The Contents
What makes it a *Studley* Cabinet?
There are hundreds of fine examples of a tool cabinet, both wall mounted and standing.
Rob Cosman has an enourmous standing cabinet that houses everything but the kitchen sink. Andy Rae has a beautiful and famous standing cabinet that houses his hand tools.
But neither could be called Studley inspired. So what makes a cabinet a Studley Cabinet?
Visual Density
Layering
Artistic Flourishes
Proportion
Visual Density
Visual density has the be the most important. It’s the staggering amount of stuff that’s immediately striking. And when you consider that it’s also a functional tool cabinet for a working man it makes it all the more remarkable that all of these tools are readily accessible.
Looking at Andy Rae’s by contrast, the doors are quite sparse. There’s large spaces between chisels on the racks, between the marking gauges and screw drivers. In an area roughly the same size Any Rae has about 20 tools, and Studley has about 150.
Layering
Next up is the layering, with use of fold down/up/away racks. There are none in Andy Rae’s. Rob Cosman’s bench chisel rack folds up to reveal a carving chisels rack. But because the bench chisel rack has a solid back, it doesn’t contribute to a feeling of density.
One of my favourite – and most mind blowing, for me at least – features of the Studley cabinet is the skeleton racks for holding tools, but allowing a view to the next layer. The Studley cabinet is the only place I’ve seen it.
Artistic Flourishes
Finally, there’s the embellishment.
There are zero – zero – examples of tool cabinets with this kind of artistry. Without the immense density of inlays, ebony accents and contrasting colours, the Studley cabinet might be just another tool rack.
Artistic Flourishes
My carcass will be made from QLD Silver Ash. I went to the lumber yard to get some Ironbark, a lovely deep reddish gum not unlike the mahogany that Studley’s is made from. And what shone like a beacon was a stack of shimmering blonde Silver Ash. I’m not normally one for light woods, but this immediately caught my eye. So, blonde wood it is.
The accents will be provided by ebonised woods (I do not possess the budget for ebony) and bits and pieces of my beloved Red Gum, my favourite wood (and I have mountains of offcuts to find a use for…) will be used for toggles and dividers to contrast with the black and blonde.
Proportions
The Studley cabinet is actually quite small. 19 1/2″ (about 500mm) wide when closed, and 39″ (about 1000mm) tall. When opened it makes a roughly 1000mm square, about 120mm deep.
I’ve decided to make mine to the same dimensions, with the same space allotted for drawers.
In my mind, it just wouldn’t be a Studley cabinet without following this form. And the limitations of the size will force some ingenuity with the tool holders.
