My main set of tools has been overflowing from my 26″ Craftsman top chest and middle chest for a while now.  It’s very clear I needed a single storage solution and my first and  natural thought was “build it myself”.  But after making a few medium and small tool chests by hand, as much as I would love to build a custom, proper woodworking tool chest, there just isn’t the time.  Unless I went the plywood route, I’d never finish it on a timeline I’d be happy with.  And then, Sears had a sale and my dilemma went away.

But now I need to build a new rolling cart.

When I first saw this top chest, it instantly reminded me of a hybrid English and Dutch tool chest.  Like a Dutch tool chest, the top well is deep and my planes can stand on their soles.  It’s clearly meant to hold rechargeable power tools (hence the power strip on the inside right), so there is plenty of room to also attach a panel saw rack to the underside of the lid (with rare earth magnets).

Overall dimensions of the top chest are 41″, 24″ x 16″, which is pretty close (albeit slimmer) to a full-size English floor chest.  The drawer space is expansive, but not so much that I could be cavalier about tools I rarely use.  Those will stay in my old tool cabinet, tucked away for rainy days.

Outside the leather roll, it feels like too many chisels.

The rolling cart on which this new tool chest sits will be (once the casters are attached) 48″ x 24″ x 24″, with two shelves to house the balance of my everyday woodworking accoutrements.  Things like my sharpening stones, machinist granite slab and small clamps.  There may even be plans for a drawer or two in a future retrofit.  And that will bring everything up to a comfortable height.

And with the 60 shop hours or so I saved myself by not building an equivalent English floor chest, I can get back to actual projects.  Like a wall rack for fasteners or a crochet for my workbench.

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Many moons ago, when I first moved into my old apartment, the first order of business was getting my sturdy dining table ready for clamp on workbenches.  Two years later, I’ve moved, and now that I have the space for an actual workbench, it was time to get my sturdy dining table ready for use as an actual dining table.  That meant stripping the finish and reflattening the tabletop.

And also replacing the plywood shelf with ash.

Ash is quite porous, and the tabletop had soaked in quite a bit of steel slurry and rust particles over its life as a quasi-workbench.  Plus, the Danish Oil finish had fully cured.  As a result, there was nothing to do but have diamond plates on hand for frequent sharpening.  Two hours, half a garbage can of shavings and about ten resharpenings later, the tabletop was tried and true.

Fun fact: this rug was supposed to be under the table in my old apartment.

It had been a long time since my No. 4 1/2 got a decent workout.  I ordinarily use it only for panel smoothing.  All that resharpening allowed me to work on the blade geometry a bit, getting it mostly straight with a slight camber at the edges (as opposed to a full camber across the entire edge).  When it was time for final smoothing, though, I re-instituted a continuous camber.

This was sharpening #11.

Ash being a fickle mistress, there is significant tearout at one corner (far right, above), but I’m not so concerned. It’s meant to be a rustic piece. Before I refinish the tabletop, however, I will give it a once over with a tool I haven’t used in ages: the random-orbit sander.  Half an hour at 150 grit should clean up any remaining traversing marks that didn’t come out from smoothing.  I also dressed the long grain edges of the tabletop, just because.

The top is actually glued down, long grain to long grain.  No splits yet.

I can’t wait to show everyone the new workshop (spoiler alert: it’s larger than a dining nook).  I’ve been making new kitchen cabinet shelves for the new place (the old ones were warped and gross), so it’s high time for a real furniture project.  But everything in due time.

RIP old shop.

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Exactly one year ago today, I entered the “writing-about-woodworking-on-the-internet” scene.  Though (not?) much has changed since then, the goal here at http://www.TheApartmentWoodworker.com remains the same: show that meaningful woodworking can be done in a small space with a few simple hand tools and some basic know-how.

I am grateful to all of my readers for making this first year so enjoyable and successful.  I have much to say (and would be shouting it at the void regardless) and knowing that what I write can help people enjoy the craft is a significant reward.  Thank you all for reading.  I am glad to have you as part of the Apartment Woodworker family.

There is still much to do and say.  Here is to the next year!

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