This isn’t a post about making another tool chest; I mean that would be ridiculous for a guy who already owns several. It’s also not about someone going on a course teaching skills that they have already mastered. This too would be ridiculous, as was pointed out to me by the course tutor on the first evening of the tool chest making course I recently attended.
Oh right…yes, I can see that now.
So what is it about? Well, it’s about several things; firstly the fairly quiet resurgence of handwork in the craft of woodworking. The tutor on this particular course was the Woodworker, Author and Publisher Christopher Schwarz who is in my opinion one of the leading writers on the craft in recent years and whose books and articles have had more than a little influence on my own approach to woodwork. For this reason, when it was announced that Chris was teaching in the UK this summer there was no way I wouldn’t be there for some part of that. The course was to build the Dutch Tool Chest, a form made popular in recent years by Chris, entirely using hand tools. Over two days the 18 attendees worked step by step through the processes with demonstrations and support from Chris along the way.
This was not the reverent tool polishing and micrometer twiddling kind of teaching as espoused by some establishments, this was a 3 minute demo and then crack on kinda course. This is how it should be. People should make things and need just enough information to get going, after which they can learn themselves – there’s no substitute for the learning experience that comes from doing things right, or wrong. That kind of learning will leave you with a skill forever. Everyone went at different speeds on the course, which wasn’t really an issue as it left me time to do the second thing I’m going to talk about; along the way I captured progress and the various stages through Instagram, which allowed me to share instantly with followers:
Increasingly at Things{We}Make we find that Instagram and Twitter give us such an instantaneous connection with other like-minded people that it becomes the sharing medium of choice. I made my Instagrams into the video on this post, partly because I’m strange and like to look back at these things and partly to give non-Instagrammers a view into what their missing. It’s cool, right?
So; I learned stuff, I made some great connections with new people both in person and online and I made the most efficient tool chest I have ever seen. Actually when you say it like that, it doesn’t sound that ridiculous after all.
Ed
Sergeant82d
August 25, 2014
Very nice DTC, Ed. I really like the handsaw rack/till and drawer. Thanks for sharing some great pictures!
thequietworkshop
August 26, 2014
Lovely detail on the lid. I guess most of it is pine. What’s the timber used for the breadboard ends?
thingswemake.co.uk
August 26, 2014
It’s all Southern Yellow Pine, as supplied by the course organisers New English Workshop. Well spotted on the different timber on the breadboard ends – this is Yellow Poplar, but the only reason for it being different is that I forgot to bring an extra bit of SYP home from the course to finish the lid! Actually if I was doing it again I would do the whole thing in Poplar.
Richard Garrow
August 26, 2014
HI Ed, I follow Chris Blog and he mention yours, so I pop over to have a look.. I am just getting started back into woodworking again. Thanks to a lot of folks and of course the web it has been a great. I really enjoyed your video. I am hoping one day to be able to take a class with Chris. I am trying to talk my wife into a road trip to KY. Thanks again for posting I will keep and eye on your blog for future posts.. Richg
hughjengine
August 30, 2014
Nice and crisp!
What make are the stylish blue etc screwdrivers?
Cheers,
Burbidge
Ps dreamt of that remarkable cake in the previous post!
thingswemake.co.uk
September 4, 2014
Hi
I’m assuming you mean the red and grey ones, in which case they are Facom. Excellent quality screwdrivers, although mainly favoured by mechanics rather than joiners, but equally fit for either purpose.
Cheers, Ed
Burbidge
September 5, 2014
Indeed I did (although it seems that I may be grey/blue colour-blind)! I’ve tracked down some of that model in the private reserve of a local Facom chap.
Trust you had a splendid holiday,
Burbidge.
hughjengine
September 5, 2014
Indeed I did (although it seems that I may be grey/blue colour-blind)! I’ve tracked down some of that model in the private reserve of a local Facom chap. Thanks for the help.
Trust you had a splendid holiday,
Burbidge.
esimisone
January 3, 2015
You have an amazing blog and I wanted to nominate you for the Versatile Blogger Award. You can learn more about this honor on my blog at http://www.drunkenworld.wordpress.com