my dad loves to build things - cars, buildings, furniture, dune buggies (very fun). he was and is meticulous - absolutely meticulous - about his tools. and he has quite a collection. my parent's entire basement is lined and stacked with vintage red metal and wooden cabinets and boxes which are filled with his tools (dating back from those he used to repair f-105 thunderchiefs during vietnam and before) and his father's tools (dating back from those he used during ww2). when i was young, i was his helper...i held the flashlight, generally inside the motor or under the chassis. this made me nervous, but what i loved about it was how he would approach the toolbox (there was at least one dedicated to each project category) and ask for my opinion about which tool he should use. of course, he always steered me in the right direction and i loved how he had me hold each one as he explained its use. many of his tools have wooden handles, and i always liked the way they felt so sturdy and smooth in my hands.
so, thus began my affinity for tools and implements, particularly wooden. when i saw the studley tool chest, i quite literally gasped. over the course of a 30-year career with the poole piano company, master carpenter and stonemason h.o. studley built and assembled this amazing tool chest, which holds an astonishing 300 tools, made possible by an intricate pulley system! in the late 1980s, the tool chest was housed by the smithsonian national museum of american history and now resides with a private collector. i think it is just absolutely beautiful!
{via here, here, and more information here}