.My efforts at what are known colloquially as “glue-ups” have been abysmal failures. Back when The Anarchist’s Tool Chest by Chris Schwarz first came out (anarchist in the 19th century sense of the word, an independent artisan who owned his own means of production), I tried gluing up the 24″-high boards that would serve as the walls — front, back, and sides — of my own ATC. That required me learning to glue two boards together on edge, and thus to make them square and flat on those edges.

I was… not good at that. I moved on to cutting dovetails long before the boards were ready, out of frustration… and I discovered that my initial glue joints were not good. They especially did not hold up to two extended seasons, from 2017-2020, of not having space in which to work, and to the vicissitudes of nature and of nature’s god having their way with my work. Most of the boards exploded along their edge joints during the severe temperature changes between my old workspace and my new-to-me storage shed. And the dovetails were terrible, too. As the boards warped, I gave up, and put woodworking down for a while.

Then I found Meghan Fitzpatrick’s Dutch Tool Chests, built to a different design that uses lumber as it comes from the big-box hardware store or lumber yard. Much more my speed and ability as a beginner.

But I still work outside, which means that spring (warm enough but not too hot) and autumn (cool enough but not too cold) are my perfect season for working. And this means that I built the carcase of this tool chest last fall and this spring, and my goal is to try to finish it before winter sets in.

Though it be September, winter is coming.

I was heartened by the completion of the mobile base on which the chest rides around (when it needs to be moved at all). That happened on Friday last week. Photo proof below: hinges that work on the drop-front door; battens on the roof/lid of the base, so that the tool chest won’t slide around (or off) it as it’s being moved; a latch that actually holds the door shut; a dadoed shelf inside; four caster wheels that lock so if I don’t want this chest to go anywhere, it won’t.

But now… now it was time to turn my attention to my glue-up. The main body of the chest is supposed to have what’s known as a Fall Front. Basically, this is a loose panel of wood with two battens, and “catches” or “locks”, on the back side toward the interior of the Dutch Tool Chest, which engage with the chest’s locking mechanism and keep the front of the chest from being opened while the chest is being moved around … even if the tools slide around inside during this movement.

The opening of my chest is about 27″ long, and about 14 3/4″ high. Long boards = no problem in woodworking. I can get 12 feet of continuous lumber from my local hardware shop, and I don’t even have to drive 30 minutes or 30 miles to the nearest big-box store to get it.

Most of fifteen inches? When the widest board I can find locally is 11 1/2″?? No can do, lumber yard board: I must glue two together.

All summer long, I’ve been planing two boards into shavings, trying to get the two pieces to mate along a flat, square edge. I haven’t succeeded. Both are eight-foot long boards with one a 1×4 (when it started, at least), and the other a 1×12 (these nominal dimensions work out to a 3/4″ by 3 1/2″ or 3/4″ by 11 1/2″ or so) has enough width to it that

In frustration today, after months of trial and difficulty, I cut off two sections of each board to the length of the Fall Front opening, planed them a couple of times, and test-fit them. Fit perfectly… well. They’re about 1/4″ too short. Still, it’s not too tall. Glued them up, and left them alone for six hours.

Done.

My friend Harry remarked (after the fact, or I’d give him much, much more credit!) that a woodworking plane can only reliably smooth and square a piece of wood that’s twice its own length or width. I’d been trying to smooth and square a couple of pieces of pine that were 96″ long, with a plane that is only capable of handling about 26″ of length. Beyond that, Harry added, you need to have a lot of skill and practice and technique. The plane won’t do it for you.

My board is 27″ long, and juuuuust outside that 26″ gap. I might have learned a few things during all that board-shaving this summer. Lesson learned, intuitively even if I couldn’t have explained it before today.

Even more importantly, the fall front just about fits the opening where it will go. It’s a little short. It might have taken me a lot more planing to get into the right window of flat and square than I originally anticipated.

But this means that tomorrow — I can attach my battens, and my four “locks” (assuming I can find the screws I set aside for the purpose). I’ll need sixteen of those screws. And once that’s done… I can attach the back of the case, and actually start using my tool chest for its intended purpose — a tool chest — while I build the lid and attach it, and figure out how to paint it.