Wherein I attempt to complete a tool chest.

[john jesseph]

Thank you!

The carcass, bottom boards, and all the lid parts are poplar. The upper and lower cleats, using Jane Rees' nomenclature from the Seaton book, are rift sawn ash. All the old chests around here seem to be pine or poplar. The inner parts are TBA- still looking at my tools and studying old chests.

[Dave Anderson NH]

All of the antique hardware makers carry an assortment of escutcheons John. Try Horton Brasses, Ball & Ball, or Whitechapel.

[john jesseph]

Thanks for the info, Dave! Ball and Ball were off my radar, and I had forgotten about Whitechapel. I think I got that key escutcheon from Horton. I had ordered from them and from Optimum in the past, but not the others.

[john jesseph]

Continuing my over-posting. I dug up a board of white oak to make runners, and figured I would take the opportunity to move along with this other project, another chest made of construction grade whitewood. I can make the runners for both of them out of the board in the foreground. This chest is all just parts, dry fit. The carcass is all that is glued up so far. I was going to fit the upper hinge to the lid, but I don't care for the look. I will make another part and dovetail it this weekend. I think Jane Rees referred to this part as the "going around the lid thingy." This should hold all my luthery tools nicely, if I can find the cardboard box they are stored in. Pretty sure I still own them.

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Here's the chest as it stands. I noticed the white dots left by the clamps that held up the upper cleats in place for a couple years before I glued them on.
Probably going with open tills for now. I really like the Seaton chest, but I have a limited tool kit, and I don't have the patience for it right now. Maybe when I retire.

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[john jesseph]

Very small baby step last day or two, since I shifted my attention to going through my finishing supplies.

The first time I screwed in the hinges, I managed to break off one of the crappy plain Phillips head screws supplied for test fitting. I went ahead and chopped a small mortise and extracted in, and filled it with a patch.

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I fiddled with tuning the hinges, since it wasn't closing up correctly. everything looked ok and there didn't seem to be any stress in the hinge system. I took each piece out one at a time to see if I could figure it out, and oddly enough it was the lock. It closed well without the lock, and also with the screws out of the lock. Not enough time tonight to try to fix it.

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So here it sits. All the screws are in, except that the lock is dry fit. I'm going to fiddle with the lock tomorrow.

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I had several kinds of shellac in squeeze bottles, so I made a test board to see if they would dry. Just experimenting before I dump them all out. Test board is on the sawhorses there.

[Todd Zucker]

I am enjoying the “reason for editing” as much as the thread. Keep posting the progress photos, and keep editing.

[john jesseph]

Turned my attention to the smaller chest. Got some of the glue up done. Plinth, skirt, whatever you call it.

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I nailed on the bottom boards.

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The lid and the top of the carcass needed to be trued up a bit.

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Diminishing returns reached, fits well enough for now.

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I need to order the handles. Probably ordering from The Great White North.


Work and family will keep me busy for the next five days, and then I should be able to get these both tuned up enough to start the inner fittings. I decided to resaw some Eastern White Pine for the tills, and that should acclimate for a bit before I make those.

Thanks for looking!

[john jesseph]

Sidebar!

Had some down time at work, so I went up the road to a local antique mall. My buy list is pretty short, but it's interesting to window shop. I spotted this tool chest a while back, one that had some interesting features. Way too high a price for what it is and the condition, but still neat.

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Simple butt joint nailed construction. Bead board. Nice size.

[john jesseph]

A couple more chests from the same place. Commentary, pertinence, and perspective to follow, will edit this post later today.

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Editing to add a couple more pics. Stopped by another place on the way home. Saw another chest underneath some junk.

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Off topic, took a good hard look at these stones, but decided to pass. Hard to know for sure what they are until they are cleaned, and price was too high at 35 dollars.

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Edit:

I have been looking at details of locally found tool chests for a long time. The features, size, and quality vary widely, and these pictures show a sampling of what we see around here. The green chest in the previous post is fairly cool to me. It looks like it has been in some rough conditions, but still held up and stayed intact. I am going to throw one of those together some time.

In contrast, the green chest two pictures up was roughly and poorly made, and is failing despite being newer and less abused.

I had the two panel chest in the back of my mind when I started my bigger chest, but went with different proportions. I thought about a three panel arrangement without the raised outer field, something that would be flat on the outside. I ended up obviously taking the path of least resistance and making the lid with the most common construction. I will likely use the standard three open till arrangement with partitions in the till.

That's it for now, maybe back to it Monday.

[john jesseph]

Busy week. Moving ahead.

Got the handles. Bought them from LV. The big cast iron ones are much better than many other versions.

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Getting set to glue up the upper parts. Cut and fit the last part, and just a bit of fine tuning there.

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Last chance to do some leveling of the carcass. Need to do some mass sharpening.

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Onward and upward.

[john jesseph]

Leveled all the surfaces before continuing glue up. Messy. Disorganized. I hate it.

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One little fiddly bit to fix. I am trying not to get too bogged down in perfection, and am trying to work more efficiently. I hadn't sawn any dovetails for years, and I lost my mind and sawed the wrong side of one line. That's not an error I am prone to making, but it is what it is. I sharpened the iron on my LAJ and cut a thick veneer of pine to make it right again.

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Here is the dry fit once again, with spare shim material awaiting assembly. Almost caught up with the other one. Need to get some hinges.

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[john jesseph]

Howdy, pardners. Got busy with work and youth baseball, and my shop time consisted of fiddling and cleaning.

Got hinges on the small box.

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I have a couple choices for handles, or even no handles, for the small box. Along with the ones I already posted, I found some other handles that could work. I think I will save the ones I found for a North Bennett Street School type chest, which will help organize my carving tools. I will need shorter screws for the Victorian ones I am choosing. Might just use this box for storage, so I think it's about ready for the finishing stage.

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Might get some test boards done this weekend. Lots more work and family activities coming up, but I want to get these into service soon and get to work completing old projects.

Second edit to add a picture with a 5 1/2 and an 8 for scale. Ready for scraping and sanding.

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[Mel Fulks]

Even as a small kid I was drawn to those old tool chests. Seeing a new one is a type of time travel,a real treat. Two sets of the handles are fine ....the ornamented ones are horrible,and give the piece a too late date.

[john jesseph]

Thanks! I do not disagree. I am always on the lookout for plan b and c (and d). I could only find a single in one of handles I like more. Even thought about braiding a rope becket for the bigger chest. Options!


Tools to fine tune areas prior to sanding and scraping.

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Got out some paint and got some test colors. I am trying to use what I have on hand, so we will see what I end up with. I won't waste bandwidth with that here.