I crammed 3 more saws in my toolchest

Unpacked.

I found/made  a few more spots for saws. I made spots for a fretsaw and a veneer saw in my saw till, and put my bow saw in the small remaining gap. All this needs to be removed when the tool chest is in use. The saw till already comes out, and I was able to hang the bow saw on one of the chest handles to keep it handy and out of the way.

Packed in the tool chest.

These grooves hold the fretsaw in place

magnets hold the veneer saw in place

Fitted but loose, a compromise

I recently decided to keep a small plane handy in the top till of my tool chest, but didn't want it banging around with the other tools, going dull or losing it's settings. Neither did I want to "french-fit" it into a permanent part of my tool chest. Sure, I reach for this tool often this month, but that could change.

So I landed somewhere in the middle, making this protective "plane coaster", which fits the tool but isn't nailed down. It protects the blade and provides a little elbow room (not my elbows, hypothetical miniature bronze plane elbows).

I made it out of a scrap of 1/4" aromatic cedar. It was from a pre-tongue-and-grooved board of the sort you can line closets with. There wasn't much to it. I traced the plane footprint onto the wood with a hobby knife, and excavated with a small router plane. I also made a small, probably unnecessary relief for the blade. I like it because it's a visual indication of which direction the plane should face on its way back to its home. I slathered the whole thing with the same camellia oil I used on the plane post-honing, and I really like the way it looks.

As luck would have it, the "coaster" fits snugly enough to stay attached when you lift the plane by the body. We'll see how that changes with the seasons.

By the way, this is the "violin maker's plane" from Lie Nielsen, though I'm using it as you might use any block plane.

how to mess up your dovetails

I came across these old photos from when I was making my anarchist's tool chest, and thought I should share some of the mistakes I made while learning a lot of techniques.

But there are already too many blog posts with contradictory information telling you how to cut nice dovetails, so I'm going to tell you how the mess them up:

Use a jack plane with a heavily cambered iron to surface your lumber, then decide that's good enough. Do this on the inside surfaces to ensure visible gaps.

Crosscut your lumber after surfacing. This means more work to get out large cups & bows, so you definitely won't have energy left over to get out a smoothing plane.

Warm up your sawing arm with some haphazard cuts.

Decide that dovetails are first class cuts and waste lots of time making knifewalls, even though the angles don't really matter on the tails (assuming tails first)

If that takes too long, decide they are second-class cuts so that you still waste some time with knifewalls.

Orient the board so you are cutting against the grain. (Actually I was using a dozuki, so this was the right way).

Train your eye to see square by looking at an engineer's square from the wrong direction. Don't "undercut", because it might be considered "cheating"

Cut the tails way inside the lines so it doesn't fit right off the saw.

Fuss with the joints a lot so you have plenty of opportunities to go past your lines.

Glue it up with the minimum of clamps so that the glue has a place to go.

If you're cutting grooves, make sure they go out through the end (this is from a different project)

Repair the blemishes with a few small slivers of wood and some glue, or if the gaps are small, just hammer the endgrain until they disappear. Flush plane them and they'll look fine. I'm serious about this one--it's easy to repair dovetail problems.

...but you can still point out your mistakes to anybody who sees the tool chest.

You can also point out your mistakes to the whole internet.

And don't paint over them so you can keep pointing out your mistakes.

But seriously, you can fix all this and they will come out great. The important thing is to make the attempt so you have the opportunity to succeed.

Tool Chest!

I declare this thing done. 

I have been working on this tool chest for a while, years even. Oddly, I think I never mentioned it on here. I had a mental picture of lots of detailed posts showing every step of the way, and I never got around to it. I don't think I would want to read all that same stuff for the nth time anyway. Maybe I'll post some interesting mistakes later, but enough about that. It's done now, I'm going to tell you about it, and maybe it will inspire some future action. Deal? OK.

My tool chest is based on "The Anarchist's Tool Chest", an excellent book/theory from Chris Schwarz. If you find yourself reading this, you will probably enjoy reading that book. It's about how to spend your time doing what's rewarding, how to select implements for doing so, and how to arrange for those implements to wind up in a big box. Oh, and it's mostly about woodworking as opposed to, say, anarchy.

What I really like about the book (and the Schwarz's writing in general), is that he lays out the principles he's following instead of encouraging you to slavishly copy the details. The first rule (not technically a rule) of the ATC is that you're supposed to disobey Chris Schwarz, and I did plenty of that.

My chest is scaled down from the canonical one to fit my tools (a basic ATC principle), and to try to be more space-efficient (my own stubborn inclination). I've also added & changed features where it made sense to me, while trying to stick with the overarching purpose and principles of the chest outlined in the book. For the rest of this post, I'm going to assume you have read it, or are at least familiar with the idea of the ATC--that way I can focus on what's different in my version. If you don't know the background, spend a few minutes with a search engine. This idea has made the rounds of other woodworking blogs several times over by now. Or buy the book, it's your choice. (This is a good time to point out that I'm not affiliated with Lost Art Press or anybody else who sells woodworking stuff).

I am incapable of painting over this surface.

The first thing you might notice is that my tool chest is not painted black. Why not? I do like it's modest good looks and the way it contrasts with the woodgrain outside, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I got into the hobby partly because I like the way wood grain looks, especially when it's been planed. I used this project to build a lot of basic experience. Milling lumber by hand, dovetailing, grain matching, proportional design, drawbore joints just to name a few. I'm proud of how it came out, and I like looking at it in all it's woodiness. This is purely personal taste, not advice for anybody else. (This is also testament that nobody should be afraid of cutting dovetails by hand. These were almost my first, and the repairs came out great!)

The longest saw you see on top determined the size of the chest below.

What do I mean about scaling the chest to my tools? Well, my tools take up a little less space than what's in the book. First off, I don't have molding planes. I like to design and build objects that don't look ornamented, so molding doesn't seem necessary. At the outset, I decided that I can always change my mind and put some in a separate box (maybe in the japanese tool chest style). Second, I prefer panel saws to full-size hand saws--Mostly because I can't accidentally knock them into the concrete floor when sawing on sawbenches. Lastly, I got into woodworking to build guitars. A lot of the specialized tools for that are pretty small. So, following the principles of ATC, I sized the chest to my longest tools, my panel saws. The depth and height of the original are based on what's comfortable for the human body to reach. Following that principle and looking at my tools, the inside dimensions ended up at 28"(L) x 16.5" (D) x 18.5 (H). That's probably about half the typical volume, but I am going to use all of it. This also means I can pick the thing up myself (note to self: take some weight out first so you don't break your back - planes are heavy).

Chest on legs. The offset allows them to fold next to their counterparts.

Wheels engage when the legs don't.

I also elected to put my chest up on legs. Well, sometimes. The legs fold and get held closed by a toggle. When closed, brass casters are in position to roll the chest around. I find the chest comfortable to use at either height, but especially when it's ~16" off the floor. Lately I've been rolling it around a lot while I reorganize my shop.

I also did the lid differently. I think the groove-in-groove thing is neat, but I really wanted a top that is one flat surface in case I want to use the chest as a sawbench in a pinch. I didn't want to sacrifice the thickness of the panel, so I made the frame even thicker (It came from a few clear sections of 2x4). I even veneered the inside of the panel, just so it would definitely be thick & strong enough for some abuse. I know it's only another 1/40 of an inch, but the stiffness goes up with the cube of the thickness, so it definitely matters.

I elected to attach the lid with brass piano hinge, screwed straight into the back. Some people think it's ugly, but that's only, like, your opinion, man. Come to think of it, there seems to be a lot of anti-shiny-brass sentiment out there, certainly at odds with my all-shiny-brass hardware. That's ok. This brass will look old when it gets old. But I want it to look young while it is young too. The idea of artificially speeding up the process just bothers me somehow. Again, this is my taste, not advice.

Oh, and no lock. If I ever feel I need one, I'll install a nice looking hasp, and use a padlock that offers some real security. But I doubt I will.

Whoops, there's supposed to be more stuff.

Still reading? Awesome. A little surprising. Let's talk about what's inside my tool chest.

Organized chaos.

The bottom is pretty much like the canonical ATC (CATC?), except missing the saw till and the area for molding planes. There will be no molding planes, and I'll explain later about the saws. What I'm saying is that the bottom is wide open. I've got it filled mostly with planes, and a couple other things too large and awkward to go anywhere else. I find it quite acceptable to have a drawknife, brace, and mallet piled in with the planes. I set them down gently, they don't move around much because of the plane totes, and they are surprisingly not much in the way.

The chisels don't seem to interfere with the planes. That rack is also a nice place for a little flush-cut saw.

I also decided early on that a chisel rack was required. I tried tool rolls, but they take up too much space on the bench and get dusty. I find I only like it for carving tools, which I don't use all that often, and tend to use as a set. My chisel rack is fairly traditional, except for the way I made it. It's a glued-up wood sandwich, with a 1/2" gap in the middle, and a 1/4" gap in the back (towards the wall). I only glued in the dividers I needed in the 1/2" gap--so pretty much just for the set of bench chisels on the right. I can always glue in more later as I figure out exactly what else goes in there, and the wide open gap works fine for most things. The 1/4" gap right against the wall is good for a small carpenter's square, and maybe other things later. The whole thing can unscrew and come out of the chest in one piece If I change my mind about it later. It actually sits on the till rails.

Tills at rest.

Tills at work. This keeps the small tools handy.

The sliding tills I made are pretty standard stuff, except for the width. If I had made them small enough to spread out completely, they would have been only 5" wide. Instead I made them 8". I can see two whole ones, or fractions of all 3. Or I can set the top one on the bench and spread the other two out. Like every engineering decision, it's a compromise. But I need the space. I also omitted the traditional pull rings in favor of simple centered pull holes. This is for a few reasons: I don't think they justify their own weight, holes don't bang into things, and a centered hole naturally leads you to pull the till where it won't bind. Mine don't bind anyway, but who knows how that might change with wear? These were fun to build. A few quick dovetails in pine, and some small nails, and then you've got that most precious of all commodities--more space.

One set of saws, with luggage in front.

What about saws? I stuck them in that extra space next to the tills. It always bothered me to waste it and let the tills slide around in transport. So I made a saw rack (till?) that rides on the lower till-rail. The idea is that it's the first thing that comes out of the tool chest for use, right before and much like the bench planes. I put all the saws with crosscut teeth facing one way, and those with rip teeth facing the other. It's a straightforward set of western saws, plus two Japanese saws that have earned their space by getting me out of a lot of jams (a big-box-store ryoba, and an azebiki). I made this rack to be the same height as the bottom two tills, so the top till can slide right over it. This is handy if I want a screwdriver or something from the second till without getting into a whole woodworking session.

OK, maybe I have a problem letting space go unused.

I even found some more space in the saw till. I made two simple little trays to slide into grooves at the end. They hold pencils, crayons, chalk, and some saw lubricants. All things that I am happy to have out at the bench right away, or at least near the saws.

Loaded up, ready position.

The top till is still free to move with saws in place.

I wish I had a name for this... "self-locating chain recess"?
"gouging one's work because there's no better option"?

What else? There are a couple of details that revealed themselves to me as I went. I made some smooth notches in the front wall of the top till so the brass chains don't scar the lid. This wouldn't be necessary if I had left some vertical space, but I wanted to use every cubic inch. Shaping them was guess-and-check until they slid in on their own every time.

I also made till-dividers that are easy to reconfgure. I used some scraps of fir that were 1/8" and 3/8" thick. The thin piece is the divider, and the thick piece is a wedge that encloses the end of the divider, preventing itself from buckling and falling off. Unfortunately it's hard to photograph clearly, but it's easy to do with a 1/8" chisel if you get the concept. Just make the angles match and don't tap it too hard.

These are easy to make and encourage grouping by category

OK, that about covers what I built. But, why?

In the end, it's a box where I put things.

That's a hard question with too many answers. If you want all of them, just go read the book already (The Anarchist's Tool Chest by Chris Schwarz). But I'll give you the one that's most relevant to me: organizational discipline.

I'm not naturally a neat person. Just ask my wife, my parents, or any of my college room-mates (sorry again). I do strive to improve, though, and the ATC has changed the way I think (for the better). The ATC has laid out a challenge to fit a complete working set of tools inside a box with finite dimensions. For me, that is an engaging, fulfilling exercise from what would otherwise be boring and neglected.  I've got craigslist ads up right now with tools that are decent enough, but I don't really need. I have got another pile that I'm thinking about getting rid of, knowing that whatever I keep might push something else out of the tool chest. And I stopped buying tools just because I felt the urge to buy something that I might need. I never would have done this without reading ATC. 

This gives me space, money, and time back. This makes me happy.

It makes the house neater, which makes my wife happy. And that makes me happy.

Now, I shall dream of sugarplums and getting on a plane for Handworks tomorrow night.

WIP

I haven't been posting here a lot lately, and I would like to talk about the other things I've been spending time on.

I have been working wood, but more to the point, I have been attempting to reduce work-in-progress. In other words, finishing what I start.

WIP storage in the woodshop. Right next to the lumber rack so I am reminded to finish some WIP instead of starting in on a fresh board. Apparently I have a knack for almost finishing paddles.

Managing a software kanban system at my job had made me very aware of the inefficiency that inevitably comes with doing too many things at once. I started to notice projects that I had left halfway done, both in the wood shop and out. After a while I decided to track my WIP (work-in-progress). I already use an electronic GTD process to manage tasks, so it wasn't much of a stretch to tag the tasks in progress, list additional WIP as I noticed it, and keep a count so I know how I am doing.

Within a couple of weeks of keeping track, I could see 50 WIP items, all things I've started and not finished. Since then, I've spent a few months finishing projects and resisting the urge to start new ones. Now I have 73 because of all the additional WIP I've noticed along the way. (I peaked at 80). These tasks are all different sizes, by the way. Anything from borrowing a DVD to installing an attic floor and joists qualifies. I will often break up a task into sub-tasks, but only if each task has value on its own. For example, I am working on a tool chest, but each internal rack and tray, and the lid, etc. , ate tracked separately. I used my tool chest for months before I had even bought the wood for the lid frame, but it was still useful in that form. Building the lidless box was good for WIP too. I didn't have extra wood in my way while I used those folks to finish other projects. However, getting a single tray or box 50% done cannot be a separate task,  because getting to that point on its own doesn't accomplish anything. 

So, now I am trying to finish more things than I start (for a while). 73 is too many things to have hanging over my head. Anyway, this should explain the blog inactivity. Writing is another thing to do. My WIP numbers are actually starting to go down now, but I am not done by any stretch.

My immediate goal is to get that number under 10. After that I might worry about trying to post individually about every interesting woodworking project or idea I encounter. In the mean time, I'll post when time allows, and try to summarize a lot.'

Below are some pictures of woodworking projects and tasks that I've finished in the last few months. I'm not sure If I will make time to post about them individually. I hope they inspire you to start, or better yet finish, your own woodworking project.

functional saw till prototype that fits in my tool chest

Sliding trays for tool chest

Here are the trays and saw tills resting on the rails together

small maple spoon

candlesticks, an education in turning

Tool chest carcase and a lid that closes

Trays for keeping organized while moving stuff around the house. I learned to cut dovetails (by hand) with this project, and had some fun with wood dye.

Oak spoon, finished. I think I started this when I was a kid 20+ years ago. I noticed it, put it on the WIP list, and then it was a matter of time before I finished it. Not hard now that I own a spokeshave and a gouge.

Folding legs for tool chest. These now have casters that deploy when the legs are folded.

Temporary workbench with a thing that resembles a vise ("twin-holdfast-caul"?)

radially split oak log from my cousin's yard and stacked it to dry

extra-long maple cooking spoon. I should never have started this, but at least it was quick to finish.

Raised desk to standing height. To do this, I made a custom part for the IKEA stantions so they could go taller. 

Cocobolo handles for saw files. In hindsight, it would have been easier to use corn cobs, but this was fun.

Coat rack that actually fit in my house. I used this opportunity to teach some helpful friends to make fox-wedged mortise-and-tenon joints by hand. Those pegs are not coming out any time soon.