Alan Turner
09-30-2003, 2:53 PM
I am a relatively new member here, and am much enjoying it.
By way of introduction, making furniture is not my day job, but I do take commissions that come along, and have recently started teaching an adult evening class in cutting furniture joints with hand tools.
I thought I would post a piece which is a recycled toolchest. It is a plane till in part, but not of the scale of Dave Anderson’s.
In April a furniture maker in Philadelphia retired from the business, which he had been in with his father, long deceased. They had been in the same building since 1950, a converted row house on Monroe Street in the Queen Village neighborhood of Philadelphia, adjacent to Center City. He was selling his wood and tools, and this is how I met him.
Over the course of several months a bought a bunch of his hand tools, mostly wooden planes and spokeshaves, and a few older measuring tools, like dividers and a wonderful compass. And a rather complete 100 piece set of carving tools that his carver had left behind when he died. I hope one day to learn to use them. I bought all of his mahogany, all of it 50+ years old. One board is, I think, Cuban. At the end, with his building sold and with a closing date fixed, he had the balance of his wood sold, but the guy did not come for it, so I bought it on the deal that I could pick through the rest of shop as well, and I would take what I wanted that was otherwise heading for the dumpster. The wood was +/- 1000 bf of soft maple (about half), and 4/4 & 12/4 birch, with much 12/4 and 16/4 walnut, mahogany, and rosewood (I think), etc.
And so it came to pass that he was throwing out his father’s tool chest. He just didn’t have room for it at home. The story goes that his father was drafted into the Navy in WWI and was assigned to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to work as a carpenter. The Toolchest went unused for many years; just collected dust. There are two places on it with 6 digits, the same 6, which I am assuming are his father’s service number, although perhaps not. One is embossed in the drawer, and one stenciled in large numerals on the side. It is of pine, and so is light, metal corners, with a dovetailed carcase, 1/2" plywood back. The doors are solid, with solid rails, but the center is not a traditional panel, instead extending side to side. The paint is original.
I took it because I couldn’t stand to see it thrown out. As it collected a bit of non-neanderthal dust in my basement shop, it grew on me. So, I am in the process of refitting the interior. I stripped out what he had in there as tool holders as his configuration was a bit primitive, and didn’t fit my tools. It is 32" wide, and 20" tall, with a 16" I.D. behind the doors. I flipped it over, and reversed and refitted the drawer, since I was to hang it. The fixtures that I have installed are screwed in with minimal damage so that its antiquity is not permanently seriously destroyed.
I have not yet decided what to put on the right, and it is quite likely that changes will be forthcoming as I live with it, but right now it seems comfortable. Just finished the plane rack. The chisels are laterally supported by purpleheart 1/8" dowels, which are movable. Not Andersonian, but thought some might enjoy a look.
By way of introduction, making furniture is not my day job, but I do take commissions that come along, and have recently started teaching an adult evening class in cutting furniture joints with hand tools.
I thought I would post a piece which is a recycled toolchest. It is a plane till in part, but not of the scale of Dave Anderson’s.
In April a furniture maker in Philadelphia retired from the business, which he had been in with his father, long deceased. They had been in the same building since 1950, a converted row house on Monroe Street in the Queen Village neighborhood of Philadelphia, adjacent to Center City. He was selling his wood and tools, and this is how I met him.
Over the course of several months a bought a bunch of his hand tools, mostly wooden planes and spokeshaves, and a few older measuring tools, like dividers and a wonderful compass. And a rather complete 100 piece set of carving tools that his carver had left behind when he died. I hope one day to learn to use them. I bought all of his mahogany, all of it 50+ years old. One board is, I think, Cuban. At the end, with his building sold and with a closing date fixed, he had the balance of his wood sold, but the guy did not come for it, so I bought it on the deal that I could pick through the rest of shop as well, and I would take what I wanted that was otherwise heading for the dumpster. The wood was +/- 1000 bf of soft maple (about half), and 4/4 & 12/4 birch, with much 12/4 and 16/4 walnut, mahogany, and rosewood (I think), etc.
And so it came to pass that he was throwing out his father’s tool chest. He just didn’t have room for it at home. The story goes that his father was drafted into the Navy in WWI and was assigned to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to work as a carpenter. The Toolchest went unused for many years; just collected dust. There are two places on it with 6 digits, the same 6, which I am assuming are his father’s service number, although perhaps not. One is embossed in the drawer, and one stenciled in large numerals on the side. It is of pine, and so is light, metal corners, with a dovetailed carcase, 1/2" plywood back. The doors are solid, with solid rails, but the center is not a traditional panel, instead extending side to side. The paint is original.
I took it because I couldn’t stand to see it thrown out. As it collected a bit of non-neanderthal dust in my basement shop, it grew on me. So, I am in the process of refitting the interior. I stripped out what he had in there as tool holders as his configuration was a bit primitive, and didn’t fit my tools. It is 32" wide, and 20" tall, with a 16" I.D. behind the doors. I flipped it over, and reversed and refitted the drawer, since I was to hang it. The fixtures that I have installed are screwed in with minimal damage so that its antiquity is not permanently seriously destroyed.
I have not yet decided what to put on the right, and it is quite likely that changes will be forthcoming as I live with it, but right now it seems comfortable. Just finished the plane rack. The chisels are laterally supported by purpleheart 1/8" dowels, which are movable. Not Andersonian, but thought some might enjoy a look.