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For me, failure is like the first-person accounts I’ve heard from people who were saved from drowning or freezing to death.

You struggle mightily. At some point, however, you stop and are gripped by calm or warmth.

For the last two days, I have been fighting after being handcuffed, stuffed into a garbage bag and thrown into an icy reservoir. At 8:30 a.m., however, I put my hammer down. I wiped down my edges with a rag and put my tools back into my chest.

When I finish this blog entry, I will dismantle the parts and return them to my wood rack. The nails will go back to the cabinet.

Like many failed projects, I could have completed this box, and it would have been perfectly usable. I know woodworkers who keep their failures as a reminder of a hard lesson, but that’s not me. If I cannot sign my name to a piece and deliver it to a customer, it won’t leave my shop.

(That’s not entirely true. These parts will get used for something else. Perhaps they’ll become drawer sides or a picture frame.)

More important than the fate of the wood is that I know exactly why I failed (so there’s no need to explain it to me in the comments). And I know how to begin again.

— Christopher Schwarz

After many requests from readers, I shot a DVD with Lie-Nielsen Toolworks on making a Dutch tool chest, and the DVD is now available from Lie-Nielsen.

At 185 minutes, the DVD covers all aspects of chest construction, from design and stock selection to hardware installation and finishing. The work is entirely by hand.

In the DVD I show how to build the smaller chest, which has one bay below the main tool well. But the DVD contains cutting lists and plans for both the small and large chests. It also includes plans for the mobile roll-around cart I built as a lower storage unit (free plans are here).

As always, the Lie-Nielsen crew was great to work with. They always allow me to use my own tools and my approach to the work. They’ve never asked me to use or promote Lie-Nielsen tools in any DVD. I consider this classy, though I know it befuddles some people.

The DVD set is $40 and is available now from Lie-Nielsen.

— Christopher Schwarz

 

We received the first samples of our latest T-shirt from the printer and are quite happy with the logo and the crisp way it printed on the short-sleeve shirts.

The shirts are $25 and are available worldwide (shipping is quite reasonable). They are printed on 100-percent cotton on an American Apparel fine-gauge T-shirt.

Because these shirts are cut slim and will shrink in the wash, we recommend you order one size larger than usual. After years of wearing these shirts ourselves, we think you’ll be happy with the way they break in and last – they are the softest shirt we have found.

The logo on these shirts was designed by Ohio artist Joshua Minnich and features a skep – an old-school beehive – which has long been the symbol of the industrious joiner and carpenter.

The shirts are available in seven colors and the full range of sizes from XS to 3XL. All our shirts are made, sewn and printed in the United States.

You can order your shirt from our store here.

— Christopher Schwarz