The Anarchist's Tool Chest - A Review

[bugbear]

You're right BB!! It's all theoretical, a running joke, or in books by long-dead authors. I just figured if Schwarz was enthusiastic enough about the concept to have written a book about it that he might be the exception rather than the rule. Must just be the thinnest of veneer over cheap particleboard. The thing he professes to hate.

If you're looking for arched backs, Charles, I suggest a mirror. You do sound awfully peaked.

BugBear

 

[Trafalgar]

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!

 

[G S Haydon]

I think the reason I liked the video over the book as there is more of the ethics within the ATC book. Those ethics are pretty sensible although I chronically overthink and personally have different thoughts. That does not detract from the book from being very good! I wish I could capture the imagination the way Schwarz can.

However something Charles mentioned "buy a whole helluva lot of stuff in order to build things so as to "not buy" other things" grabbed me. There is significant depletion of resource when making new tools (that does not overly concern me). When the market is full of tools that have passed through multiple hands already why make any more? Who ever wore through the sole of a Bailey? That feels a more ethical, even radical stance against consumerism.

Also, when this book was mentioned a while back someone else (forgive me I can't recall who) said something along the lines of they were expecting a book named the "ATC" would be about fixing up old tools and making your own. Logical as the changing face of "the trades" have left a plethora of professional grade tools on the market that are not too difficult to bring back to perfect working order.

I just liked a neat chest and fine tools. I personally don't need a message about the ethics of it all. I think that's why I like http://www.amazon.com/Tools-woodwork-Ch ... 0237445441 as it is neutral.

Although this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jEj5cTJzZ0 (and my point) are perhaps off the beaten track now I think this is more radical thinking.

Instead of using the bridge example think of it in plane irons and cap irons. With that line of thinking Stanley perfected the ultimate less with more. Also, benches with aprons, using less material with excellent results. However drivel like I've just written is not likely to excite in the way taking a shot at IKEA would.

I would recommend anyone pick up the ATC book and digests it for themselves.

 

[Andy Kev.]

The L-N 51 is only 15" long and at $500 an accommodation probably ought to be made for it. But, I'm specifically excluding shooting boards as being shop fixtures so sure I could see the 51 and board being stored somewhere else. It's beside the point. I guess.

Beyond this, why wouldn't the rest fit in there? Did you read the book and come away with the impression that the chest was not to hold all of one's hand tools? I thought this was the central thesis given the ethical, philosophical, and anti-consumerist overlay he chose to present in the book. If this isn't the central thesis, then what is? Not just a set of tool chest plans, obviously. That sort of thing is done in a magazine-length article.

Did he by chance mention in the book that the reader might need to make two, three, or four chests? If not, how to make a choice about which tools to leave out in the wide-open spaces, or even better which ones he left out in the wide-open spaces?

But he does not maintain in the book that one should attempt or even think of putting all one's tools in it. He cites his scorps and travishers as not getting a look in. What he does say is that the chest holds a tool kit which will enable the woodworker to complete everything but the most specialised tasks (my wording not his).

You might want to consider nipping down to your local library and borrowing a copy. You would perhaps get more out of the discussion had you read it first. It's not exactly a work of the devil.

 

[Trafalgar]

Oh Gawd, now it's getting good.

"But he does not maintain in the book that one should attempt or even think of putting all one's tools in it."

Then what the hell is all the anti-consumerist yingyang about? Buy like crazy as long as it's not something made from particleboard?

 

[bugbear]

Oh Gawd, now it's getting good.

"But he does not maintain in the book that one should attempt or even think of putting all one's tools in it."

Then what the hell is all the anti-consumerist yingyang about? Buy like crazy as long as it's not something made from particleboard?

http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skep ... html#straw

BugBear

 

[Andy Kev.]

I'm sorry but that's a bit too much of a non-sequitur for my logic systems.

Let me put it simply: there's a suggested tool kit. With that kit and having acquired the necessary skills, you can do almost every joinery task you are likely to be confronted with. There's also a suggestion for a box which will accommodate that tool kit quite nicely.

This does not exclude nor proscribe the possibility of you owning other tools in addition to those in the box. What's to argue with in that?

 

[iNewbie]

Oh he'll find something. Its like a hobby...

 

[Trafalgar]

I'm sorry but that's a bit too much of a non-sequitur for my logic systems.

Let me put it simply: there's a suggested tool kit. With that kit and having acquired the necessary skills, you can do almost every joinery task you are likely to be confronted with. There's also a suggestion for a box which will accommodate that tool kit quite nicely.

This does not exclude nor proscribe the possibility of you owning other tools in addition to those in the box. What's to argue with in that?

A lot.

It makes no sense to house some hand tools in a chest and arbitrarily exclude others, like the scorp and travisher from your earlier post. It also makes no sense to winnow down a kit (Schwarz isn't just starting out) and then proceed to build a chest that won't accommodate the results of the process.

Otherwise, the obvious answer is to build as many chests as one needs or one, big honking standing cabinet but that would start to erode the 'anarchist' and Howard Roark-ian ('aesthetic anarchist') theme of the book I suppose.

 

[mouppe]

You can't review a film that you haven't seen. How can anyone comment on a book they haven't read?

 

[Trafalgar]

Edit.

 

[Trafalgar]

You can't review a film that you haven't seen. How can anyone comment on a book they haven't read?

Easily, when it comes to Schwarz.

Something by David Pye, not doable. Lightweight vs. a heavyweight.

 

[G S Haydon]

For those that do like a good looking tool chest this recent short video https://vimeo.com/129499128 is a good one. I must say I do rather like it.

 

[Trafalgar]

Lot of saws on the wall back there.... :lol: wonder why they're not in a chest?

Not sure I would have had a few of those brass tools sharing the same tray as a sixteen ounce claw hammer, especially if the chest is going to be carried around. The router plane needs it's own small box as does the plough (then trap them between battens or uprights) especially in a traveling box. If you hit a bad pothole with that chest in the trunk something is coming out damaged. The trays need removable subdivisions with housings cut to offer several different configuration options.

It's nice work if you like your tools shaken, not stirred. The time spent on the veneer and the on-lay would have been better spent providing more secure internal accommodation for the tools - either individual boxes or more compartments. It's a magazine piece, not something somebody would build to frequently move the kit of tools in the video to and from a job.

The Tony Konovaloff chest is built to accommodate the movement of the box without fear of the tools being damaged or even getting the slightest ding. Of course, this is the crux of the matter.

 

[Andy Kev.]

I'm sorry but that's a bit too much of a non-sequitur for my logic systems.

Let me put it simply: there's a suggested tool kit. With that kit and having acquired the necessary skills, you can do almost every joinery task you are likely to be confronted with. There's also a suggestion for a box which will accommodate that tool kit quite nicely.

This does not exclude nor proscribe the possibility of you owning other tools in addition to those in the box. What's to argue with in that?

A lot.

It makes no sense to house some hand tools in a chest and arbitrarily exclude others, like the scorp and travisher from your earlier post. It also makes no sense to winnow down a kit (Schwarz isn't just starting out) and then proceed to build a chest that won't accommodate the results of the process.

Otherwise, the obvious answer is to build as many chests as one needs or one, big honking standing cabinet but that would start to erode the 'anarchist' and Howard Roark-ian ('aesthetic anarchist') theme of the book I suppose.

It seems to me that almost every hobbyist and professional in almost any field (except maybe yachting) is likely to own more key bits of tools than they actually need. For instance a photographer might have 10 cameras. Will he take all of them with him when he goes out a clicking? Unlikely.

Schwarz is not saying that he has built a chest to hold all his tools. He is saying that he has built a chest to hold all the tools which he regards as an essential but comprehensive set for a cabinet maker/joiner. I can't imagine that anybody from the Honourable Company of Cabinet Makers is going to kick him in the nuts for having a few extra ones which he doesn't think necessarily belong in the chest.

Anyway, I'm off down the pub.

 

[Trafalgar]

OK.

Which ones go in and which ones stay out? Build another chest, standing cab? Leave 'em out?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

OK.

Which ones go in and which ones stay out?

Well, if you just read the book, you'd find out....

 

[Downwindtracker2]

I'll let you guys in on a secret, he is writer, first and foremost, trying to make a living. It doesn't matter the subject matter, woodworking or hunting, but the first skill is the writing. If he was a woodworking professional , he would be extolling the virtues of something like a wide belt sander, how it paid for itself and made him money.

Tools. I'm in the "He who has the most tools when dies, wins" camp. I'm retired now, but first as a carpenter, then a millwright, I made my living with tools. Good quality tools, but not the finest. A Canadian made Grey instead of a Snap-on wrench, er spanner. After reading the book and picking up that Footprint 1/2" chisel, a light went on.

 

[Trafalgar]

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

 

[Cheshirechappie]

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?