I hope 2017 will be a happy and healthy one for all. After a couple of weeks of decompression from 2016, I have been slowly acclimatising myself out of holiday mode and getting organised for what I hope will be a productive year. Part of this process was to sort out a new tool tote to carry my day to day site tools. I wanted it to be long enough to carry a full sized saw and my #8 plane when required.
My New Year’s resolution is to really focus on reducing wasteful consumption. Needless consumption of bad products is something that drives me crazy, especially all the electronic contraptions. So this year, when I need to buy something (preferably direct from a small producer) I will make a real effort to buy quality items from a manufacturer who looks after its staff and the planet. Basically I need to walk the walk. I hope customers will support my small business ethics and way of working, by giving me some work in 2017. So I intend to do the same and support good businesses that produce good products that last, can be repaired, offer support and most importantly look after their staff.
So that will probably mean an end to fast fashion, like the cheap T shirt or the 'buy 1 get 1 free' shoes. It may mean I just need to go without. It will almost certainly mean I need to pay a little more for some items I do need. Of course this won’t always be possible, but I feel like I am half way there anyway so making a little more of an effort shouldn’t be too hard.
With this reinforced ethos, laying down some hard earned dollars on a plastic tool box was never going to be an option. After some hunting through my offcut and burn pile, I found a few odd boards the right size and found a traditional looking design I liked (thanks to the internet) and set to knocking up this tool tote. I hope it will last out my working life and be useful for someone else after that. The bottom, sides and central division are set into a groove with the protruding “through tenon” wedged just to be sure it won’t ever fall apart. I have steam bent the handle so that it won’t split and wedged that into place.
This small stand against consumption has only cost me time and I feel much better for buying into what I believe in.
Have a Happy New Year to you and if you do need some quality carpentry that will stand the test of time‘The Smiths’ are here ready to go!!
