Day one of a month-long intensive

Every course is as different as the students that attend. In all of the years and all of the students, no two have ever been the same yet they have all been good.

Today we began the tool chest, with students on the prep course from last week joining those from earlier courses. Books and videos do their bit, but there is nothing like gathering around the bench and the exchange that takes place there. Today they dovetailed the corners of the tool chest and so tomorrow we will glue them together. That the standard is high is no surprise to me these days. A little investment of time and energy produces good fruit. My posts over the weeks have inspired them and so too the videos on mortising with bevel edged chisels. Tomorrow and the day after we will put everything I espouse into practice as we frame the tops and bottoms with mortise and tenon joints that form the corners. We will be running the grooves with plough (plow) planes and not routers and then we will be raising the panels with hand planes.

I have made this box many times andthey work really well for storing hand tools. We are using pine because of weight in the tradition of it, but hardwoods look nice too. If you have any questions on methods or techniques and tools etc that we are using, please jump in and ask. I will be glad to answer as I go.