Bob Cleek

Sorry. I broke my own rule of always posting a link when citing an online source! My bad!  
 
Here you go. Amazon sells the blades and handles separately for some unknown reason. DISCLAIMER: I cannot tell from the Amazon listing whether this saw and blades are the same as those mentioned in Kurt's earlier posts in this thread. Amazon identifies the seller as MicroMark, but I notice that the blades in the photo Kurt posted have some labeling on them and the blades Amazon has pictured don't. It's certainly not difficult to knock off this item, so buyer beware. There be pirates in these waters.
 
Wood Handle For Ultra Fine Saw Blades - Amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Ultra Fine Saw Blade (Pack of 5) : Tools & Home Improvement
 
Extra Long Micro Miter Box - Amazon.com
 
Note that I also posted the link to the suitable micro-sized miter box. These narrow-kerfed blades tend to wander in a wider miter box slot, thereby failing to cut at an accurate angle. Of course, all of this is academic for those who have already saved up and bought their Byrnes table saw.  

Amazon has the handles and blades. MicroMark is retailing them through Amazon. It's worth checking out Amazon's price comparison feature. They are selling for considerably less on Zoro, if Amazon's price comparison is accurate. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can probably get free shipping on it through Amazon.

The original poster did not mention, what he wanted to use the tweezers for. Some additional information in this respect could lead to more specific answers.
 
There are hundreds of different types of tweezers for different purposes, of different quality and, therefore, price. The watchmaker fraternity, in particular, uses a wide variety of tweezers for specific purposes. As they work with metal, they tend to be harder than the biological/surgical ones. Also dentists' tend to be harder.
 
Another factor is the overall stiffness, which depends on the steel and the thickness of the material.
 
Many reputed manufacturers now seem to sell their 'seconds' (which usually are still good enough for our purposes) through traders to the public. There are specialist traders e.g. on ebay that trade in such medical and biological tools. It may also be useful to check the on-line catalogues of medical and watchmaking supply houses to get an idea of the models available and their specific designations. Use these then to search on ebay etc.
 
Buying tweezer online can be a bit of a hit and miss. Particularly very fine pointed tweezers I would not buy on-line, but would want to check in person their tips and how precisely they close. I bought my main 'working' tweezers in person at a watchmaking supply store some 30+ years ago.
 
At model fairs, flea-markets and such events there are often trade stands that specialise in such 'seconds' medical etc. tools. This gives you an opportunity to check the quality. Keep on the look-out for antique equipment, the steel in them is often much better than in what is flooged new to us modellers.
 
Having said that, those Tamiya bending tweezers I didn't know and they look quite interesting. Do they properly close along the full length of the narrow tips?
 
Finally, if you get one of the cheaper ones for a few €/$/£ you can also grind the tips to your needs. Wouldn't do this with an expensive Dumont one, of course ...
 
 

Agreed! I have found that the ordinary "contractor's jobsite compressors," which can be had starting at around $100, are not excessively noisy because when used for airbrushing they only turn on intermittently once their tank is charged. There are apparently some modelers who for various reasons wish to have a quieter compressor and/or one which is smaller in size. Their needs seem to be met by the dedicated "airbrush compressors" sold by the various airbrush manufacturers and others.  Those modelers who want the smaller size and quieter operation of the dedicated airbrush compressors may pay a bit of a premium to do so and they will, for the same approximate cost, have a compressor which will lack the power and capacity to operate the wide range of  available air-driven tools or to inflate their car tires and so on. 

Hi Allan,
 
I wasn't as clear as I might have been in that post when i said, "I've never known that. Is there some reference work that explains it? It doesn't make any sense to me, but that's certainly no indication of its accuracy!"  That statement was in response to druxey's statement way back in post #2, "The answer is that the ensign staff (its proper name) is pivoted at the base. A half-hoop clasp, not shown in the drawing above, is undone, the staff pivoted forward and down, the boom swung over and the staff raised again."
 
I'm familiar with the "tabernacle" fitting used with ensign staffs. My comments were directed to the language: "...the staff pivoted forward and down, the boom swung over and the staff raised again." It was that to which I was referring when I said, "I've never known that. Is there some reference work that explains it? It doesn't make any sense to me..." 
 
At this point in the discussion, I don't think anybody is suggesting that the ensign was flown on the staff while the vessel was under sail and, when tacking, "the staff pivoted forward and down, the boom swung over and the staff raised again." I seriously doubt they would be "striking their colors" every time they tacked! The ensign was flown from the gaff peak while under sail, not only for increased visibility, but also because flying it there didn't interfere with the sailing of the vessel. 
 
There were times, of course, when a lateen yard was carried on the mizzen, or the clew of the spanker didn't extend far enough outboard to foul the ensign staff, where there would not be any problem posed by fouling the staff when sailing, but that's not the case with the vessel depicted in post #1.
 
A much more interesting question is, "Just how much did they actually fly their ensign when under sail?"  I believe, but am not certain, that in actual practice, they wouldn't bother to hoist those huge ensigns unnecessarily when at sea, because they really weren't good for anything other than identification at great range and otherwise simply created a lot of useless windage. Besides, those large ensigns were probably pretty expensive and they wouldn't have wanted to beat them to tatters in daily use in all weathers. Also, it wouldn't have seemed prudent to identify your vessel's nationality to another vessel at sea until you knew who they were, or were ready to stand and fight! Mention of orders to "show the colors"  when another ship was sighted, or even of showing a "false flag" to conceal a ship's nationality, and to only at the last minute, "show your true colors," abound in the literature. Perhaps we worry about ensigns more than they did!  
 
 
 
 

Sorry. I broke my own rule of always posting a link when citing an online source! My bad!  
 
Here you go. Amazon sells the blades and handles separately for some unknown reason. DISCLAIMER: I cannot tell from the Amazon listing whether this saw and blades are the same as those mentioned in Kurt's earlier posts in this thread. Amazon identifies the seller as MicroMark, but I notice that the blades in the photo Kurt posted have some labeling on them and the blades Amazon has pictured don't. It's certainly not difficult to knock off this item, so buyer beware. There be pirates in these waters.
 
Wood Handle For Ultra Fine Saw Blades - Amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Ultra Fine Saw Blade (Pack of 5) : Tools & Home Improvement
 
Extra Long Micro Miter Box - Amazon.com
 
Note that I also posted the link to the suitable micro-sized miter box. These narrow-kerfed blades tend to wander in a wider miter box slot, thereby failing to cut at an accurate angle. Of course, all of this is academic for those who have already saved up and bought their Byrnes table saw.  

No matter how you cut it, cutting the rolling bevel in a planking rabbet (sometimes called a "rebate") is a tedious process that takes some thought and care. You will find lots of theoretical instructions in boat building and modeling books about how to do it using the information that may be developed using lofting techniques. The exact angle of the rabbet can be developed for any point along the rabbet's length from the lofting (or lines drawings) and from that the rabbet, back rabbet, and bearding lines can then be developed and drawn or lofted. These varying angles define the shape of the rolling bevel that forms the rabbet. In small craft and model construction, there's an easier way to cut the rolling bevel without reference to the drawn or lofted the rabbet lines at all. Experienced boat wrights dispense with a lot of the lofting by "building to the boat," as  they say, rather than "to the plans." With the planking rabbets, this means that the angle and depth of the rabbet at any given point along the rabbet is developed using "fit sticks" and battens to define the rabbet lines and the bevel's rolling angles. It's easier done than said.
 
What you do is frame out your boat or model. Take care, as is always necessary, to fair the frame face bevels. This requires setting up the frames and sanding the faces so that a flat batten laid across the frames in a generally perpendicular relation to the frames, as well as at lesser angles, will always lay flat against the frame faces. (You may need to place temporary blocking between the frames or otherwise secure them well so they don't wobble when you sand across them.) Your frames should be cut and set up as in full size practice, with the corner of the outboard-most side of the face precisely cut and set up on the section lines such that when fairing wood is removed from the forward side of the faces of frames forward of the maximum beam and from the after side of the faces of the frames aft of the maximum beam. The accurately cut frame corner, the forward corner on frames aft of the maximum beam and the aft corner of frames forward of the maximum beam, is the reference point for fairing your frames. Use one batten for marking the faces of the frames and another, with a suitable sheet of sandpaper glued to its face, or a manicurist's emory board, to sand the excess off the faces until they are fair. The batten used for marking is chalked with carpenter's chalk and rubbed against the faces of the frames to mark the high spots. Where the colored carpenter's chalk transfers from the marking batten to the frame faces is where the frame face is too high and needs to be sanded down some more. When the marking batten lies flat in contact with all the frame faces, transferring chalk to the entire frame face, the frame faces are fair.
 
Now, with your frames faired, take a small stick of wood the same thickness as your planking and cut across at the ends perfectly square, which is called a "fit stick," and place it against the face of a frame and slide it down until the lower back corner of the fit stick (the inboard corner) rests against the keel. Accurately mark the point where the corner of the fit stick and the keel meet. This mark is where your bearding line is at that point.
 
Then take a second fit stick and place it on top of the first with the first in the position it was in when you marked the bearding line point and slide it down over the first fit stick until its lower back (inboard) corner touches the keel and mark that point. This mark is where your rabbet line is at that point.
 
Make these two marks at each frame. Spring a batten between all the upper and lower marks on the keel and draw lines through all the marks. These lines will be your bearding and rabbet lines. Extend them out as far as they will go, but, for the moment, they are relevant only for the span from the forward-most frame to the after-most frame.
 
Now, at each frame, with your two fit sticks stacked as when you marked the lower rabbet line, take a knife or chisel and using the lower edge of the upper fit stick as a guide, cut into the keel at the same angle as the face of the bottom edge of your upper fit stick, i.e. with the flat of your blade against the edge of your lower fit stick. This cut should be as deep as your planking is thick. (This first cut can be easily made with a small circular saw blade on a rotary tool if you know what you're doing. Mark the blade face with a Sharpie to indicate the depth of cut.) Cut down to the point of the rabbet cut you've made from above so that you end up with the back rabbet face of the keel at a right angle to the rabbet line cut.  Test your cut with a fit stick, which, when the rabbet section cut at that frame is done, should lie perfectly fair on the face of the frame with its bottom edge fit perfectly into the rabbet you've cut. Because the angle of your rabbet is defined by the lower edge of the top fit stick and it's depth by the thickness of your planking, there's no need to worry about where the back rabbet line is. You'll develop the back rabbet naturally when the two lines you are cutting to meet at right angles at the bottom of the cut.
 
Now, you simply "connect the dots" or rabbet "notches" you've created at each frame by carving out the wood in the way of the rabbet and bearding lines between the frames to form a continuous rabbet with a fair rolling bevel.
 
The stem, deadwood, and stern post are a bit trickier than the sections where the frames are set up on the keel, but the method of marking them and taking the rabbet angles off of fit sticks is the same and shouldn't need much further explanation. The main difference is that a batten of the same thickness as your planking is place across the frame faces, rather than perpendicular to the frame faces, and extended to where its bottom inboard edge touches the stem, deadwood or stern post and is marked there for the bearding line, and then another fit stick batten is placed on the first to find the rabbet line. You will find a chalked marking fit stick batten to be handy again in fairing up the dubbing on the wide deadwood rabbets. These techniques are a lot easier to learn by doing than to explain in writing. 
 
On a real vessel, cutting the planking rabbets is a very exacting process because the ease of caulking and the watertightness of these seams are dependent upon the perfect fit of these faying surfaces (where the planks and keel touch.) This isn't a big consideration in a model. What's important for a model is only that the visible rabbet lines and the planking are fair and tight. If the angle is off behind the planking and a bit too much wood is removed, it makes no difference because a sliver can always be glued in place to raise the plank to where it has to be and the rest filled with glue, or if too little is removed, the plank face can be sanded fair after it's hung. (The latter being the less preferable. It's generally better to remove wood from behind the plank than from the plank itself.)
 
This may seem like a tedious exercise and it is, but doing it correctly will make your planking a far easier task, particularly in hull forms where there is considerable twist in the planks at the ends. A final word of caution for the modelers with a machinist's background: This is a hand job. You won't find a way to do it more easily on your mill. Many have tried to devise some sort of jig which would permit cutting these rolling bevel rabbets with saws, routers, or other power tools. As far as I know, and those I know who know a lot more about it than I do, nobody's succeeded. Don't waste a lot of time trying to figure out what nobody else has been able to accomplish. I expect that it could be accomplished, in theory, at least, with very sophisticated CNC technology, but would probably take a lot longer to program and set up than doing it by hand will.
 
This video of full-sized construction illustrates the method described fairly well:  
 
 
 

Sorry. I broke my own rule of always posting a link when citing an online source! My bad!  
 
Here you go. Amazon sells the blades and handles separately for some unknown reason. DISCLAIMER: I cannot tell from the Amazon listing whether this saw and blades are the same as those mentioned in Kurt's earlier posts in this thread. Amazon identifies the seller as MicroMark, but I notice that the blades in the photo Kurt posted have some labeling on them and the blades Amazon has pictured don't. It's certainly not difficult to knock off this item, so buyer beware. There be pirates in these waters.
 
Wood Handle For Ultra Fine Saw Blades - Amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Ultra Fine Saw Blade (Pack of 5) : Tools & Home Improvement
 
Extra Long Micro Miter Box - Amazon.com
 
Note that I also posted the link to the suitable micro-sized miter box. These narrow-kerfed blades tend to wander in a wider miter box slot, thereby failing to cut at an accurate angle. Of course, all of this is academic for those who have already saved up and bought their Byrnes table saw.  

Sorry. I broke my own rule of always posting a link when citing an online source! My bad!  
 
Here you go. Amazon sells the blades and handles separately for some unknown reason. DISCLAIMER: I cannot tell from the Amazon listing whether this saw and blades are the same as those mentioned in Kurt's earlier posts in this thread. Amazon identifies the seller as MicroMark, but I notice that the blades in the photo Kurt posted have some labeling on them and the blades Amazon has pictured don't. It's certainly not difficult to knock off this item, so buyer beware. There be pirates in these waters.
 
Wood Handle For Ultra Fine Saw Blades - Amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Ultra Fine Saw Blade (Pack of 5) : Tools & Home Improvement
 
Extra Long Micro Miter Box - Amazon.com
 
Note that I also posted the link to the suitable micro-sized miter box. These narrow-kerfed blades tend to wander in a wider miter box slot, thereby failing to cut at an accurate angle. Of course, all of this is academic for those who have already saved up and bought their Byrnes table saw.  

Sorry. I broke my own rule of always posting a link when citing an online source! My bad!  
 
Here you go. Amazon sells the blades and handles separately for some unknown reason. DISCLAIMER: I cannot tell from the Amazon listing whether this saw and blades are the same as those mentioned in Kurt's earlier posts in this thread. Amazon identifies the seller as MicroMark, but I notice that the blades in the photo Kurt posted have some labeling on them and the blades Amazon has pictured don't. It's certainly not difficult to knock off this item, so buyer beware. There be pirates in these waters.
 
Wood Handle For Ultra Fine Saw Blades - Amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Ultra Fine Saw Blade (Pack of 5) : Tools & Home Improvement
 
Extra Long Micro Miter Box - Amazon.com
 
Note that I also posted the link to the suitable micro-sized miter box. These narrow-kerfed blades tend to wander in a wider miter box slot, thereby failing to cut at an accurate angle. Of course, all of this is academic for those who have already saved up and bought their Byrnes table saw.  

Agreed! I have found that the ordinary "contractor's jobsite compressors," which can be had starting at around $100, are not excessively noisy because when used for airbrushing they only turn on intermittently once their tank is charged. There are apparently some modelers who for various reasons wish to have a quieter compressor and/or one which is smaller in size. Their needs seem to be met by the dedicated "airbrush compressors" sold by the various airbrush manufacturers and others.  Those modelers who want the smaller size and quieter operation of the dedicated airbrush compressors may pay a bit of a premium to do so and they will, for the same approximate cost, have a compressor which will lack the power and capacity to operate the wide range of  available air-driven tools or to inflate their car tires and so on. 

I came across a "rechargeable cordless mini airbrush" offered on Amazon which has a hose running off the "compressor" unit instead of an integral airbrush. Priced at seventy bucks. Amazon.com: imyyds Airbrush Kit with Compressor, 32PSI High Pressure Cordless Airbrush Gun, Portable Dual Action Handheld Mini Rechargeable Air Brushes for Painting, Model, Nail, Makeup : Arts, Crafts & Sewing
 
 
 
That said, and notwithstanding the supposedly "positive" reviews of these things, I still can't imagine that they are comparable in quality or performance to the conventional airbrushing rigs.
 
Your comment that you don't have space for a compressor and have concerns about a compressor's noise should be resolved by a bit of "shopping" for the newer "compact" airbrush compressors, most of which are far less noisy than the conventional portable shop compressors. Some of these aren't much larger than a shoebox or two and claim to make no more noise that two people having a conversation. This is second-hand information from me, though, since I have larger "contractors" compressors which are noisy, although they have larger tanks and only kick on intermittently once the tank fills up after turning them on.
 
I must say, however, that from what I've seen of his posts in this forum, Kurt Van Dahm is "da man" when it comes to airbrushing as his status as a consultant for Badger airbrush attests. While he hasn't "authorized" me to do so, I would strongly urge you to read his many posts on airbrushing (use the MSW search engine feature) and send Kurt a message through this forum's messaging feature and ask his advice regarding a quality U.S made airbrush and compressor combination in your price range which best meets your specific needs. (kurtvd19 - Model Ship World™) The smaller airbrush compressors range in price from around fifty bucks (probably for Chinese junk) to around three-hundred and fifty (for U.S top-of-the-line units) and a good entry-level airbrush for ship modeling can probably be had for between fifty and a hundred bucks.
 
Here's a very instructive recent thread on airbrush selection which should be helpful to anyone who is interested in getting into airbrushing and is considering opting for a pirated Chinese knock-off of a quality U.S. made model. (Yes, reports that they crap out after a few uses abound!) See: 
 
 

Yes, making our own is probably the wisest approach and the most economical. It also offers the advantage of being able to make exactly what one needs,. I feel inspired by the dentist's cabinet and the other wooden cabinet. The real Gerstner chests are lovely, but almost too costly to put tools in. (I know one fellow who bought one for his wife for use as a jewelry chest!.) There are Chinese copies, of course, but they are poorly done and "pirated" so they leave a bad taste in my mouth. 
 
Metal mechanics' chests are certainly serviceable and come in a wide range of sizes and styles, but they lack the warmth of fine furniture. Your pictured drawer holding all of your rotary tool bits and mandrels, etc., is just what I need. For years, I've used dedicated small tool boxes for things like rotary tool bits and mandrels and my Unimat lathe tooling and attachments, but my collection of such tools has come to outgrow the small tool boxes I am using and being able to spread things out as you have pictured above in shallow compartmented drawers makes finding what I'm looking for a much faster task.
 
Thanks for sharing your photos!
 
 
 
 

Oh yea! I've priced them. The tool chest would be worth more than the tools I have to put in it!  I do have a Kennedy machinist's tool chest and rolling base which is quite nice. It was a Costco special long ago. I also have a very nice five foot tall stainless steel tool chest with tons of storage which was also a Costco item long ago. Add to that a couple of Harbor Freight tool carts and recycled kitchen cabinets and a I'm in pretty good shape. It's just that those old wooden chests of drawers are so cool.  

Amazon has the handles and blades. MicroMark is retailing them through Amazon. It's worth checking out Amazon's price comparison feature. They are selling for considerably less on Zoro, if Amazon's price comparison is accurate. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can probably get free shipping on it through Amazon.

A major advantage of any compressor/ tank combination is the amount of energy that can be stored.  The compressor that I described in my post  #11 above stores air at 125 psi.  My Badger airbrush requires air at approximately 25psi.  The remaining 100psi x the volume of the tank is stored energy.  The pressure control switch turns the compressor on and off to maintain 125psi in the tank.  This ability to store large amounts of energy in a small volume is what makes compressed air so useful.
 
Ignoring aerosol type systems, all other systems  for supplying air brushes require the compressor to keep up with demand as without a tank they cannot store energy.  in other words, capacity is dependent on the capacity of the compressor itself.  Compressor capacity will be limited to the volume of the compression chamber x the # of compression cycles/ minute.  This would require the compressor to operate at very high speeds.  The same idea as a Dremel type tools that produce advertised power by speed rather than torque.
 
It is also possible that these tools might use some type of turbine technology.  This  again would be a low pressure system requiring very high speed operation can producing high frequency noise.  Again without an air tank,  they would probably struggle to keep up with demand.
 
Roger
 
 
 
 

Amazon has the handles and blades. MicroMark is retailing them through Amazon. It's worth checking out Amazon's price comparison feature. They are selling for considerably less on Zoro, if Amazon's price comparison is accurate. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can probably get free shipping on it through Amazon.

Amazon has the handles and blades. MicroMark is retailing them through Amazon. It's worth checking out Amazon's price comparison feature. They are selling for considerably less on Zoro, if Amazon's price comparison is accurate. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can probably get free shipping on it through Amazon.

I came across a "rechargeable cordless mini airbrush" offered on Amazon which has a hose running off the "compressor" unit instead of an integral airbrush. Priced at seventy bucks. Amazon.com: imyyds Airbrush Kit with Compressor, 32PSI High Pressure Cordless Airbrush Gun, Portable Dual Action Handheld Mini Rechargeable Air Brushes for Painting, Model, Nail, Makeup : Arts, Crafts & Sewing
 
 
 
That said, and notwithstanding the supposedly "positive" reviews of these things, I still can't imagine that they are comparable in quality or performance to the conventional airbrushing rigs.
 
Your comment that you don't have space for a compressor and have concerns about a compressor's noise should be resolved by a bit of "shopping" for the newer "compact" airbrush compressors, most of which are far less noisy than the conventional portable shop compressors. Some of these aren't much larger than a shoebox or two and claim to make no more noise that two people having a conversation. This is second-hand information from me, though, since I have larger "contractors" compressors which are noisy, although they have larger tanks and only kick on intermittently once the tank fills up after turning them on.
 
I must say, however, that from what I've seen of his posts in this forum, Kurt Van Dahm is "da man" when it comes to airbrushing as his status as a consultant for Badger airbrush attests. While he hasn't "authorized" me to do so, I would strongly urge you to read his many posts on airbrushing (use the MSW search engine feature) and send Kurt a message through this forum's messaging feature and ask his advice regarding a quality U.S made airbrush and compressor combination in your price range which best meets your specific needs. (kurtvd19 - Model Ship World™) The smaller airbrush compressors range in price from around fifty bucks (probably for Chinese junk) to around three-hundred and fifty (for U.S top-of-the-line units) and a good entry-level airbrush for ship modeling can probably be had for between fifty and a hundred bucks.
 
Here's a very instructive recent thread on airbrush selection which should be helpful to anyone who is interested in getting into airbrushing and is considering opting for a pirated Chinese knock-off of a quality U.S. made model. (Yes, reports that they crap out after a few uses abound!) See: 
 
 

Well, sure enough, it appears that my barely used Amazon special has broken.  I cleaned it up good each time with airbrush cleaner, and made sure to take care of it.  I went to use it the other day, and when I attempted to spray my parts I was painting it kept wanting to back up out of the tiny hole in the tap of the cap for the paint reservoir (I guess you can call it), or try to push the cap off and paint sprayed everywhere but out the tip of the nozzle.  After cleaning up my mess and taking the airbrush apart, it looks like the threads on the small part that tip of the needle goes into where the paint comes out are stripped, and the nip of the needle would push this out essentially blocking the nozzle.  This is my best guess as far as diagnosing the problem goes.  I can screw the tip back in, but it just pulls out, so I think it is done.
 
Goes to show you.....if the price looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is.  Some things it's worth spending the little bit extra on.
 
Good thing it's my 50th birthday coming up!

Bob I agree with you about being awkward to hold and operate. Best I can tell is that you would need to hold the brush at 45º or so sideways in your hand to put the finger in a position to operate the trigger. Sorry about your peripheral neuropathy. I have been fighting that for many years and at times I have thought of using it as an excuse to quit modeling. But modeling is so much a  part of me that I can't give it up even though I am now pushing 92 years of age. Hang in there and keep your mind on the project rather the pain.  You can do it.  As for the self contained airbrush I can not see ant advantage. I do not have room in my tiny studio for a noisy compressor and air brush but there are some very small compressors for limited use time. Presently I am using CO2.  Not the best environmentally.

After I built the last cabinet, all the small tools fitted 1 cabinet, so I gave all the other wood cabinets.
 
Storage for these is incredible for metal tools. You can customize each drawer  and each drawer they can support 300 pounds. I have another series of chest. they were used by a lens fabricator. They had cardoard little boxes that I also used int he small wood chest.The global idea is I guess when you have few tools, you need drawers.

Antique  wood dental chest are very nice. We could say  it is like a Gerstner chest with more drawers. With the years, I did some tool chest in this style. The last one I did include over 1000 tool and accessories. The main difference and also the main reason it can have so many tools is because of the height and the depth of the drawers.

Bob: if you are in the U.S., the tool chests by Gerstner are great. Some years ago I got an old one (probably from the 1960's) that was a bit dilapidated and restored it. I loved it so much - and had more tools to store - that I got a second one! But we digress.

What a beautiful chest of drawers! It would be just the thing for storing small hand tools where they could be readily seen and retrieved. French fitted drawers would be particularly "tasty." Is it purchased or home-made? Time was that chests similar to this one were made for medical and dental professionals, but they are very hard to come across these days, at least at an affordable price.