woodworker: hey I can make beautiful furniture filmmaker: plane more wood shavings!!

“Psychologically, it’s really nice.” A few folks dive deeply into their thoughts about the meaning of things. That makes it particularly “nice” for the rest of us too. Muchas gracias.

That blow out at 3:01...blew my mind.

My toolchest is also an anarchist and it has replicated and unionized and now half my house is toolchests.

Highly recommend Chris’s book Anarchist’s Tool Chest and Anarchist Design Book. His writing is good, and he makes reading about wood working fun. As far as his “anarchist” theory it’s just kind of a dumb muddled way to describe a break from capitalist tendencies. Which, hey, I support. But he makes the error in believing consumer choices are responsible. Which is totally naive when you look how many countries like Japan had their markets opened at the end of a barrel of a gun. Capitalism, consumerism, and mass production are top down policies. Often pushed on people that are already living perfectly fine and self-sufficient lives. Only a very clear headed-and mind you, radical- government could bring back the type of small entrepreneurial and self sufficient communities that could host a hand tool furniture maker. And that government would have to sufficiently strong enough to defend against other predatory countries looking to open their markets again and dump in cheap products. I know what type of society Chris longs for, and I feel that in my bones too, but the way he writes about how it can be achieved is so hopelessly naive that I find him even more likable. Keep in mind, his books are 99% woodworking, but when he tries to explain his philosophy it comes off as bad advice. If a bunch of people began trying to feed their families with hand tools they would go broke. It’s honestly why the hand tool route is more of a retired man’s hobby. Unless of course you lived in an exceptionally wealthy/bougie community that can afford to pay you properly. Looking at my poor surroundings I’m well aware nobody can properly pay me for a hand-tool piece of furniture and the amount of time I spent on it… My ramble is over. Chris is great. He has a lot to teach about woodworking, don’t get distracted by his politics (like I have).

Great video and sound advice. As I get older, I find myself reaching for my hand tools more and more. I have the power tools for woodworking, but I just get so much more enjoyment from those old hand tools.

The tones of this video set my day up for a good start. I’ll be thinking critically all day about my tools. Thank you.

I could watch videos with Chris and Megan all day. Beautiful video.

What a wondeerful surprise to find this video. Still reading my new book "Sharpen This". Thanks for all you do for woodworkers and the craft.

I had to teach myself this philosophy as a mechanic, tool truck would pull in with all the nice shiny tools, you could get them just make weekly payment, took me 3 years after I quit just to pay them off. Same way as an electrician there is always a new wizbang you just have to have, but the standard mix will do almost everything you need day to day

Idk why this popped up in my recommendations - I'm not exactly a woodworking enthusiast - but I am glad that it did, this is wonderfully made, and I would love to see more of it!

❤ This video is a treasure. Thank you for taking the time to make it!

Finally, a real woodworker on KZfaq. Been watching Christopher for years on the Woodwright shop and others. Not a poseur like most of the "woodworkers" on the google.

I remember seeing you of Roy Underhill's Woodwright's show! Great to see you again. I really love that closing quote. It speaks to so much about so many disciplines.

As an anarchist, this is an absolutely wonderful video, thank you

This piece is so beautiful on every level. The video craft itself is in perfect harmony with the content shared throughout. I could watch it over, and over, and over, and each time I do, I see, and hear, and feel new treasures each time. Thank you for making this piece and helping so many of discover such timeless yet almost extinct truths.

Fantastic timing holy, i just finished reading your book about the anarchists workbench and was great!

Thanks for sharing and explaining.

I’ve been following you on IG for years and the algorithm magically brought me here today. It’s wonderful to hear your voice and see you working. Thank you!

Thank you this is one of the best writing channels I’ve found❤

Just what I needed this morning. Thank you.

Wonderful message and beautifully shot and produced. Woodworking is a special part of my life and I avoid machinery where possible. I've just inherited some of my grandfather's old tools and I'm more inspired to better understand and use them now. Warm regards and a big thanks from a new subscriber in Sydney - Dave

This is a fantastic video! I would love to see more about the shop and the philosophy of anarchist woodworking. For such a high quality video it honestly shocked me the channel only has 500 subs.

Some tools are in themselves work of "art" and made such by masters... Ever felt that "tingling" feeling when holding "some" old tools built with magnific sense of love and care and honest purpose. You know them when holding them, it's a feeling of pure joy, flow and they feel like they are a part of you... They can very old, crude, forgotten and simply wonderful! Tools handled by someone who treated them like loved ones... You feel that to... I take care of my tools as if they are family members, and I try to inspire my students to understand why so...

A philosophy for life. Thanks Chris and Meagan!

I have to say your opening statement to this video is an excellent observation or understanding or both! If you look at the Japanese methodology of tools, they seem to practice this rule also. I also came to the same conclusion after repairing so many planes and having so many laying around the shop and then you come to the realization you just need a few tools and you need to learn how to use them fully add to the best of your ability! Then, practicing with those tools gives me the experience and skills to become a great craftsman in woodworking! Nowadays, a lot of guys are just wood processors versus Woodworkers in my book.

I can easily aspire to this philosophy. Thank you for a great video!

wonderfully made! love the shots and atmosphere - looking forward to more to come !

I have spent the better part of the last 6 months or so trying to research and source medieval tools, including figuring out which ones I'd need to forge. This spoke to me on a fundamental level. Thank you,

I can see this channel growing at an alarming rate. Very captivating and full of emotion considering the length

Finally an algorithm which hit its mark . I’m no carpenter or cabinet maker but I’m a fifty year old musician who has in the last few years become obsessed creatively with teaching myself and making things out of wood.

When you know, you know

The gizmotastic dovetail cutter 2000 is going to be the name of my next pull saw. Thanks Chris!

"You're entitled to your tools and you're entitled to the fruits of your labour, so it's not socialism, it's not communism" - Man you just described communism and the distinction between personal property and private property.

I'm an anarchist and i love to cook and this is the way i approach my kitchen. I don't need gadgets and gizmos to replace something simple like a solid steel pan or a wooden spoon. Skill sharing is a big anarchist tradition, it makes sense he's a teacher as well as a woodworker

Nice video, great setting and editing. I just finished a Yellow Pine workbench following your advice and am delighted with how it turned out. I'm afraid to get it dirty....but it already has a couple of nicks and some blood on it....

Kia Ora & Good Evening from Auckland, New Zealand …great video bro …

Well produced video. Great subject. I also built an “Anarchist Tool Chest” but. Built it with hardwoods and style. Filling it with my chosen tools has been fun. Only old “antique” tools of best quality I can find. Some tools in my chest I hardly ever use but they have a home in this chest. Now, which kid or grandkid deserves this chest when I’m gone?

Beautiful!!

I built kitchens. I can't imagine cutting 300 pieces of melamine with a hand saw. Time is money, but I'm also a woodworker and that implies an appreciation of tools, wood, and the craft. 25 years ive had my own shop building it up from one old sears table saw to a functional cabinet shop. In my retirement i decided i wanted a lathe. I found an old 1960 Rockwell at an auction. It has taken months to even get running. I'm humbled by the different skills needed to turn wood. It is a whole new language of wood. It broke down again yesterday and i spent the afternoon looking at $2500.00 lathes. Last night i was irritated because i have not yet earned the new lathe. Yes, i want to be able to turn large projects, but i am years from that. It it the same with anytool. I've used tools for years without knowing their full worth. I love my cabinet scraper, but i see some old timers getting amazing curls with one and think i should learn to do that. Now I'm the oldtimers and kids are probably amazed with what i can do with a cordless drill.

You can make your own tools. I think it's more about decision making process. I could spend the day thinking all day and be just as happy. What I get is the peace that comes with working with tools and living in the moment. Enjoying the journey and the destination. Coming up with a plan and seeing it through to the end, even if it's not the same end you envisioned when you started.

Nice video! I’m glad to see KZfaq finally begin to understand that I don’t care about weapons and tactics just because I’ve been binge watching Léo Ferré recently in order to learn how to sing his “Les Anarchistes” song.

Fantastic.

Beautiful shop. I relate to your minimalist principals quite a lot, as well as the attraction to the anarchist ideal of "let me just do my thing."

Please accept the most affectionate regards from from away Brazil. I loved your video!

nice video...sound advice, thank you

This is my first visit here, and I admire your resistance to the ‘you HAVE to buy more stuff’ ideology. If I may share one observation from the owner of a fishing tackle shop? The owner said to me ‘10% of the stuff in this shop is for catching fish. The other 90% is for catching fishermen…’. True story. Because of the marketing and sales industries, it’s the same with almost EVERYTHING, from cradle to grave. Thank you for remaining in the 10% zone. I hope to join you there, but first I need to de-clutter my industry-programmed mind. If you have a video to help me de-clutter, I’m all in.

OORAH!!! Saw my old my watching this, and I'm glad I could find it. Does anyone know similar videos or concepts for other trades?

Love it

I love this video, and I love the ideas he discusses, BUT the whole "does it fit in the box, if not, I probably don't need it" talking point is a bit at odds with the very large tool wall at the back of the shop.

I donated a copy of "The Anarchist' Tool Chest" to a local library. The book was rejected as a donation for lending to patrons, presumably due to the title. The book was lost after it was rejected and I had to buy another copy for myself, and I don't see myself ever loaning this book out.

I love that "I don't need a better tool than the one that I have. If I had that saw I would not cut better dovetails, it would just look better in my hand while doing it." That is exactly how I feel and wish that I knew that when I was much, much younger. So many of the new KZfaq accounts are established by doing comparisons of high tools, unboxing of high-end tools and demonstrating high end tools all while poopooing the idea that a $34 saw can cut as well as the newest $496 hand saw that are currently the fad. If we were just taught how to setup and sharpen our tools to begin with, by someone, anyone, we would not now endlessly running around looking for that next great tool that works out of the box and does everything without having to learn how to do the job it does for us.

As a European anarchist, I still love this aesthetic. Cheers to you, whatever our differences, may we both be prosperous!!

A really great video advice , sadly i learned it the hard way by purchasing a lot of tools with out using them 😅 devolping skill is the key 🗝️.

Calipers, compasses, story sticks and straight edges only; no rulers!

I love the tools, the wood, the furniture, the solitude and the next project that awaits.

I love it. I need to dive into anarchist theory, where is the best place to start?

I go through "phases". Sometimes I want my early tools, my wood bodies. Some times I want my later tools, my metal bodies. And sometimes I use modern tools, power tools. I cant just pick one.

Funny, I have a hand-me-down craftsman coping saw I got from my dad, and it's fantastic! Wooden handle and chrome plated steel made in Germany.

Very inspiring video indeed! Just a remark: do all the additional tools hanging on the wall fit in the tool chest? Don't take it bad, but it is a fact that, for example, clamps alone become usually very numerous in a workshop... keep good work going!

Nice video

I bet your shop smells wonderful

I am my own Master, and I am worth as much. ❤

2:14 Ha! So true! 😊

Do what makes you happy, buy/make the stuff that supports what makes you happy in the doing.

Chris Schwarz is a true treasure

“Dropping bombs on McDonalds and melting down ATMs” Are these actual things or just products of Chris’s mind? Love the video.

Viva Libertad!

I am a woodworker (bowl turning) also and anarchist!! Yes I get the same result when I tell people that I am- "So you want the wild west?" I respond by saying anarchy simple means, without the government...

i really like the cat flag sticker ! thank you

Very Nice Video, Thanks I think These Days many People forgot that Anarchy is not Anomy... And perhaps to follow the course of the Grain

some people like to walk, but there are still distances that r easier covered by a bike or a train. thats all

Thanks for your short, concise and reaffirming vid! Well done. BTW, this can apply to every trade or part of life. My passion is cooking, not professionally. And I love cook books, esp. with pretty pictures. More than 20 years ago I made a "rule" for myself: until I have cooked at least 1 thing out of each and every book I have I don't buy not 1 more. .... haven't bought 1 and gotten rid of many in this time... less clutter, expenses, etc. And more time cooking... Another not-molotov-throwing anarchist ;-)

What it is, is freedom from government interference.

Came to call you a freak for your politics, stayed for the woodwork

Looking at tools this way implies a narrow focus on how we perceive rewards. Does a hand sawn wood joint hold better than a power machine result? Certainly hand working wood requires more training, patience and practice; it's challenging and costly. I commend your argument for a single chest and the skills to use those tools.

“Occidental Leather” makes a beautiful craftsman’s tool bag, worthy of passing down to your grandkids. I have filled mine with almost 50# of tools. I have an accompanying “Trusco GL470” japanese tool box to hold another 25#. -efficiency

I’m genuinely baffled at how many people seem to have had their nerves touched by this.

Communism and socialism do not remove personal property or the fruits of one's labour. It's very much about workers having the fruits of you labour and not having it taken by bosses who don't work for it. What you're talking about is absolutely compatible with socialism.

Interesting approach. I admit to being a bit a tool fanatic, maybe I need to rethink my approach

Had I had the workshop, I would go all hand tools. I have a primary ground course as a cabinet maker, so I know I don't need a whole bunch of tools to make pretty furniture. And powertools really only speed up certain procedures. They aren't necessary for those who aren't in a hurry. I am in a hurry, albeit a hurry to get a workshop so I won't have to use my kitchen and my living room as a place to plane wood shavings, spread dust, clean, glue and either paint, oil or stain. So I'm buying a few powertools to make certain processes faster, but there are plenty of hand tools I'd rather use than power tools or fancy jigs. I've always found the dovetail markup jigs useless. You don't need a jig, you just need to know how to draw them with the tools you already got. Save those money for the wood you need to love your craft.

Mentions the box more than once and what doesn't fit, you don't need.... but there's a whole wall of tools there that aren't in the box. Also, i love my "gizmotastic" line of tools lol

I was hesitant to buy a coping saw, because I often just use chisels to make dowels. Am I being greedy to just buy a new tool? or is it justified? I mean I know I want it but I don't really know If I need it.

I sometimes think I am more of the tools guy than the finished product. i love what makes the product as much as I love the craft itself.

Hi, just curious, are you associated with Lost Arts press? If so, how?

Sal from "Homeland" is making an anarchist workbench.

Seems like a nice guy and probably pretty pretty cool to hang out. but I want to know who told him that socialism and communism mean you’re not entitled to the fruits of your own labor? Because like that’s the driving factor of both economic modes. He might be thinking of capitalism you know where you actually have to work for the wealthy people, and they keep the majority of the value created through your labor. Because other than that, he seems like he’s got his head on straight and would be a pretty rad dude to hang out with.

3:01 blow out much?

At first I thought it said “Antichrist”. And for a very short time I was curious about what would be in his toolbox. A Dirt Devil, perhaps.

3:00 Oops 😄

socialism does not deny personal property and is perhaps the only way to grant individuals access to the fruits of their labor. there is not a clear understanding of anarchism that would position itself so distinctly opposed to socialism along the lines laid out at ~ 3:00.

My joy in woodworking is simply to creat objects of desire and value. I would not want for one minute to add politics to it or any other meaning to detract or distract from the work. Politics and beauty - they just don’t mix. Achievement is beauty in its self.

I don’t disagree that we can have/ desire too many tools. But if they are in it “for the furniture “ all they showed was tools. In this they parallel Cosman. He has lots of tools and instead is all about the processing of wood, but the things he builds are blah. One should buy the tools that let you accomplish the object you envision. One person may be able to do that with 10 tools. Another with 20. It’s the resulting craft, beauty and utility that we should put our attention to.

Can someone please explain to me why a channel with 1.5K subscribers has only one video?

Buy everything you can afford, pull timber off the side of the road and break down broken furniture just to mess around with and practice. The more you do the better you are. It’s not about like “oooh I only have the tools that fit in my chest and I do just fine” buy everything you want and use it

Liked and sub'd. Cheers from Tasmania. $0.02

Beliving his own lies so deeply, he cannot experience the world in front of him, thus keeping his eyes shut most of the time. Nah, jk, great video man, just teasin. Cheers from a fellow woodworker

Is this video made by Magnum Veritas? If not where does this come from?

where is it ?

Wait whats the list of 50 tools???