Danniel

I know this topic is stale but I just read some postings after I posted my previous one. We need to be clear - MDF is not made from logging by-products such as small branches and unusable saw logs. And it is not just made from plantation pine and hardwood forests. Whilst some is produced from these sources, it's main source of supply is old growth rainforest. And, more often than not, the plantations that are being used to provide the wood chips for MDF are planted where old growth rainforest has been clear felled first to provide wood chips. MDF manufacture provides limitless, repeat reward for the original ecological vandalism.

Aside from one post so far, no one seems to acknowledge the danger of MDF. Paint it, veneer it, laminate it - it doesn't matter, it continues to outgas for years into the homes that it sits in. Quite clearly, it ought to be banned as a highly toxic material. It may not be as bad but one day someone will realize that it should have been treated as asbestos is now. It causes severe respiratory and skin problems in those susceptible to it.

It is also responsible for the mass destruction of dwindling rain forests - much more so than solid wood products. This is an issue I've never seen covered in FWW in the 30+ years I've been a subscriber. There are all sorts of discussions about exotic wood that's used in furniture as well as the use of MDF but no attention is paid to the environmental consequences of what we do. For my part, I use recycled wood or wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as being sourced from sustainably managed forests.

I think it's time for FWW to address these issues in a major feature.

joe4liberty - you make some valid points and yours is a great and touching story. A loving family is everything. But I think the situations are not comparable.

You made a piece with a specific intent and that informed your whole creative process. It reminds me of a story of a piece that was the subject of an article in Fine Woodworking way back in the black & white days of publication. I think it may also have been a secretary but I can't remember for sure. It was a very fine piece of furniture, intricately detailed, and it took some inordinate number of hours to make. At the end of the process, the furniture maker slammed a four inch nail in to the front of it and left it protruding what looked like three inches. As I recall, it was a more an artwork that just furniture and he was making a statement about preciousness.

But that was not the brief here and there is nothing to suggest that this was the maker's intention. It is clearly over-designed and inappropriate. It's simply a piece of furniture that stores tools. I really don't think that qualifies as a tool chest.

This is my third post on this issue so I think I'll stop hogging the space. But I would like to echo Henning's sentiments about the use of rainforest timber. I've loved being a subscriber to FW over the nearly three decades that I have, but I've always been concerned about an absence of dialogue about the sustainability of the raw material used in this art or craft that we love. I make everything using recycled lumber (or timber as we call it here in Australia) or, if I can't find what I'm looking for, timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a body auspiced by, among others, WWF. It's work is about promoting environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. I think it's time this issue was addressed by FW's readers and contributors.

Chezer - I couldn't agree more. I would have thought that, in designing a tool chest, consideration would be given to function as well as style and creativity. Sure, it functions as a tool chest - there's a place for everything and it's all logically laid out. But it's going to be used in a workshop where things get moved around and those things are often damaging, like lengths of lumber, long clamps, tools from the tool chest... need I go on? I'd be way too nervous to do anything in the workshop for fear of damaging it.

But, aside from that, it's just way over-designed for the item being made. It might be clever joinery which might look good on a secretary, but in this context - and I really don't want to be too harsh on Gregg Novosad who's clearly a skilled craftsman - it's kind of grotesque. It's completely over the top and inappropriate.