Carpenter Toolbox – Diy

Without a Carpenter Toolbox, what good is a woodworker? Building a toolbox appears to be a rite of passage for woodworkers. I made the decision to give it a go and create a tool box of my own. A desired a traditional appearance for it. Not a lot of glitzy extras. All this toolbox needs to do is allow me to transport tools from one location to another.

Using the end of a one-inch chisel, the tails were tapped into the spaces between the pins.

The most vivid memories are mine. George had demonstrated this to me, but he didn't stop there. He had elucidated Newton's Third Law, which states that there is an equal and opposite response to every action (force) in nature. The tails ceased moving further inward and outward when I applied pressure with my thinning, non-muscular thumbs and fingers at that time. A chisel was usually handy and a wise choice when I needed a little extra. The tails deepened and quite miraculously pulled themselves into the slit as I tapped, applying pressure of its own to counteract my equal and opposite application. A tiny bit ahead of everything on either side, the tap to each tail delivered the pin wood into and between each dovetail. As I moved across the length of dovetails, first from left to right and then back from right to left, I could feel and hear the "pinch" of tightness. It was the kind of frivolous triviality that diminished what was actually more of a deeper sensation of pure adrenaline than what everyone inadequately refers to as enjoyment. To describe victory of this or any kind as mere ‘fun’ makes it so much less than the realness of it. This very specific and wonderful worked-for victory told me that I could and would always make airtight and watertight dovetail joints to equal those of all of the men in the workshop who bit by bit taught me and were now hovering around to look over my shoulder. These men never gave me criticism until I asked for it, and by that I mean they did not take offense or backlash lightly. However, they did provide criticism on my work, which helped me improve. Significant distinction.

But I can see why more things are now considered enjoyable by individuals. Today, it refers more to lighthearted pleasure, enjoyment, amusement, and entertainment than to its original definition of mere amusement, distraction, or even trickery. It had a frivolity to it that is no longer as connected to its source: fonne. What foolishness! This, in my opinion, is the primary distinction between my working life and others' in our ever-expanding worklife cosmos. Leaving school at the age of fifteen to begin working was a significant move. In many respects, it appears that the culture of developing in my day has mostly disappeared, which may or may not be a good thing, provided that reaching the point of maturity when one must assume responsibility is not overlooked. Even while we did find happiness and fulfillment in our profession, it was always serious. Maturity seems to have been delayed in many areas and ways these days. Fun and joy, in my opinion, are not synonymous or even somewhat connected. as two radically distinct states of the human mind and existence. These days, I believe that most people use the word "fun" to refer to a more inclusive concept, although the two are very different. While the other perhaps trivializes the sensation of success, the former enhances it. While in my world these express what is joyous, delightful, and enjoyable, we no longer use these phrases to represent what I do and have done much more accurately throughout the day. There was still a certain sobriety in the environment I worked and lived in there in my mid-youth, post-war space and time, and it was through reflection on this that I discovered what it was about the camraderi that I loved and that has never been replaced. It was the stability and consistency in a time when I could at last write school off as more of an unstable place where immature people go to grow up and become men. If you were employed by individuals who assumed responsibility for your development and made you responsibly productive, those transitional years gradually brought you into adulthood. Even though they would never utter such words or provide an explanation like that, those men viewed it as their obligation at that time. They just took it for granted, as any skilled craftsman or mentor supervising an apprentice would have done.

What was unique about the outcome of this particular and specific dovetail was that I didn’t do it to be approved. These men never worked to be admired or qualified or anything else. None of it was to gain approval because the standard of workmanship was expected no matter what. It was the realness of life I admired and respected and so too them. They, aside from my parents, were the first adults. I would associate with on a daily basis and they in turn placed expectations on me that brought maturity out of me and that to a fullness. Even when the men were indeed impressed, along with George, that was not what I sought. I achieved standards that measured up simply because it was the right thing to do with the right and intended outcome. Here, I managed the making of the dovetail using the first tools I had ever bought, owned and used with my own hands. Looking back now, knowing that I have made thousands upon thousands of hand-cut dovetails, and having now reached the age I have working my wood through six decades, it was that first dovetail of quality that raised and set the bar of self-discipline for me for life. I believe it was this that spoke to me the strongest, saying I would never once use any other method for cutting my dovetails. I wanted what I did to be good, of course I did, but what I saw was that the outcome of what I did would indeed, by its very nature, validate me as a capable woodworker in my own right. The lines of satisfaction fell there. By this I would be governed throughout my life.

But, of course, there was too an approval that did come from the men and it was simple and simply put: “Good lad, Paul!” They didn’t dish out compliments easily these men who day in and day out made the wood do their will. They were encouraging me and it was indeed an encouraging thing, as if these men were bonded as a sort of brotherhood with one another to become my true mentors in craft. George passed one of his wide grins from the other side of the bench, leaned over and earthily said, “Don’t let it go to your head. The next three corners will be harder!” It’s a grounding thing knowing where you are in the pecking order.

Making this joint had taken me about an hour. Only one comment from one of the men remained to challenge me. “Should be good. Took you long enough.” George had taught me two things about dovetailing box and drawer corners. One, the joint comes best straight from the saw and should in general need no refining with chisels. Two, they should need no trying to see if they really fit. I recall him raising his voice and asking me, “What are you doing?” I told him I was trying it to see if they fit. His response was simple. “You shouldn’t need to try it. If you’ve done it right, how can they not fit?” He smiled as he said it but then explained that putting the joints together only abraded the meeting faces and so fractured the surface fibres. As I said in the last post on this, I now press them home just to ‘keep‘ them, ready for the first and final glue-up. Of course, we may or often have to dismantle the joints a few times for practical reasons in the making of boxes: Working other corners, adding in other joints and such. Just keep it to a minimum and when the box is done, if glue-up is not immediate, leave the joints assembled until you are ready. That way all the components are protected and they are expanding and contracting together at the same rate.

As my box came together the men watched me from a distance. I could tell they were enjoying themselves and delighted in throwing out knowing comments. Generally, they were encouraging my work and that was because they knew I was no longer temporary. The trial for me was over. I’d be staying for the full five years of my apprenticing and the work and I suited one another. Transitioning from the brew boy, errand runner and sweeper-upper to more serious work was steadily arriving. Many tasks came my way throughout the day, much of it tedious and repetitive but overall my course was set. As the four corners of the toolbox were now seated and all inspection by the men was passed I was warned to go less public with my working on it. Though the foreman had encouraged me, he didn’t want me working on it in work time even though I wasn’t. What he wanted was for others to understand that there was no chance of me fudging the lines. I could spend fifteen minutes of my lunch break on it or after the work day if the men were working overtime and someone else was there.

After the box dovetails were finished I glued up the box and returned it to the back of the wood racks to hide it. Bit by bit I had most of my wood gathered. I’d needed the front door frame and panel and the rear frame and panel wood. I’d also needed two tills for all the small tools along with the till bottoms. This last level of accumulating came mostly from offcuts as the parts were so narrow and small.

My personal tool chests have worked fine for me so far though I don’t use them in my garage workshop for my my online work. In most independent workshops like mine where security is not an issue, it’s more convenient to have places for the tools in the open atmosphere. A hundred percent of my hand tools are within a metre of my hands and my vise. I want and need the immediacy of tools ready to go for efficiency in my work. But there have been times, longer periods, when my tools were in more unstable environments and needed bolting down. I designed mine as a furniture-making foundation course for hand tool woodworkers who came to my month-long furniture making courses. In the making of it you have carcass construction, door and drawer making, etc.

perception of tool

My perception of tool chests parallels the emergence of changes in woodworking. Someone commented that their tool chests were ideal for storing the dozen or so jigs they made to go with their power routers. Bulky and blocky, these things litter every machinists workshop. For hand toolists, shooting boards and mitreboxes are the equivalent of ill-fitting equipment.

Exploring the past of woodworking allows us to get new insights. We get a glimpse into the daily settings of producers through these skirmishes, where they come and go. Bring the carpenter on board the historic vessels made entirely of wood. 1982 saw the retrieval of the Mary Rose from the ocean's depths. As we delve farther into my background, I intend to broaden things even further. On this, I have more to say!