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jeff . whitaker
02-04-2012, 10:23 PM
After reading Chris Schartz's book "The Anarchists tool Chest " I started my own journey to building a new tool chest like the one in his book
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This is NOT that tool chest.
It has no dove tails, no exotic woods, no inlays or hand carved details.
no Greek proportions no Golden mean

I gathered my materials and drew my plans, but some where I strayed from the path. You see I went out to the back poch where I stored my old tool chest, built out of scrap plywood and pine. The plys were delaminating the top and sides warped, covered with scars, paint, glue, dirt and the good Lord knows what else. I started unloading the tools and the memories came rolling in.
My Father had built this chest some time in the 60's. He was in the military and then the DOD . We moved a lot and the chest was the last thing on the moving truck and the first off. If we were going to be living in that town for a while, he would buy a "fix'r up" . evenings and week ends would be filled with hammering, painting and the like. The chest had no tills, just cigar boxes to hold the small stuff, string and rubber bands to keep the loose stuff together, no frills just a wooden box.
The chest was there as I helped Dad to unload In Charleston S.C. Dad bragging on the old house he had just purchased, "it has the look and feel of old Charleston" and my Mother replying "It's got the feel of an old tenement and we will be lucky iuf it doesn't burn down and kill us all in our sleep"
( this was as near to a fight as I remember them having)
It was there as Dad took time to show me how and why things were done and how to do them right.
It was there when my Grandfather came down from north Alabama, to the house in Mobile, and helped build the big new addition. I can still see him in my mind, his "chaw" swapping from cheek to cheek as he figured all of the cuts in his head. It was there when he cut one of the rafters wrong and taught me some new words. It was there when I used those new words and Daddy almost fell off the ladder laughing at me, ( to sound tough you really need to use those words in the correct order :) ) and as he explained just what was going to happen if I used those shiney new words around my Mother. It was there when they built their dream home in Crossville Tenn. and was given to me when my wife and I bought our first starter home. It has been dropped, shoved, kicked and used as a saw bench, chair, step stool and paint bench. It has been through 7 homes (of my own) and been to my job on more than one occasion.
I could not tear it apart and build a new one. I guess I sound silly but I could not do it...
So.. I emptied it of the tools ( and 50 years of dirt) and in the spirit my Father, a child of the depression, I hunted though my scrap pile and rebuilt it.. even the paint was left over from the porch.
Maybe I am silly or going soft in my old age, but I think my Dad would have liked it, and late at night in the shop I sometimes I think I can still smell those old cheap cigars he liked, and maybe out of the corner of my eye I can see Granddaddy swap his chaw to the other cheek and nod his head at some thing I did right.
If you still have your Father or Gandfather take a moment and call them, tell them how much they mean to you
To all my friends those that I know of and those still to be made.. thanks for reading this and good night

Todd Burch
02-04-2012, 11:08 PM
Jeff, that's the best looking tool box I have ever seen. Period.

jeff . whitaker
02-04-2012, 11:17 PM
Todd,
While I do thank you.. might I suggest you get your eyes checked???:D
Maybe I need to post a few more pics so you can see how out of proportion the top is to the body.. my Son-in-law says it reminds him of a coffin! To be honest the level of craftsmanship here at the Creek is intimidating I have never seen such workmanship collected in one place before. I look at some of the projects here and my jaw hits the floor.

John M Wilson
02-05-2012, 11:32 AM
Well, I cannot comment on your level of workmanship, but you are one heck of a writer.

You absolutely brought tears to my eyes.

Nice Work!

jeff . whitaker
02-05-2012, 10:12 PM
Thank you John,
I was trying in some small way to convey why wood working in all it's shapes and forms means so much to me. It is a connection to my past and a hope ( through my Son-in-law) to the future.
Thanks
Jeff

Seth Dolcourt
02-06-2012, 1:22 AM
If it gets the job done, it must be right! Finely crafted tool chests are meritorious in their own right; it's that objects in my shop are not magazine-model glamorous, and your tool box matches my aesthetic.

Good on ya, sir, and I enjoyed reading your story.

Michael Weber
02-06-2012, 11:07 AM
Well written and moving story. I do believe Todd was not commenting on the physical beauty of the box but on the beauty to which is it beheld in your esteem.

Brent Gamble
02-06-2012, 11:32 AM
I still have my father's old wooden tool chest. I know exactly how you feel. Thanks for sharing this.

Todd Burch
02-06-2012, 1:05 PM
Well written and moving story. I do believe Todd was not commenting on the physical beauty of the box but on the beauty to which is it beheld in your esteem.

I could not have said that better. Thanks Michael.

Jim Koepke
02-06-2012, 2:09 PM
Me thinks your story needs a tissue alert before starting.

jtk

Dave Ray
02-06-2012, 10:24 PM
Jeff, your well written story brings good memories, warm smiles and even faintly remembered smells to mind. Your story made a cold damp night in the shop somehow warm and comfortable. Thank you.

Sam Murdoch
02-06-2012, 10:42 PM
Nice! The proportions are perfect.

Sam

Van Huskey
02-07-2012, 12:10 AM
I am the sentimetal sort, I have dragged many things through my life because of the feelings they evoke when I see or touch them. The mention of the smell of cigars reminded me that just the other day I was thinking about my father, who has been dead 30 of my 44 years. He was a HVAC contractor and often worked on oil fired furnaces, the smell of heating oil is one of the sweetest smells on the planet to me, it meant my father was home.

Nice to see what you did with the tool chest, it will mean more to you than if someone dropped the Studley chest off at your door.