Inside Gerstner & Sons: Touring America’s Last Wooden Tool Chest Maker

From the first swipe of a rasp to the final polish on brass hardware, the hands in this workshop carry forward more than just a craft; they bear a legacy. In this video, you’re invited into the heart of Dayton, Ohio, where H. Gerstner & Sons continues the tradition through every joint, drawer, and finish of each wooden tool chest they make. If you’ve ever wondered what it truly means to sustain an artisan business in the age of mass production, this tour offers more than visuals; it’s a lesson in resilience, vision, and the quiet dignity of making things that last.

How do you start a Wooden Tool Chest Company?

The story begins in 1906, when a young journeyman woodworker named Harry Gerstner decided to turn evening ambitions into a lifetime’s work. While employed as a pattern maker in Dayton, he spent nights designing and building a wooden tool chest, and his prototype took nearly a year to complete. He was so confident in its utility and quality that when coworkers and friends expressed interest, he saw a business waiting to be born. Using a $100 bonus from his job, a significant sum at the time, he founded H. Gerstner & Sons. Interestingly, although Gerstner had no sons and raised three daughters, he chose the name “& Sons” both to honor his father, Herman, and to lend the brand a sense of permanence and gravitas. Evening door-to-door sales launched the brand into the local tooling community, but the product’s reputation quickly carried it far beyond Dayton.

In 1913, Dayton suffered a catastrophic flood, and the original Gerstner workshop was damaged. Not all company records survived, but Gerstner responded by rebuilding in the same area, where the company remains today. Through those trials, the core ethos of durability, precision, and providing a place for everything remained central. By the early 20th century, Gerstner wasn’t alone in making wooden tool chests. There were more than a dozen domestic competitors, but metal toolboxes were gaining popularity, especially during wartime material shifts. By mid-century, most wooden tool chest makers had shuttered or changed direction, but Gerstner survived and remains the only original wooden machinist chest maker still operating in the United States.

The Gerstner & Sons Factory Today

Walk inside the workshop today, and you’ll see operations that echo Harry’s earliest work: finishing, drawer selection, hand fitting, sanding, and final detailing. Their philosophy, “A place for everything and everything in its place,” drives drawer layout, felt lining, and hardware specifications. Wood remains the primary medium, often oak, walnut, or cherry, and drawers are carefully veneer-matched and assigned to their slots for visual harmony. Many wooden tool chest models still include a tall central drawer sized for Machinery’s Handbook, and a small diamond-shaped mirror is recessed under the top lid. The mirror is said to have helped initially; machinists check for stray metal splinters in their eyes. Whether that story is myth or function, it has become part of the Gerstner lore.

New designs were once first trialed as Market Test Chests before being added to the official catalog. That spirit of refinement endures in a bespoke mindset where every chest must pass through hundreds of operations before leaving the factory. Into the 1970s and 1980s, Gerstner remained small but steady, employing around 55 workers and producing roughly 1,000 chests each year. One president, Scott Campbell, noted that his grandfather believed a week’s wages were a fair price for a quality chest, and that principle continues to inform pricing today. Over time, Gerstner expanded into accessory lines such as shooter’s chests, jewelry boxes, humidors, and custom wood furnishings. They also launched Gerstner International, a line of imported chests for broader markets, while keeping U.S. operations focused on their Made in USA flagship pieces.

Collectors and machinists prize an antique Gerstner wooden tool chest, and forums abound with tips on dating them through drawer stencils, lid chains, and hardware styles. Walnut chests, for instance, became common starting in the 1980s. The oldest confirmed Gerstner case is thought to date to the 1910s, though early records are sparse due to losses in the 1913 flood. Over the years, the company has balanced innovation with tradition, introducing new models and finishes while never abandoning the hand fitting and careful inspection that define the brand.

The Factory Tour: How Do You Build a Wooden Tool Chest Today?

Our factory tour will take you beyond the polished exteriors of and into the hum of machines, the smell of lacquer, and the thoughtful pauses of artisans adjusting fits. You’ll see how wood is selected, how each drawer is measured, how surfaces are finished, and how hardware is installed and tested. More than that, you’ll feel the weight of a brand that is one of the rare American manufacturers still linking past and present, not through nostalgic revival but through consistent standards carried across more than a century.

Expect workbenches, routers, sanding tables, diligent teams in workwear, and subtle details like the way light bounces off a freshly finished wooden tool chest or how a drawer glides when balanced perfectly. There’s pride in every motion, history in every beam of the building, and ambition in every new chest rolling toward shipment. Whether you’re a maker, a tool lover, a historian, or simply someone who admires the rare survival of traditional craftsmanship, this video invites you into a story of grit, craft, and stewardship. Welcome to Gerstner & Sons.