Lost Art Press

A Quick Tour of the Dutch Tool Chest

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It turns out that the Dutch Tool Chest I recently finished is a little larger than I needed.

Fully loaded with the tools I take on the road, it still had room for more. And it weighs only 116 pounds. That’s easy for two people to lift, and it is something I can lift with only a grunt or two.

The chest can also take a hard knock – the fully loaded chest tool a spill off the sawhorses today during weigh-in. The tools and chest took the hit with a lot of grace (yay, ductile iron!).

The top bin of the chest is where I’m sure most of you will be looking. The bench planes are separated by 3/8”-thick dividers. The till for the backsaws creates three compartments at the rear of the top bin. The left compartment is for tools you need all the time (pencils, knives, mallet etc.). The other two bins are for tools that might not see action every few minutes (feather files, dovetail markers, extra small drill bits etc.).

dutch_covered_IMG_4538On the two shelves below are the rest of the tools – all the moulders and joinery planes, augers, hammer, carving tools, rasps, hand drill, brace and so forth. The delicate tools are protected by tool rolls. The other tools are cushioned by the tool rolls.

I’d rather have every tool have a discrete spot – wouldn’t we all? – but I know that the open architecture will be to my advantage until… whenever.

Also worth noting: Ty Black (my shop assistant) sewed up a canvas cover for the chest. I got that idea from my research into campaign furniture – chests would often have a fitted canvas cover. My cover is designed to protect both the chest and my car from damage.

The hinges are from Lee Valley and are temporary – I’ll replace them when some blacksmith-made ones arrive. I had to install these so the chest could make a trip to Columbus on Saturday morning to talk to the central Ohio woodworkers’ club. If you want to see the chest in person and are a member of the club, please stop by. I’ll have a special guest with me (it’s not Ty – he already has an obligation that day).

— Christopher Schwarz

Another Workbench? Seriously? (Eyeroll) Wait, Two?

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Several years ago during a breakfast with some woodworkers, I floated the idea of a workbench for the woodworker without a shop.

In essence, it was going to be like the Hammacher Schlemmer “Gnome Brand” of workbench – a nice piece of furniture that would unfold into a workbench and tool chest. But unlike the Hammacher Schlemmer bench, my design would be a bench that could be used for serious woodwork.

I was already making preliminary drawings. It was going to be a lot of fun to build.

In the end, I didn’t build that bench. Why? One of the woodworkers said the following thing while forking his scrambled eggs:

“Wow. That sounds like a lot to build for an apartment-dweller.”

Bingo. So I changed gears. This bench is that gear. Based on a historical example I’ve spotted in Europe and Australia, this bench will clamp to a sturdy table or countertop and give the woodworker a lot of functionality for something that is only about 32” long.

It will dovetail an 18”-wide case. It will hold almost any piece for tenoning. It will hold many reasonably sized pieces between dogs. It has square bench dogs, a wagon vise and a twin-screw vise that is like no other (details to come).

I made some small changes to the original design – simplifying the mechanism you use to clamp it to a stout surface, strengthening a couple points of the original that had become stressed during the last 50 years. And changing the material to maple – beech is hard to find at lumberyards in Kentucky.

I began the project yesterday and should be almost finished building a pair of these benches by tomorrow. One is for me – for traveling – and the other is for a customer.

More details in the coming days. And if you can wait a few months I’ll have an article on this bench in Popular Woodworking Magazine.

— Christopher Schwarz

Psst, Spaces Open in a Tool Chest Class

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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.

— Christopher Schwarz

It’s Cuban Mahogany – No Big Deal

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The idea that Cuban mahogany was used in the best English eighteenth-century furniture is a myth, propagated by earth twentieth-century authors such as Percy Macquoid and Herbert Cescinsky, and since established as “fact” by constant iteration. The statistical and other evidence housed in the Public Record office shows that no Cuban mahogany was imported either directly or indirectly into England before the Seven Years’ War (1756-63). This is confirmed by the Letter Books (of Gillow furniture company), which show not only that Cuban mahogany was an introduction of the 1760s, but that its quality fell far short of its modern reputation.

— “Gillow and the Use of Mahogany in the Eighteenth Century,” Adam Bowett, Regional Furniture, Volume XII, 1998

An Easy Way to Eliminate Gaps in Your Tool Chest

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The hardest part of building a traditional tool chest is to fit the 6”-wide lower skirt all the way around the dovetailed carcase. No matter how careful you are, it’s easy to end up with a gap between the skirt and case.

I have concocted at least five different ways to fight this gap.

1. Fill it with water putty.
2. Plow a groove around the dovetailed carcase where the top of the skirt goes. Glue a thin strip of wood to the inside of the skirt pieces at the top of the moulding that fits in the groove.
3. After assembling the carcase, run the whole thing through a wide-belt sander to true up the carcase.
4. Make the beveled section of the moulding a separate piece that you miter and nail on top of the dovetailed part of the skirt.
5. Add a 3/16” bead moulding that is stuck onto a 1/4” x 1/4” strip of wood – miter it at the corners.

This fifth solution is my favorite. Today I added this bead detail to a full-size tool chest I’m building for a customer. I had a small gap – a little less than 1/16” at one corner – between the lower skirt and the carcase. While the skirt looked tight in the dry-fit, something went wrong.

To fix it, stick the 3/16” bead onto the four long edges of a 1-1/2” x 1-1/2” x 48”-long piece of pine. Then rip the four corners off to make four pieces of 1/4” x 1/4” x 48” moulding. Miter, glue and nail it to the lower skirt.

The whole process took about 30 minutes. It adds a shadow line to the lower skirt and spares the water putty.

— Christopher Schwarz

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