I thought you might like to see where I do my woodworking. There are three new pics of my shop and two of my tool boxes. The general view of my shop shows the cabinetmakers woodworking bench that might have been found in any woodworking shop, from the American Revolution onward. The stained glass hanging in the window, was made by my wife and is a replica of the logo image, that was on my business cards at the time. The different machines are used in different parts of the process of the making of a piece of work. The other 2 pictures are of my tool chests. The Varnished Pine one is a replica of the type of chest that would have been used in the later 19th Century, and houses a Mahogany 4 drawer case which holds small tools, and measuring devices. Under the sliding case, are housed, in individual compartments, Metal, Woodworking Planes and Drills. The Case is assembled with Dovetails and is of solid wood construction with no modern materials employed in it's construction. The decorative woods on the underside of the lid are, Black Walnut and Maple. The painted blue chest represents and older style of chest from the late 1700's and houses saws, hammers, chisels, and under the sliding bin are housed, in individual compartments, wooden woodworking and moulding planes. This case is also constructed with dovetails and solid wood construction with no modern methods employed. It is a much more plain case and would have been probably loaded onto a wagon and taken to the job-site where it would have provided all the necessary tools to complete the task at hand. The varnished one would probably have remained back in the workshop of the tradesman as it is a bit too fancy to take out to the job. Both of these cases would have been used by a journeyman carpenter/woodworker and would have been offered as evidence of proficiency to any prospective employer. I use these cases and their tools on a frequent basis and they are not intended to be museum pieces but working examples of the handcrafting of wooden furniture. They show the evidence of 35 years of continuos usage. I hope this gives you a little insight into what goes into the construction of a piece of handmade furniture such as are pictured on the other areas of this site.
enjoy,
John