The following is based on an article first published in issue 251 of Furniture & Cabinet Making.
We all have different ways of learning new woodwork skills and refreshing our grasp of the basics, but how many of us have undertaken a Victorian apprenticeship in order to improve their woodwork? Well, that is exactly what I spent the summer doing, all from the comfort of my own workshop thanks to a nineteenth century text that has been republished by Lost Art Press.
A Very Traditional Apprenticeship
First published in 1839, The Joiner & Cabinet Maker takes the form of a story following the apprenticeship of a young lad called Thomas. We see Thomas at the very start of his apprenticeship when he builds a packing box for a customer to transport books, at the middle of his training when he builds a small dovetailed chest for a customer to take to school, and finally at the end of his apprenticeship when he builds a chest of drawers. Although the identity of the author is unknown, they were clearly either a woodworker or very familiar with woodwork, as the projects and tools are described with great detail and clarity.

Processing rough stock by hand is just one of the core skills taught in The Joiner & Cabinet Maker
Becoming the Joiner’s Apprentice
Over the summer I built the packing box and school box projects, and now have just the chest of drawers left before I complete my virtual Victorian apprenticeship – you can read my detailed build notes and experiences working on these projects by clicking on the “Joiner & Cabinet Maker” tab to the right of the page.

Cut nails waiting to be clenched

Nail clenching is an often overlooked, but very valuable, joinery technique
The projects are nicely paced so that techniques and tools are introduced at a rate that makes them easily accessible to the beginner, and the first two projects are simple enough that results can be seen rapidly, which makes them very achievable. What is more, by working through the projects in sequence you can start with a very small tool kit that is slowly built up. The complete tool kit Thomas finishes the book with is still quite modest compared to that of many modern workers. The cost and number of tools needed for furniture building can often be seen as prohibitive, and giving new woodworkers a shorter shopping list can only encourage new entrants to the wood crafts.

Dovetailed base moulding for the School Box – as well as dovetailing this project also introduces making short runs of moulding

Cut nails hold moulding in place and allow for seasonal movement of the lid
Working through the projects in The Joiner and Cabinet Maker has provided an entertaining and rigorous way to further develop my furniture building skills, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to delve deeper into hand tool furniture making. My daughter is a little young to have her own tool chest just yet, but when she is old enough to join me in the workshop I can’t think of a better way to start her off than with young Thomas’ packing box build.

Cutting the keyhole for the School Box
Are you going to build the chest of drawers? You would be the second person to build all three projects in the book (I was the first).
The funny thing is several people have built the schoolbox and chest of drawers but skipped the packing box. Naughty naughty.
Chris I definitely will be building the chest of drawers!
I think the Packing Box was actually more fun (and instructive) than the School Box. Such a shame people tend to skip over it.
does it count if you go back and build the packing box ex post facto?
Jim, you know full well that using latin makes everything better! But seriously, you should build the packing box at some point (no cheating with a shooting board!) as it’s a really fun project.
No shooting board. Scouts honor.
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