An afternoon with Chris Schwarz

[Dave Lehnert]

Spent the Afternoon today with Chris Schwarz at the Popular Woodworking shop here in Cincinnati. He talked about his new tool chest book that is going to press tomorrow. He went into great detail on how his chest is built. Very interesting person to listen to. The detail he goes into is amazing. Here are a few photo's I would like to share.

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[Casey Gooding]

Looks like you had a great time. I had hoped to make it up, but the week go too busy. Hopefully I can make the next event they have.

[Michael Peet]

Very cool, Dave. Are those copies of The Joiner and Cabinet Maker on the bench?

Mike

[Dave Lehnert]

Very cool, Dave. Are those copies of The Joiner and Cabinet Maker on the bench?

Mike

Yes it is,The first two stacks in the pic is the book. "The Essential Woodworker" the third stack is "The joiner and cabinet maker"

I have my autographed , off his workbench, book in hand as I write this.:D

[Michael Peet]

Yes it is,The first two stacks in the pic is the book. "The Essential Woodworker" the third stack is "The joiner and cabinet maker"

I have my autographed , off his workbench, book in hand as I write this.:D

Jealous! Enjoy it, if you haven't already read it. I found it interesting, especially with all the footnotes and extra stuff from Joel and Chris.

Mike

[Andrew Yang]

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljtx8jVwFt1qguagg.jpg (http://newcanuckworkshop.tumblr.com/post/4710157858/miller)

This was in the other room during the event. Seems a shame there wasn't space in the workshop to have it properly displayed since Jeff took the effort to haul it there from Chicago.

[Matt Evans]

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljtx8jVwFt1qguagg.jpg (http://newcanuckworkshop.tumblr.com/post/4710157858/miller)

This was in the other room during the event. Seems a shame there wasn't space in the workshop to have it properly displayed since Jeff took the effort to haul it there from Chicago.

Its too bad the arms are held together with string. . .

Thats a nice rocker. . .Looks comfortable and well built. Most rockers I see are going for the "delicate" look, and I am always afraid that my skinny rear end will plop onto the floor if I sit down to hard. This one looks solid, yet with a definite masculine elegance.

Will have to think about adding it to the "If I ever have the time and cash" project list. . .

[Ryan Stagg]

I stopped in Friday at lunch and hung out for a while - lots of good stuff to see. Chris was a pleasure to talk with as usual. He showed us a picture for the new book he'd just been emailed from the designer; a cool technical-looking cross section shot of the chest with a blueprint draft as the backdrop. 'Said the book would be quite a tome - 300+ pages.

The Daed infills are absolutely beautiful - and smooth curly maple like it's butter.

[Andrew Yang]

The word from the horse's (Chris Schwarz's) mouth is the book (The Anarchist's Tool Chest) will be available for sale in 4 weeks from today. His blog will be posting a pre-order with free shipping.

[Andrew Yang]

I'll echo Ryan's comment on the Daed planes. They are fantastic. It's also nice that Raney's a cool guy, and very passionate about what he does.

[Pat Barry]

If I was him I wouldn't have let you bring in a camera.

[Kevin Fitzsimons]

I also went to the hand tool event on Friday. I work my budget to make a nice purchase at this event in the spring and one at the WIA in the fall. A purchase from Daed will take quite a bit longer though. Everyone there is so willing to share their experiences and skills - it's inspiring and fun. I asked Deneb from Lie-Nielsen a question about sharpening and 45 minutes later and a personal (with about 7 - 8 others) lesson on plane sharpening I was loaded with information. Can't beat it. Plus, many of the books published by the Popular Woodworking press are nicely discounted. It's a great event.

[Dave Lehnert]

If I was him I wouldn't have let you bring in a camera.

Chris is great. He has his tools out on the bench. Hands you his tools to touch and use. He walks off with everyone at his bench tools out and everything. Does not seem concerned at all. Have to say I would have a hard time doing that myself.

[Andrew Yang]

If I was him I wouldn't have let you bring in a camera.

I don't get the attitude of secrecy or the underlying animosity. It seems so counter to the attitude of everyone I met at the show. In any case, I was sure to ask for permission before starting to take any pictures, and Megan was more than happy to oblige.

[Ryan Stagg]

I don't get the attitude of secrecy or the underlying animosity. It seems so counter to the attitude of everyone I met at the show. In any case, I was sure to ask for permission before starting to take any pictures, and Megan was more than happy to oblige.

Yeah, I think Chris & Co. are genuinely dedicated evangelists in this fine hand tool renaissance - I don't think they'd want to keep anything they do "proprietary".

I don't think posting pics of the chest will keep someone from buying the book, especially since its construction details are only a tiny subset of its theme...

[Andrew Yang]

Well... Glen is still a self-proclaimed power tool guy. Ryan is accurate in saying it's about more than making a tool chest. Chris says as much on his Lost Art blog.

The Wrong Idea About The Anarchist Tool Chest (http://lostartpress.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/the-wrong-idea-about-%E2%80%98the-anarchist%E2%80%99s-tool-chest%E2%80%99/)

[Andrew Yang]

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljvohsZcwZ1qguagg.jpg (http://newcanuckworkshop.tumblr.com)

Just going through my pics from the show. Matt's a great guy. Like he said at the show, I'm still a few years away from needing/wanting one of his planes. There's a large laundry list of skills and tools that I'm working on using. It was great to hear Chris vouch for his planes during the demo.

[Jim Neeley]

As for me, seeing the pictures increases my desire to purchase the book. Yes, I could find a way to re-create the picture but I'm sure I'll learn a lot just reading how Chris did it, since I'll naturally be asking myself "why did he do it that way" at each step.

[Graham Hughes (CA)]

Did he go into any detail about chisel storage in the chest, or does he just store all his on the window rack? I have, uh, a lot of chisels and what I've done works for now as long as I don't get any more. Sure. That's gonna happen...

[Andrew Yang]

I didn't pore through his chest since there was usually a crowd gathered around it. I don't recall seeing many if any chisels in the toolchest. I would think his approach would be to have them in a chisel roll if he were placing them in the chest. Otherwise, you're correct, he seems to store them in his window rack. That's where he pulled his Ray-Iles chisel from to show me.

[Ryan Stagg]

Did he go into any detail about chisel storage in the chest, or does he just store all his on the window rack? I have, uh, a lot of chisels and what I've done works for now as long as I don't get any more. Sure. That's gonna happen...

I *believe* that chisels were just stored in the trays. He was pretty negative about any fitted solutions for tools, saying that the Seton chest (all french fit) was a bit inefficient in that he couldn't easily add and subtract tools as his work habits changed.

As for having a lot of chisels, part of the point of the book (as I understand it) is that 19th c cabinetmakers would have a surprisingly small selection of tools to do their work. The tools you see in the pictures (some hidden in the lower trays) are pretty much all you'd need, according to Chris. He only had, I believe, five flat-work planes (jack, jointer, smoother, shoulder, plow), albeit he had a full compliment of hollows and rounds.

[Jason Coen]

Details on 'The Anarchist's Tool Chest': http://lostartpress.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/details-on-the-anarchist%E2%80%99s-tool-chest/

[Rolf Maxa]

We had Chris as a guest speaker last night at the Rochester Woodworkers Society meeting. He spoke for about 1 1/2 hours about Workbenchs and Tool chests. He is a great speaker and funny as well. I glad I was able to catch his lecter.