Yesterday I put the finishing touches on my traveling Dutch tool chest: strap hinges and a hasp made by John Switzer of Black Bear Forge.
Of course, the metalwork looks fantastic and correct on this old-style piece. But beyond the outward appearance, these hinges reminded me of why it’s always nice to work with a blacksmith on a furniture project.
First, I was able to get straps and a hasp that were perfectly scaled to the piece. I couldn’t find manufactured straps that had leaves where both were the lengths I wanted.
Also, Switzer was able to make the hinges and hasp so they worked perfectly with my lid, which is at a 30° slope. The hasp comes down at 30° and stops just where it should. The hinges lift up just past 90° and stop – I don’t need a chain or leather strap to prevent the lid from flipping back.
Switzer also supplies slot-head screws that are exactly the same color as the hardware. So installing all the hardware on this chest took about 30 minutes – instead of a whole day of stripping, cleaning, grinding, filing and tweaking to get commercial stuff to fit and suit my (admittedly) picky tastes.
And the price was fair for this level of work – $260 delivered for the two hinges and hasp.
Having this chest complete is a huge relief – I drive to Highland Hardware in Atlanta on Thursday for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event and to teach a one-day class. If you’re in the area, come by and check out the chest and hardware – plus I’ll bring my Milkman’s Workbench.
And if you need some custom iron hardware, I can highly recommend Switzer. I’ll be knocking on his digital door again real soon.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. Before I forget: This Dutch chest – fully loaded – tips the scales at 98 pounds, or about 44-1/2 kilograms for our metric friends.
If you want to build a tool chest and you need some dominatrix-style “encouragement” to get it done inside of a week, then listen up.
There are about five spaces open in my tool chest class in August at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. This fantastic little school is located behind a Woodcraft store in Manchester, Ct. Run by furniture-maker Bob Van Dyke, this class attracts the creme de la creme of instructors. (This is code for: I should not be allowed to teach here.)
Take a look at the instructors.
OK? Wow, I know. So if you are ready to slum with me in Manchester, here’s what I can promise you: You will complete your tool chest. You will have some of the best dang pizza on the planet. You will have the opportunity to drink many adult beverages and talk shamelessly with other wood nerds about hand tools and woodworking.
Plus, the wood you use for your chest will be extraordinary. Bob Van Dyke, who runs the school, has the finest taste in wood and grain selection. The last time I taught there I was simply blown away by the stock we all got to work with.
So if you are free the week of Aug. 5-9 of this summer, give it some thought.
You can read more about the class here. You can register here.
Roy Underhill has just opened registration at The Woodwright’s School for the first batch of classes in 2013.
I’m teaching there twice in 2013. Details:
The Anarchist’s Tool Chest, Aug. 26-30.
Note that this class is full. You can sign up for the waiting list. I recommend doing that. People from the waiting list always get into the class.
Make a Six-board Chest, Oct. 12-14, 2013.
I think this is going to be the oddest class I’ve ever taught. The members of the class and I will all be building the same project, but the chest’s particular design will be guided by the material and tools at hand – plus a good dose of history and geomety I might add.
Hope you can join us in Pittsboro in 2013. And be sure to check out the other classes that Roy has listed on the site. Peter Follansbee has a cool class on a joint stool. Make a name stamp with Peter Ross. And of course, the classics: Mystery Mallet with Roy, Handsaw Sharpening with Bill Anderson, and Carving with Mary May.
If my teaching schedule for 2013 doesn’t wreck my marriage or alienate my children, then nothing will.
Here’s a list of where I will be teaching in 2013. Note that I don’t control registration at these schools, and I am never sure when each school will open registration (hint: ask the school). I do know this: If a class is full and you want to take it, sign up for the waiting list. There is a good chance you will get in.
Feb. 1-3 Highland Woodworking, Atlanta, Ga.
I’m demonstrating at a Lie-Nielsen event at Highland that weekend and then teaching a Sunday class in building precision layout tools: a straightedge, winding sticks with inlay and a Roubo try square.
March 10-29 Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking, Melbourne, Australia
Yup, I am going below the Equator for the first time to teach in Australia. While I am very excited about seeing the water swirl the opposite way in the toilet, I am more excited about the classes I’ll be offering: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest, Hammer in Hand: The Dovetailed Schoolbox, and a Shaker Wall Cabinet. Plus I’ll be visiting Chris Vesper and French kissing a wallaby.
April 15-21 Rosewood Studios, Perth, Ontario
Another first: Teaching in Canada! I’ve been to Canada many times, but I’ve never taught a class there. At Rosewood, I’ll be teaching The Anarchist’s Tool Chest (renamed to get me through immigration), and a short course on the Shaker Wall Cabinet.
April 27-28 Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Franklin, Ind.
This is the annual class I teach on handplanes with Thomas Lie-Nielsen. It is a surprisingly good introduction to handplanes considering it’s only a two-day class. Many of the students from this class have gone on to great things.
May 6-10 Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Franklin, Ind.
Marc Adams is always willing to indulge me. So this year he is letting me teach a class on designing and building a campaign chest. Every student will design something that suits them and learn the techniques particular to this form of furniture to build one of the stacking cases for a chest. It should be a fun, but crazy, class.
June 3-7 Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking, Berea, Ky.
In this class we will be design and build Roorkhee chairs (and if there’s time we’ll also make a Roubo camp stool). This class promises to be a lot of fun. You can learn to turn (if you like). Learn leatherwork. Shellac finishing. Riveting. And a whole lot of other hand skills.
June 17-22 Dictum GmbH woodworking school, Niederalteich, Germany
This is my fourth year of teaching at the Dictum workshop, and my German language skills continue to molder. This year, I’ll be teaching a class in making a Roorkhee chair (see above) and a very cool bowsaw. This school attracts students from all over Europe (and beyond). If you’ve ever considered a vacation in Bavaria, this is a very nice place to begin (or end) your journey. The school is in a beautiful monastery and we all spend every evening closing down the local gasthaus.
July 8-12 Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Franklin, Ind.
Design and build a trestle table. This is another new class that I am very excited to teach because it relates to my “Furniture of Necessity” book. Students will design their own trestle table in any style they please (with guidance) and then execute it using the awesome equipment at March Adams’s school and their hand tools. You’ll learn about trestle tables from the 14th century to the 21st and be able to build whatever you desire.
July 20-21 Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking, Berea, Ky.
A weekend course on building the three essential wooden layout tools: a straightedge, a pair of winding sticks with inlay and a Roubo try square. THis is a great foundational class in handwork as these three tools are built entirely by hand and have many lessons embedded in them.
Aug. 3-9 Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, Manchester, Ct.
At this fine school I’ll be teaching The Anarchist’s Tool Chest class and a two-day class in building a six-board chest. The six-board chest class will be a hoot, perhaps a bit like a reality show. You’ll be given two boards and a task. And then we will all find the best path forward.
Aug. 26-30 The Woodwright’s School, Pittsboro, N.C.
By request: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest class with Roy Underhill and me. It’s a fun a nut-tastic week with Roy. You will become a good dovetailer at this class. And a good mortiser. And your liver will be a wreck.
Sept. 2-6 Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Port Townsend, Wash.
OK, so we’ve sold more than 10,000 copies of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” That’s surprising. What’s more surprising is that people are building these chests. I bring the show to the West Coast. This school is in on of the most beautiful hilltops in the world. Even if you hate me and the class, you’ll be soothed by your surroundings.
Oct. 12-14 The Woodwright’s School, Pittsboro, N.C.
Six-board chest deathmatch and quilting bee. By all rights, six-board chests shouldn’t survive the travails of wood movement – yet thousands have. No two six-board chests are exactly alike, yet they all look cut from the same cloth. And how do nails help this humble but noble form of furniture survive the centuries?
You’ll learn all this – and more – as the most hirsute instructor at the Woodwright’s School (me!) leads you on a journey of discovery through the construction of this sometimes inscrutable form. You’ll begin the class with two boards, a handful of tools and a deadline. A steady saw, a hungry chisel and a ferocious hammer will guide you as you construct the chestiest of all the traditional American furniture forms – the six-board chest.
If you attended one of my sessions at Woodworking in America in Pasadena, Calif., on Saturday, this is the blog entry you are looking for. The rest of you can go about your business – or download these and be slightly confused.
Campaign Furniture: Below are two links. One is an all-too short bibliography on this style of furniture. The other is a .pdf version of my presentation.
The Furniture Style With No Name: Below is my “recipe” for a six-board chest. There is a .pdf document that explains the tools required and the cutting and assembly procedure I use. The second document is a SketchUp file that shows the construction steps in a visual way. After you open the model in SketchUp, click on the different tabs at the top of its window to move through the different scenes.
