anarchists tool chest

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murdoch

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Hi all, just thought i'd share a few pics of my new tool chest. I was bought 'the anarchists tool chest' by chris shwarz 18 months ago and have finally found the time to build it. its made to the plans in the book but i re designed the bottom to suit my needs better.

hope you like it

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Very impressive. What wood did you use to construct the ATC? Did you go for Poplar?

I wanted to make one of these but I'm not great at dovetails yet. I am making a small 23" x 12" x 7 1/2" dovetailed box out of 3/4" poplar to hold my planes as practice at the moment. It's definitely teaching me how not to do certain things and I'm enjoying making it.

I will try and post a picture of how far I have got so far.
 
Hi James, Yes, i used poplar as i make alot of kitchens so always have plenty in stock. its really easy to work and paints up nicely. I used 32mm stock planed down to 26mm for the main carcass and finished it with 3 coats of milk paint. The interior was sprayed in 2k laquer. To be honest, i used a leigh dovetail jig as its so much quicker, and we always have it set up with routers for drawer making. here's a couple of pics before painting.

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Those are all nicely made chests by the look of them, but I've never understood their attraction as a storage for tools. Their practicality has always seemed limited to me because most of the time the tools end up as a big inaccessible jumbled heap, and there's a lot of inconvenient bending over and raking about for the user. Some years ago I taught at a furniture college where every student made a tool chest like that, and I can't ever recall one that really worked well for any of the students-- they were always essentially a mess inside with till things that didn't slide about very well. I've since been back to that college and I see they've abandoned that design and brought in something much more practical.

I guess the style is traditional, which I suppose has some attraction, but it goes to show (in my opinion) that tradition isn't always a good guide towards finding a design solution to a contemporary practical need. Slainte.
 
Hi, I totally understand where your coming from and for a lot of people's needs I would agree. The tool chest works really well for me as a joiner as I can easily roll it around a large workshop to the bench or area I need it at. It is also really quick to shove in the van rather than having to unload and re pack some other means of storage such as a wall mounted cabinet. The pictures also don't do justice to the size and amount of storage available. So much bigger and more useable than the one i had to make as an apprentice and also gave up working out of. I agree that most tool chests aren't great the most practical solution but chris shwarz really has designed one that is a pleasure to use. It's also a great place to eat lunch, use as a makeshift bench/sawhorse, to stand on, coffee table ect! It won't work for everyone but I love it. Cheers
 
That's a great job, very envious.

Fancy a swap ?

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Circa 1965 if the pencil date under the lid is accurate.
 

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Those are great dovetails russ. Mine aren't that good yet but I'm getting my practice in when I can.
 
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