The Anarchist’s Tool Chest
Aside from a workbench, a sturdy tool chest is one of the most important things to have in your shop. It organizes and protects your tools from damage, rust and loss. Continued below…
Anarchist's Tool Chest
with Megan Fitzpatrick
October 5 - 9, 2026
$2200
Email bisterk1@berea.edu to join our waitlist!
Class Description:
Aside from a workbench, a sturdy tool chest is one of the most important things to have in your shop. It organizes and protects your tools from damage, rust and loss. While many woodworkers have attempted to improve upon the traditional chest design that emerged 300 years ago, the old form has remained the absolute best way to keep the most tools in the smallest space. And if you need a slightly smaller footprint for your chest, you’re in luck. In this class, you can choose between making a full-size chest (25-3/4” tall, 24” front to back, 40-1/4” long) or a traveling version that will fit into the back of a car or truck (14-1/2” high, 19-1/2” front to back, 39-1/2” long). The full-size chest will hold a complete set of the hand tools typically used for furniture work; the travel size chest will hold most of them.
In this five-day class you will build the shell of your own traditional tool chest using hand tools and techniques. This is an excellent first project for a new hand-tool woodworker – especially if you want to get good at dovetails! Skills you will learn in this class include:
- Traditional through-dovetail joinery
- Cutting basic mouldings by hand
- Fitting mouldings to casework
- Loose-tenon joinery
By the end of class you will have all the skills you need to complete the interior of the chest at your workshop at home, whether you want to dovetailed tills or simple rabbeted and nailed tills.
ATC Tool List (the ones you need to build it – not all the stuff you’d want to put in it…)
- Smoothing plane
- Jack plane
- Marking or cutting gauge
- Marking knife
- .05 or .03 mechanical pencil
- Dividers (2 pair if you’ve got ‘em)
- 12” combo square
- Dovetail marking gauge or sliding bevel
- Dovetail saw
- Chisels ½” and 3/8”
- Mallet
- Rabbeting plane, moving fillister or a large shoulder plane
- Hammer and nail set
- Coping saw with extra blades (I recommend Pegas blades)
- 3/16” Beading plane
And any other tools you just can’t bear to be without. For me, that includes my waterstones and honing guide, a 6” adjustable square, a double square (a.k.a. diemaker’s square or machinist’s square) and multiple pencils. And don’t worry if you don’t have some of the more esoteric tools – I’m happy to share my beading plane.
