Fine Furniture for Tools

I was perusing the internet last week searching for any signs that my website, Steven Thomas Bunn, Furnituremaker, might be bubbling up from the depths of the internet. I was surprised to discover a Tools and Plans ad from FWW offering me a free PDF of an article and plans for a tool cabinet if I submitted my email address. Which was unnecessary, as I wrote the original article back in 1993. “Fine Furniture for Tools” was published in FWW Magazine’s Sept/Oct, #108 issue. Charlie Robinson was my editor, and took the photo you see.

The photo was taken in my newly built shop in Bowdoinham. So new in fact, that there wasn’t a sheet of drywall installed on any of the shop’s walls. It was late in the evening, Charlie was anxious to take photographs, but walls of 2×6 studs and paper covered insulation wouldn’t do. So, I called up Brant Miller, a neighbor with a pickup, and asked him to run down to Brunswick and buy four sheets of 1/2 inch drywall at Lowes for me before they closed that evening. While waiting for Brant to return we went inside and had dinner. On his return, we hustled out to the shop, brought the drywall inside and hurriedly put it up. With a fresh clean back ground, Charlie was able to get his photos, and head back to his hotel. I think FWW bought the drywall. Thank you FWW.

What surprises me when I see this photo today is how empty the tool chest appears. Readers of this blog will know that I am always searching for more storage space in the shop. When American Woodworker Magazine asked me to write an article about using dovetailed splines to attach molding to case-work to allow for seasonal wood movement, I took the opportunity to build a lower cabinet to support the upper tool chest. “See Keyed Cabinet Molding Dovetailed Keys Allow Seasonal Movement”, American Woodworker, #149, Aug/Sept 2010. The new cherry case had matching raised panel doors, making the chest-on-frame a traditional chest-on-chest. The bottom case became the home for my routers, sanders, and other power tools. The tapered leg cabinet base morphed into a small table for my wife.

Thanks for stopping by–STB