Lost Art Press

Tools Needed to Make the Dutch Tool Chest

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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I’m teaching woodworkers how to make the Dutch tool chest all over the hemisphere this year. I have Dutch chest classes going in California in March, Alaska in April, North Carolina in June, and in Maine and England in July.

Whew.

Plans for the chest are in the October 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, in case you cannot travel to a class.

The Dutch chest is a great project for beginners or for those woodworkers who travel with their tools. It protects your tools, makes them easy to get to while you’re working and is easy to build with dimensional pine.

If you are taking one of the Dutch chest classes this year or seek to make one one your own, here is the list of tools I think are necessary to get the job done.

Dovetailing equipment
Saw, layout tools, cutting gauge, marking knife, chisels, coping saw, mallet etc.

Birdcage or Brad awl
If you can’t find a used one, Czeck Edge, Blue Spruce Tools and Lee Valley all make good examples.

Panel saws (rip and crosscut)
These are the tools needed to dimension the stock. A 7- or 8- point crosscut is handy. For the rip, a saw that is 7 point or coarser is ideal.

Backsaws (carcase saw)
This saw is ideal for trimming the pieces to final length and some joinery cuts. And sharp carcase saw will do.

Router plane (large)
A vintage tool such as the Stanley 71 will do. Also check out modern closed-throat examples from Veritas and Lie-Nielsen Toolworks. This tool finishes all the dado cuts.

Rabbet plane (or a tongue-and-groove plane if you prefer that)
I use a moving fillister for all the rabbet cuts in this project, but a straight rabbet will handle all the shiplap joints.

Jack plane
A Stanley No. 5 or the wooden equivalent is necessary for almost any project. Once you get the iron sharpened to an 8” or 10” radius, you can conquer the world.

Block plane or Smoothing plane
Either tool can handle the final surfacing of the pine boards.

Hand drill. Bits. Countersink
If you have an electric drill, good for you. A good hand drill is about $10 and never will go in the trash.

Hammer, nail set, nail pullers
A 16 oz. hammer with a wooden handle (I like octagonal handles) will serve you for the next 120 years.

Screwdrivers (slotted)
Good screwdrivers from Grace USA are the cat’s meow. But you can buy old ones and grind them to perfection if you prefer.

Framing square
It seems like a carpenter’s tool, but hand tool woodworkers are lost without it.

Paraffin (or no-kill mutton tallow) to lubricate your tools

Optional tools
• Moving fillister plane (for making the thumbnail moulding on the lid and drop front)
• 1/8” or 3/16” beading plane for detailing the backs (a No. 66 beading tool would also work)
• Shooting plane and shooting board
• Router plane (small) to make the recesses for the sliding lock.

— Christopher Schwarz

Chronic Shop Envy in Alabama

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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This weekend I built a six-board chest for the Alabama Woodworkers Guild, and I was impressed. Not just with the members or the food (holy moley, the food), but by the building where they meet.

It’s an old schoolhouse nestled in the pines south of Birmingham, Ala., and it almost made me rethink my plans to buy a building in downtown Covington, Ky. The members have restored the building, which had more recently been a roller rink, a recreation center and then a storage unit for Habitat for Humanity.

There are three main rooms: a kitchen, a classroom (with a digital projector) and the main workshop and demonstration room. Tall ceilings. Yellow pine floors. Enormous divided-light windows.

Oh, and a roll-up door and loading dock.

In other words, heaven.

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If you live in that neck of the woods, check out the club. Dues are reasonable. The food they serve is amazing (I know that sounds odd, but they take their food as seriously as I do). And the shop equipment is very good.

And thanks to all the Alabama and Mississippi woodworkers who treated me so well over the weekend. They were kind enough to make only two Arkansas jokes.

— Christopher Schwarz

Tools to Build a Roorkee Chair

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Because the Roorkee chair has leatherwork and turning, many woodworkers ask me about the basic toolset needed to build one of these chairs. When I teach a class in making a Roorkee chair, here is the core set I recommend.

1. Full-size Easy Rougher from EasyWood Tools with an R4 cutter. I am not a turner. I am a furniture maker who turns. So when I teach turning, I look for the easiest path. With the EasyWood tool I don’t have to teach sharpening. And I have to teach only one grip on the tool. This one tool does all the cuts on the chair, and it does an excellent job. The full-size version costs more than the smaller versions, but I find the bigger tools easier for beginners to use. These tools are available everywhere, but I prefer to buy direct from the maker because it puts more money in their pocket.

2. If you plan to make more of these chairs, I recommend you buy the Veritas 5/8” Tapered Tenon Cutter. You can cut the taper on the lathe, but this pencil-sharpener-like device ensures your tenon will be a perfect fit in your socket every time.

3. The tapered hole is made using the Veritas Large Standard Taper Reamer. I prefer the less-expensive standard version because it can be used in a brace, electric drill or drill press. The more expensive professional reamer is used in a brace only.

To finish the woodwork part of the project, you’ll need some drill bits (1/16” up to 5/8”), marking and measuring tools, screwdrivers and a block plane (or sandpaper) to clean up the flat sections of the legs.

The leather can look daunting, but it actually is quite easy and is accomplished with just a few tools.

4. For cutting the leather, I recommend a sharp utility knife (be sure to buy some of the heavy replacement blades). Any utility knife will do, though I don’t recommend the spring-loaded ones where you have to press the blade out continuously during the cut. That kills your thumb. I touch up the cutting edge of my utility blades on my sharpening stones or a strop. I can usually cut out two or three chairs on one blade.

5. To punch holes for the belting and rivets, I recommend the Tandy Mini Punch Set. I have a nice rotary punch, but this inexpensive set gets you started at a small fraction of the price of a good rotary punch.

6. When punching holes, you’ll need a mallet and a backing board. With leather, I prefer to use an old poly cutting board as the backing board.

7. To set the rivets, you’ll need a rivet setter. Because I use No. 9 copper rivets, I recommend the No. 9 Craftool Rivet and Burr Setter, also from Tandy. You’ll also need a tool to snip the the rivets to finished length. I use my nippers, which work well.

If you get deep into the leather work, you’ll find there are a lot of tools you can buy that will simplify and automate a lot of the processes (such as specialized punches that make the decorative belting ends). If you want to buy one extra tool to make your life easier, get the Craftool Strap Cutter. It cuts straps and belts with astonishing speed and can save you an hour of time on each chair.

— Christopher Schwarz

In and about the Shop

Posted on by fitz

post_drillI often see in the trade papers of the day the question asked by young men, “Where shall I go to learn my trade to the best advantage?” To the boy or young man who is in earnest, it is a vital and all-important question, but to the one who has to learn, or go to school, and who chooses the shop rather than the school-room, it does not make any material difference where he goes, so far as he is concerned. And so far as the rest of human race is concerned, I don’t think any of us care. At least I don’t, so long as he takes care to keep away from my shop.

To the boy who is interested in mechanical work, and whose talents naturally develop in that direction, I would suggest that his time of apprenticeship be served in a small shop, for the following reasons: First, in the small shop there is generally but one “cub” or apprentice at a time, and he grows to have more of an interest in the place than if it was large and employing many hands. Second, not having any other boy to play with or to divert his mind from the regular work of the shop, he will get along faster and will grow to be more of a man in his thoughts regarding the reasons for the ways and methods for doing things.
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A Few Spots Open for Classes: Roorkee Chairs & Dutch Tool Chest

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Next month, I head to sunny/warm/tasty Anaheim, Calif., to teach two classes – a four-day class on building Roorkee chairs and a two-day class on building a Dutch tool chest.

The classes will be held at the William Ng School of Fine Woodworking. This is my first teaching assignment in Southern California, though I have been there many times for woodworking shows, vacations and tacos.

The Roorkee chair class is March 17-20. This is one of my favorite classes to teach because it involves so many new skills for woodworkers, such as learning to make tapered conical mortises, spindle turning and leatherwork. These chairs are great fun to build, plus they travel extraordinarily well.

You can learn more about the class here.

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I’ll also be teaching a two-day class in building a Dutch Tool Chest (March 22-23). This is a somewhat brutal but effective introduction to hand-tool casework. You’ll learn dovetails, dados, rabbets, cut-nail joinery and all of the rules for carcase construction in just two days.

When I teach this class, some of the students end up napping on the bench. But they all end up taking home a tool chest that is portable, tough and useful.

More details here.

Southern California is beautiful this time of year, and the food is fantastic. So blow off your job and join us.

— Christopher Schwarz