Studley.

Henry O. Studley.  You know, the guy with the amazing tool cabinet.  I can not express in words how excited I am about Christopher Schwarz' new collaborative effort with author Don Williams on cataloging, photographing and researching Mr. Studley's tool cabinet.  The book is titled “Virtuoso: The Toolbox of Henry O. Studley.”

I, like many other woodworkers, have been fascinated by this magnificently crafted altar to his tools.  I am equally as interested in the tools themselves as I am interested in the box construction.  Mr. Studley used beautiful materials and exacting skill to craft this monument to hand tools.  He also made many of the tools in the box, which is something else I'd love to learn more about. 

The reason I am looking forward to this book's arrival is because it details all the nooks and crannies (great now I'm hungry) of the box, something that to date has been a mere dream of many craftsmen.  Christopher Schwarz has been doing a brilliant job chronicling the work on his blog at Lost Art Press.

Check out the Henry O. Studly toolchest-o-rama on Mr. Schwarz' "Lost Art Press" blog here:

Lost Art Press Studly Toolchest Blog Entries!!

When the book comes out I'll post a review as soon as I can read it and get a reasonable impression.  I'm a slow reader, but at least there will be pictures!  Really, it could end up being a cat calendar and I'd give it a good review as long as there were some of Mr. Studley's tools in there.  What does that do for my credibility...wait...what credibility?

Thanks to Fine Woodworking for this poster print, it's my computer background