descriptions and instructions on building a box…and an argument not to buy more tools?! No thanks.’

“I’m not sure what changed my mind, but I’m grateful for it. The descriptions of necessary tools woodworkers should have and the appropriate attributes of them will be an invaluable reference for me (and others, I’m sure) as I build my tool set (not a collection).

“What I liked more about the book, was the anarchism argument. Although I never thought of it as anarchy, it’s a value system to which my wife and I have subscribed to for years. Ever since I got of out college and built my first crappy pine bookcases (which I submit are less crappy than the Ikea alternative I could have afforded at the time, since mine have survived five moves), to growing our own vegetables and making our own curtains and curtain rods, we’ve been living it.  There is a fierce and fulfilling independence in making/growing what we need…and living outside of the corporate/government structure…and rejecting purchases intended to be thrown away…so yeah, kinda like anarchy.

“Your argument on time vs. money gave me serious pause (as in, I lost sleep thinking about life after reading the section). That, and some of the other ethics sections are some of my favorite passages of anything I’ve read in a long time. It’s books like these that reinforce my rejection of fast-food, consumer culture and embrace the craftsman ethos. Unfortunately, it seems you’re the David fighting the consumerist Goliath…but unlike the parable, you’re building an army, and I (along with others, it seems) have enlisted.

“Finally, I finished the book about a week ago, but keep laughing to myself repeating some of the phrases from the book, such as, ‘poop a cupcake.’

“That is not to say I don’t have some complaints about the book:

“1. Reading this book is addictive…and it makes me want to go to my shop and work; but I want to keep reading the book too…this creates an internal conflict, and I blame you.

“2. Where was this book two years ago when I started down this woodworking path? When I was searching for quality hand tools, found garbage, and submitted (briefly) to the power tool vortex of noise and dust?

“3. I’ve lost about 4 hours of sleep this week staying up reading and thinking about this book.

“4. More and more I want to quit my cube-dwelling job and make stuff full-time. It’s not realistic for me yet…but one day, maybe I’ll have the skills and knowledge to cut loose.

“Thank you for an excellent resource, for reminding me and others that we need not subscribe to popular, unhealthy habits, and for an entertaining book. I look forward to future Lost Art Press publications.”

— Adam Godet