Getting Too Close to the Studley Tool Chest
Photographer Narayan Nayar shot me a look of disdain – perhaps the first time I’ve ever been on the receiving end of that particular facial contortion. “I just can’t believe you guys are being [...]
A Close Look at H.O. Studley’s Vises
Once you are able to rip your eyes off of H.O. Studley’s magnificent tool chest, you can spend almost as much time looking at the benchtop and vises of the Massachusetts piano maker. On Monday, [...]
Learning to Speak ‘Studley’
Today we inched our way through the process of documenting the tools in the H.O. Studley chest with high-resolution, for-publication photographs. It is grueling work that’s done in the dark, [...]
H.O. Studley by the Numbers
It takes a long time – months, really – to recover your senses after spending time with the tool chest of H.O. Studley. During our first visit with the chest in 2011, we spent about an hour [...]
A Look at H.O. Studley’s Blades
When I inspect an antique tool – especially one that hasn’t been messed with much – I always take a look at the cutting edge. How was it sharpened? What is the shape of the edge? Did they do any [...]
Patrick Leach’s (Awesome) American Workbench
After writing about Deb Chalsty’s amazing workbench (here and here), and noting that the hardware looked like the bench on piano-maker H.O. Studley’s workbench, I got an e-mail from Patrick [...]