The Anarchist's Tool Chest - A Review

[AndyT]

Yep, a little. But asking questions that seem obvious to me. Have to get to work. UPS just pulled up with a little smidgen of lumber. Cheerio!

That's nice! Will you be sharing your experience in the Projects section?

 

[Trafalgar]

Sure will.

 

[Trafalgar]

I'm dubbing it "The Book About the Too Small Tool Chest" in your honor CC.

If you had read the book, you'd realise just how silly that remark is!

Actually, Schwarz has done quite a bit of research over several years into toolchests, mainly by looking at antique examples, but also by building and using several. From that experience (note the word!) he distilled the knowledge of a successful and useful all-round tool store for a pretty comprehensive set of furnituremaking tools. He found out, by observation and by trial and error, what worked well and what didn't, both in the structure of the chest, and in way tools are kept in it. Since writing the book, he's researched, built and used a couple of other designs (the Dutch toolchest and the smaller travelling chest) which allow him to transport about (to classes and the like) a slightly less comprehensive, but still very capable kit of tools.

I think it's fair to say that Schwarz has done the slog of research and made the tool and toolchest mistakes, and then written about his experience so that others don't have to spend twenty years finding out. Isn't that the mark of a useful book when you're inexperienced and seeking knowledge?

In the context in which they were used, when would it ever have been an advantage for them to not hold an entire kit, or purposefully built to hold less than an entire kit? An itinerant journeyman would have no use for such a chest. A settled-in craftsman might have a chest he'd outgrown, but he wouldn't subsequently build one too small for his entire kit unless it was clearly a scaled-down traveling chest for offsite work. For a guy with a shop, and little site work, why in the heck would he build something that would hold only 60 or 70 percent of a kit (unless he planned to build more than one)? Would you? Why? For what purpose and to what end?

Posted this in its own thread a while back. This one would easily hold my entire kit with room to grow but I won't need any new tools unless one breaks:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/323 ... fts-legacy

 

[iNewbie]

Yep, a little. But asking questions that seem obvious to me. Have to get to work. UPS just pulled up with a little smidgen of lumber. Cheerio!

That's nice! Will you be sharing your experience in the Projects section?

Enough lumber for an Anarchists tool chest with systainer add-ons no doubt.

 

[Trafalgar]

Just a little cherry settee for my own home. I needed a little 8/4.