Uncle Joe's Tool Chest

The Story

My great uncle Joseph Theurer was born in 1885 and was a carpenter, cabinetmaker and a proud member of The International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.  He made the pictured tool chest in 1923. Uncle Joe never married so when he passed away the tool chest went to my father, his only living nephew. My father passed it on to my older brother and he in turn passed it on to my nephew Marti.

When I became interested in wood working a couple of  years ago I decided that I would like to try to build a tool chest like Uncle Joe's. I called my nephew Marti and asked if I could come and take pictures of the tool chest and some measurements. He said I could come anytime. When I arrived at Marti’s he said that he’d been thinking about it and since I was the wood worker in the family he wanted me to have the tool chest. I tried to decline, but he insisted.

I thought it only right that I build him a tool chest to replace the one he had given me.

Uncle Joe’s tool chest measures 37½ inches wide, 20½ inches high and 17 inches deep. It is made of pine and stained.  The corner protectors and banding is copper and are all hand made. 

I presented Marti with his tool chest in the summer of 2002.  Marti’s tool chest measures 37½ inches wide, 14½ inches high and 18½ inches deep. It is also made of pine and stained. It is not as tall as uncle Joe’s, because this is my first major project and I haven’t tried to do glue-ups yet.  I used gel stain and it turned out pretty good but it's still a little blotchy.  The joints on the tool trays are my first attempt at hand cut dove tails.  It's only a single large tail, but it turned out pretty good.  The corner protectors on the chest are made from .035 brass plate; cut, filed and bent.  Those on the lid and the handles came from Grizzley.

After completing Marti's tool chest I began work on a chest for my oldest son Alex.  The overall design Alex's tool chest is the same as Marti's but is made from red oak with a different lid and less brass hardware.  I presented it to Alex on his birthday, September 13, 2003.