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267858 "Ed O'" <edo@e...> 2019‑02‑14 Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools
Thought I would post some pictures of a relatively quick, inexpensive, skill
building project that results in something useful.  Pretty much all done with
hand tools.

Here are the pictures: https://www.edoii.com/auction/SmallChest/SmallChest.html

No. 5 on top for scale, it's about 10 x 15 by 9 inches tall.

Case is made from $15 worth of No. 2 pine from a local discount building supply
place that I was able to cut around giant knots to get clear small pieces.  I
think it was two 4' 1x8 and one 4' 1x4.  Everything else was just some scraps I
had kicking around.  Dog bone handles are 5/4 mahogany taken down to 1".  Trays
are cherry at about 7/16 with some 1/8 inch plywood glued/screwed to the bottom,
it's all long grain so no wood movement issues hopefully (glued to bottom so I
would get maximum use of the tray space). Dividers and tray handle tabs are
Sapele (not glued in place, just friction fit so I can take them out if I want
to reconfigure).  Skates on the bottom are some quarter sawn white oak that
started its life off as a rustic clothing chest that was horribly warped and
still stinks of moth balls when planed (probably got about 25 board feet of
stock for $10, so I can live with the smell).  Hinges are some NOS Stanley
Sweetheart marked ones I got in some past auction box lot.

Case sides are planed down to 1/2" using a Mathieson fore plane and No. 4 1/2
smooth plane (ran into a little case hardening on the top edge pieces that
opened up a little when hit with the water in the milk paint).  Bottom is 5/8
inch tongue and grove using a Stanley No. 147 (first time I ever got to use this
one) and then beveled with a block plane.  I deemed it too thin to put an edge
bead on it which I usually do with T&G.  Rounding of parts was done with a
Stanley No. 29 Cornering Tool (a tool I have a love/hate relationship with) or
No. 60 1/2 block plane.  Bottom is nailed in place using Tremont Nails cut nails
(they are local for me and believe it or not I have had good luck finding them
at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStores), no glue here due to cross grain
issues and desire to make bottom boards easier to repair down the road.  Used a
nice little rosewood handled Goodell-Pratt Toolsmiths no. 4 1/2 for drilling
pilot holes and countersinks.

Everything is dovetailed.  Outside is finished in Old-Fashioned Milk Paint
Lexington Green and then coated in BLO and wax.  Went with fewer coats of BLO on
the milk paint on this as in the past when I have put more coats on I find it
just looks like latex paint.  The milk paint makes the dovetails pretty much
disappear.  I used the 14 degree Veritas dovetail square to lay out the pins on
the pine and their 1:8 one for the pins on the cherry.  Used a Rob Cosman 22-15
dovetail saw and coping saw to cut the tails and pins and 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2
Stanley No. 750 chisels to chop them and then a gorgeous rosewood handled 16
inch long Buck Brothers Cast Steel 1 1/2 inch paring chisel to trim them flush
(pushed to rehab it for this project when the 750s were not quite long enough to
get to the central tails and pins).  All the dovetails and everything else was
glued using liquid hide glue for future ease of repair if needed.

This is my 6th chest in this style.  So I have had some practice at it.  I used
no plans and will look at it again later to re-evaluate my decisions in terms of
scale.

All the concepts used in building it come from Chris Schwarz's most excellent
book "The Anarchist's Tool Chest"
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest

Dog bone chest lift info is on the web and was re-popularized by Roy Underhill.
See here:
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2018/04/26/tool-chest-dog-bone-lifts/
I really like these as they are really cheap to make compared to commercial
lifts.
I think it is tough to get the scale of the reverse ogee right on the ends of
these, I was happy with the way these came out compared to other attempts I have
made.


Ed O'
267859 Matt Cooper <MaNoCooper@l...> 2019‑02‑14 Re: Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools
Beautiful work.



Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S8.


-------- Original message --------
From: Ed O' 
Date: 2/14/19 18:11 (GMT-05:00)
To: oldtools@s...
Subject: [OldTools] Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools

Thought I would post some pictures of a relatively quick, inexpensive, skill
building project that results in something useful.  Pretty much all done with
hand tools.

Here are the pictures: https://www.edoii.com/auction/SmallChest/SmallChest.html

No. 5 on top for scale, it's about 10 x 15 by 9 inches tall.

Case is made from $15 worth of No. 2 pine from a local discount building supply
place that I was able to cut around giant knots to get clear small pieces.  I
think it was two 4' 1x8 and one 4' 1x4.  Everything else was just some scraps I
had kicking around.  Dog bone handles are 5/4 mahogany taken down to 1".  Trays
are cherry at about 7/16 with some 1/8 inch plywood glued/screwed to the bottom,
it's all long grain so no wood movement issues hopefully (glued to bottom so I
would get maximum use of the tray space). Dividers and tray handle tabs are
Sapele (not glued in place, just friction fit so I can take them out if I want
to reconfigure).  Skates on the bottom are some quarter sawn white oak that
started its life off as a rustic clothing chest that was horribly warped and
still stinks of moth balls when planed (probably got about 25 board feet of
stock for $10, so I can live with the smell).  Hinges are some NOS Stanley
Sweetheart marked ones I got in some past auction box lot.

Case sides are planed down to 1/2" using a Mathieson fore plane and No. 4 1/2
smooth plane (ran into a little case hardening on the top edge pieces that
opened up a little when hit with the water in the milk paint).  Bottom is 5/8
inch tongue and grove using a Stanley No. 147 (first time I ever got to use this
one) and then beveled with a block plane.  I deemed it too thin to put an edge
bead on it which I usually do with T&G.  Rounding of parts was done with a
Stanley No. 29 Cornering Tool (a tool I have a love/hate relationship with) or
No. 60 1/2 block plane.  Bottom is nailed in place using Tremont Nails cut nails
(they are local for me and believe it or not I have had good luck finding them
at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStores), no glue here due to cross grain
issues and desire to make bottom boards easier to repair down the road.  Used a
nice little rosewood handled Goodell-Pratt Toolsmiths no. 4 1/2 for drilling
pilot holes and countersinks.

Everything is dovetailed.  Outside is finished in Old-Fashioned Milk Paint
Lexington Green and then coated in BLO and wax.  Went with fewer coats of BLO on
the milk paint on this as in the past when I have put more coats on I find it
just looks like latex paint.  The milk paint makes the dovetails pretty much
disappear.  I used the 14 degree Veritas dovetail square to lay out the pins on
the pine and their 1:8 one for the pins on the cherry.  Used a Rob Cosman 22-15
dovetail saw and coping saw to cut the tails and pins and 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2
Stanley No. 750 chisels to chop them and then a gorgeous rosewood handled 16
inch long Buck Brothers Cast Steel 1 1/2 inch paring chisel to trim them flush
(pushed to rehab it for this project when the 750s were not quite long enough to
get to the central tails and pins).  All the dovetails and everything else was
glued using liquid hide glue for future ease of repair if needed.

This is my 6th chest in this style.  So I have had some practice at it.  I used
no plans and will look at it again later to re-evaluate my decisions in terms of
scale.

All the concepts used in building it come from Chris Schwarz's most excellent
book "The Anarchist's Tool Chest"
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest

Dog bone chest lift info is on the web and was re-popularized by Roy Underhill.
See here:
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2018/04/26/tool-chest-dog-bone-lifts/
I really like these as they are really cheap to make compared to commercial
lifts.
I think it is tough to get the scale of the reverse ogee right on the ends of
these, I was happy with the way these came out compared to other attempts I have
made.


Ed O'

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OldTools@s...
267860 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2019‑02‑15 Re: Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools
Ed O’:

You took scraps and bargain pine and turned it into a thing of beauty and
utility. Bravo!

Everything about it is terrific, including the choice of color.  

And, on top of that, you obviously enjoyed all aspects of the process!

John Ruth

Sent from my iPhone
267861 "Ed O'" <edo@e...> 2019‑02‑15 Re: Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools
The hinges are marked on the side that faces the wood.

 

The handles are one piece.  You make a squat  uppercase H with a wide crossbar
out of wood.  Carefully mark the centers on the ends (this is the most important
part).  Turn the crossbar round.  Cut the ends to a shape you like.

 

From: Ed Minch [mailto:edminch3@g...] 
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2019 8:21 PM
To: Ed O' 
Cc: oldtools@s...
Subject: Re: [OldTools] Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools

 

Looks great.  Do the hinges have the SW logo on them??  Like Shaker boxes, you
could have them in all sizes.  Are the handles made in one piece of board, then
the unturned areas shaped?  Handles well proportioned, I’d say.

 

 

Ed Minch

 

 





On Feb 14, 2019, at 6:10 PM, Ed O' mailto:edo@e...> > wrote:

 

Thought I would post some pictures of a relatively quick, inexpensive, skill
building project that results in something useful.  Pretty much all done with
hand tools.

Here are the pictures:  <https://www.edoii.com/auction/SmallChest/Small
Chest.html">https://www.edoii.com/auction/SmallChest/SmallChest.html> https://www.edoii.com/auction/SmallChest/SmallChest.html">https://www.edoii.c
om/auction/SmallChest/SmallChest.html

No. 5 on top for scale, it's about 10 x 15 by 9 inches tall.
267867 "yorkshireman@y..." <yorkshireman@y...> 2019‑02‑15 Re: Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools
Ed shows us his excellent chest.  Painted as per a potential prototype in green.

Excellent, that is, but for the No5 you show.  I can see some paint spots on the
tote - but none of them are green.  What were you thinking of?  we all know that
green is the traditional colour for paint spots on planes.


That green thing the plane is standing on is a real credit though.  I may be
obliged to fashion something similar.


Richard Wilson
Yorkshireman Galoot, in a warm and sunny Northumberland.
267868 Scott Garrison <sbg2008@c...> 2019‑02‑15 Re: Completed a Small Chest for holding some small tools
On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 9:03 AM yorkshireman@y... <
yorkshireman@y...> wrote:

> Ed shows us his excellent chest.  Painted as per a potential prototype in
> green.
>
>
I like it....a lot. Thanks for showing it Ed. And I hadn't seen the details
on the dog bone handles. Gives me more ideas as well

Scott in Duluth GA

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