update on the Studley tool chest, I found some better photos of it

these photos all get much larger if you click on them

The H.O. Studley chest contains nearly 300 tools, many of them specialty tools and tools Studley apparently made himself. Here is a partial list compiled from an appraisal inventory, beginning in the top left corner:

1. Small machinist's vise.
2. Flat-nose pliers.
3. Small rosewood-handled chisel.
4. Small flat-nose pliers.
5. L.S. Starrett #20 machinist's square, 2 in.
6. L.S. Starrett ruled square, 2 in.
7. Rosewood and steel try square, 4 in.
8. Rosewood and steel try square, 7 in.
9. Rosewood and steel try square, 10 in.
10. L.S. Starrett #4 steel square.
11. L.S. Starrett inside/outside calipers, 3 in.
12. L.S. Starrett #490 protractor with rule, 9 in.
13. Small clock maker's hammer.
14. Large clock maker's hammer.

15. D. Maydole claw hammer, 4 oz.
16. Coes adjustable wrench, 4% in.
17. Wm. A. Clark adjustable auger bit.
18. Horn-handled screw driver.
19. Spokeshave.
20. Set of 10 center bits.
21. Inside calipers.
22. Gunsmith's screwdriver.
23. Stanley #1 bench plane.
24. L.S. Starrett # 14 adjustable square, 2% in.
25. Adjustable wrench, 3 in ..
26. L.S. Starrett #300 steel rule, 3 in.
27. L.S. Starrett combination square.

28. Stubs outside wing calipers, 2% in.
29. Stubs outside wing calipers, 4 in.
30. Waltham jeweler's screwdriver.
31. Stanley #30 bench plane.
32. Stanley #27 bench plane.
33. Stanley #6 bench plane.
34. Stanley #9 cabinetmaker's block plane.
35. Rosewood-handled burnisher.
36. Rosewood and brass adjustable marking gauge.
37. Birmingham Plane Co. thumb plane.
38. L.S. Starrett #203 micrometer.
39. Set of 4 nail awls with rosewood handles.
40. Stanley #4 bench plane.
41. Stanley #9 block plane.
42. Whetstone in ebony box.
43. Set of 3 machinist-made center punches.
44. Tap and die set.
45. Set of 5 quill bits.
46. Four assorted bits.
47. Set of 4 piano wire tensioning tools.
48. Embossing tool with ebony handle.
49. Set of 4 rosewood-handled piano action tools (in drawer).
50. Chisel with rosewood handle, 7/16 in.
51. Two tools similar to center punches.
52. Four Forstner bits.
53. Ebony and brass slitting gauge.
54. Set of 4 ebony and brass marking gauges.
55. Adjustable mortise gauge of ebony and ivory.
56. Pair of rosewood-handled stub screwdrivers, 1 1/2 in.

57. Needle-nose pliers.
58. Wood-stuffed, brass bound mallet.
59. Set of 11 Russell Jennings bits
60. Set of 10 push drill bits
61. Brass-bound rosewood bevel, 10 in.
62. Brass-bound rosewood bevel, 6 in.
63. Pair of nail nippers.
64. Set of bow-drill bits (inside drill stock handle).
65. Ebony and brass bow drill
66. Plated ebony and rosewood brace.
67. Inside/outside graduated calipers, 2 in.
68. Screwdriver with rosewood handle, 8 in.
69. Stevens locking dividers, 4 in.
70. Stevens locking dividers, 6 in.
71. Standard music wire gauge.
72. English standard wire gauge.
73. Twist drill and steel wire gauge.
74. L.S. Starrett #425 graduated calipers, 3 in.
75. Wide jaw pliers.
76. L.S. Starrett #287 depth gauge.
77. Rosewood-handled screwdriver.
78. Four-fold ivory rule, 2 ft.
79. Ebony and steel archimedian push screwdriver.
80. Set of 12 Buck Brothers cabinet skew chisels.
81. Set of 11 sleeved bow-drill bits.

82. Cabinet screwdriver with horn handle, 5 in.
83. Adapter for fitting bow-drill bits to standard bit brace.
84. Brass and steel thumb scriber.
85. Small graver with rosewood handle.
86. Small screwdriver with turned horn handle.
87. Back saw with rosewood handle, 8 in.
88. Back saw with rosewood handle, 10 in.
89. Brass frame back saw with ebony handle.
90. L.S. Starrett #300 steel rule, 6 in.
91. Assorted bits and bit holders (in drawers)
92. Seven assorted center bits (in drawer).
93. Stratton Brothers brass-bound, rosewood 12-in. spirit level.
94. Rosewood-handled screwdriver.
95. Rosewood-handled wire-lifting tool.
96. Pair of rosewood-handled felt knives.

if you want to see more about the tools, there is an online PDF:

https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/virtuoso_excerpt.pdf

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/h-o-studley-by-the-numbers/
https://giantcypress.net/post/119351279735/the-importance-of-being-in-person




The lasting legacy of most woodworkers usually is in what they produce with their tools. But it is the tools themselves that have brought wider recognition to a turn-of-the-century Massachusetts craftsman named Henry O. Studley.

Studley's wall-mounted tool chest packs some 300 tools into a space not much bigger than one of those folding carry-on garment bags. But quality is as much the story as quantity: The case and its contents display master workmanship and premium materials, such as mahogany, rosewood, ebony and mother of pearl.

It is those things that make the tool chest reach out of its display case and grab you attention holding you rapt and transfixed on its myriad of detail.

A photo of the chest, its first public appearance, ran on the back cover of Fine Woodworking almost twenty five years ago. Since that time, over 20,000 posters of Studley's tool chest have found their way onto woodshop walls and into homes all over the world.

Despite the fame of the chest, its creator was still an enigma. But research by the Smithsonian is now beginning to shed light on the man who left his mark as "H.O. Studley, Quincy" on engraved silver nameplates in the chest.

A carpenter, Mason, machinist, organ and pianomaker, Studley was born in 1838 in Lowell, Mass. When war broke out between the states in 1861, Studley joined the Massachusetts infantry, listing his occupation as carpenter.

He was taken prisoner at Galveston, Texas, in 1863 but was later exchanged to rejoin Union troops. After the war, he returned to Quincy and eventually married.

 He worked for 25 years for the Smith Organ Co. and then joined the Poole Piano Co. in Boston as the popularity of the piano began to surpass organs, according to Studley'S obituary published in 1925 in the Quincy Patriot-Ledger. Even that obituary gives testament to the legacy of Studley's tool chest: "One of the most remarkable things of his creation is a tool cabinet, a most ingenious contrivance containing multitudinous number of tools of all sizes and kinds."

 It was apparently at Poole where Studley created his tool chest between 1890 and 1920. The Smithsonian notes that the materials used to construct the case were also once common to piano making: ebony, ivory, rosewood, mahogany and mother of pearl. A 1900 Poole catalog from when Studley worked for the firm speaks of highly figured woods and displays a variety of finely detailed upright pianos.

 As to the products of H.O. Studley's craft, little can be attributed to the man without question. The pianos and organs he made carried company nameplates.

The basic casework for the tool chest is dovetailed mahogany. The chest is designed to hang on the wall, opening like a book along its five butt hinges and closing with a dial combination lock. A 1903 issue of American Machinist describes pattern makers wall mounted tool chests that are similar in function to the Studley case. But the mastery of this case is in the ingenuity of the holders for the tools, which are stored up to three layers deep with trays (or tills) and special holding fixtures for each tool

 Studley's craftsmanly precision can be seen in the tight clearances that allow a gauge to pass within an 1/8th of an inch (0.125") of a plane handle and it can also be heard in the soft click tools make as they snap into place. A rosewood handled screwdriver is not only held by exactly sized ebony receptacles for its blade and ferrule, but a small rounded recess provides extra clearance for the side of the handle. That same fitting technique has helped Smithsonian conservators find the proper locations for a number of tools tucked incorrectly into various nooks and crannies of the chest when the museum received it.

The Smithsonian's David Shayt suggests part of Studley's inspiration may have come from the way upright pianos pack many parts into a tight space.

That same fitting technique has helped Shayt and Smithsonian conservators find the proper locations for a number of tools tucked incorrectly into various nooks and crannies of the chest when the museum received it. Shayt noted that a pair of calipers were oddly placed an inch away from three unused ebony holding devices that turned out to fit the tool exactly.

 Adjustable tools such as marking gauges must be set to certain lengths to fit exactly in the case. Where one marking gauge was installed, Shayt noted evidence of wear, but when adjusted slightly, the gauge rests securely with no unnecessary contact with the case. There is no wasted space in this chest. A hollow cavity above a set of chisels is there only to allow room to raise the tools out of their pockets. Ebony keepers, inlaid with mother of pearl, swing into place to secure many of the tools. Hidden swinging butterfly catches keep the drawers from falling out of the case.

Whole sections of the case swing or lift out to reveal more layers and tools behind them. Some of those moving sections have ebony braces to prop them open. In the top portion of the right half of the chest, one panel lifts up to allow two panels of drill bits to open like temple doors, revealing yet another layer. What seem like decorated columns or long cylinders can be removed and opened like cannisters to reveal small lengths of metal stock.

 The tools themselves-The hundreds of individual tools in the chest include both manufactured items and things obviously made by Studley himself.

 They range from large bench planes to tiny screwdrivers and taps.

Planes by Stanley and measuring tools by L.S. Starrett make up much of the chest, but the maker's own handiwork can be seen in such things as rosewood, brass and ebony marking gauges. A whetstone rides in an ebony box with mother-of-pearl inlay and a silver plate engraved "H.O. Studley."

A couple of tools feature handles crafted from horn. "He was into bits, no question: twist drill bits, center, auger, spade," said Shayt, as he displayed not only the ordered racks of bits in the case but the contents of several drawers filled with bits.

Those familiar with pianomaking have helped Shayt identify a number of the key action regulators and other specialty tools, but mysteries remain. There are four brass capstan tools. Each has a center point that can be lowered by turning an arm, then another part of the assembly has internal pawls to ratchet. Shayt speculates the devices were for tensioning piano wire.

Studley's obituary reports that his wife died nine years before he did and mentions no surviving children. The tool chest was handed down in the family and belonged to Hardwick's brother until Peter traded a 1934 Ford for it. Not a woodworker, it had been Hardwick's original intention to sell the chest, but as more was found out about its historical importance, he loaned it to the Smithsonian for research, conservation and display. Once at the museum, a conservation team took the case in hand.

They described the case as being in overall good condition with the exception of a few cracks and broken pieces of trim and inlay. Heavy dust covered the chest, so all the tools were removed for cleaning. The conservation report lists more than 50 steps taken to make minor repairs to the case, ranging from reassembling a saw handle broken into four pieces to turning a new ebony drawer pull knob. The work took 245 hours.

there is even a book about it

https://www.amazon.com/Virtuoso-Cabinet-Workbench-Henry-Studley/dp/0990623041/ref=sr_1_8
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2013/10/22/loading-the-studley-tool-chest-and-settling-old-scores/
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2011/10/08/h-o-studley-empty-and-awesome/
https://imgur.com/a/F0fnI
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/9-principles-hand-tool-storage-part-3/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lostartpress/albums/72157627720141765
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2014/10/16/on-the-importance-of-the-studley-tool-chest/amp/

and there is an exact replica, Dr. Jim Moon's reproduction, you ought to watch the video: https://www.instagram.com/p/BUTAS_MlHgK/?igshid=14a3ofpbz7le9

by the way, it's a fact that there is still one missing tool. They don't know what it was, and so they can't replace it like the dozen others that were missing when the Smithsonian was given it to display, that they could figure out, and find exact replacements.