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From the pages of Treasure Chests
The Peerless Tool Chest of H. O. Studley
In July 1988, the back cover of Fine Woodworking magazine featured an awe-inspiring object: the vintage 19-century tool chest of master carpenter and stonemason H.O. Studley. If the workmanship in the tool chest is any indication of the maker's talent, then the craftsmanship of Studley must have been a wonder to behold. The chest created quite a stir among our readers, and when we later created a poster of the chest, it quickly sold out. Now Studley's chest has resurfaced as part of Lon Schleining's book, Treasure Chests: The Legacy of Extraordinary Boxes.
Massachusetts piano maker Henry Studley built his magnificent tool chest over the course of a 30-year career
at the Poole Piano Company. The chest lived on the wall near his workbench, and he worked on it regularly, making changes and adding new tools as he acquired them. Using ebony, mother-of-pearl, ivory, rosewood, and mahogany -- all materials used in the manufacture of pianos -- he refined the chest to the point that now, some 75 years after his death, it remains in a class of its own.
Considering how many tools it holds, the famous chest is really quite small; when closed, it is just 9 in. deep, 39 in. high, and just more than a foot and a half wide. Yet it houses so many tools -- some 300 -- so densely packed that three strong men strain to lift it.
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Packing more tools per square foot than seems physically possible, piano maker Henry Studley's unrivaled tool chest also manages to be beautiful in the process. The chest stands as perhaps the most exquisite example of 19th-century tool-chest craftsmanship.
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For every tool, Studley fashioned a holder to keep it in place and to showcase it. Miniature wrenches, handmade saws, and some still unidentified piano-making tools each have intricate inlaid holders. Tiny clasps rotate out of the way so a tool can be removed. In places the clearances are so tight that the tools nearly touch. The chest, which hangs on ledgers secured to a wall, folds closed like a book. And as the chest is closed, tools protruding from the left side nestle into spaces between tools on the right side. Amazingly, despite being so densely packed, the tools are all easily accessible.
Studley was well into his 80s before he retired from the piano company. Before he died in 1925, Studley gave the tool chest to a friend. That man's grandson, Peter Hardwick, loaned the chest to the Smithsonian in the late 1980s and later sold it to a private collector in the Midwest. The current owner loans the chest to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. from time to time.
Planning is paramount if you want to follow in Studley's footsteps. Murray Kernaghan, a Canadian woodworker, spent the better part of a Manitoba winter studying photos, making drawings, even corresponding with curators to learn as much as he could about the chest. By the time he was finished building his simplified Studley, it had consumed some 350 hours, much of that time devoted to planning.
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Fine Woodworking contributing editor Lon Schleining is a stairbuilder and woodworking instructor in Long Beach, Calif.
Photos: Randy O'Rourke
From Treasure Chests, pp. 66-67
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Bookcases
Niall Barrett presents projects and plans for 11 classic bookcases
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Beds
Jeff Miller offers nine attractive bed projects accessible to woodworkers of any skill level
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Desks
A complete guide to building seven classic projects, from Chippendale to laptop
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Tables
Plans and instructions for building a candlestand, an end table, a Shaker sewing table, two coffee tables, a display table, a half-round console table, a hall table, a cherry kitchen table, and a trestle table
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Box-Making Basics
David M. Freedman offers detailed, step-by-step instructions for making 16 handsome boxes
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