Carlyle Lynch Six Board Chest

[Michael Sobik]

I saw plans for this chest somewhere, and fell in love with the design. Here's my rendition.

It's solid cherry. Dovetails are hand cut. These are my first cut completely by hand. I was cheating and cutting tail boards with the bandsaw, but these are all hand sawn and chiseled. It was just about as fast to cut them by hand instead of using the bandsaw anyway.

The side moldings on the lid are attached with dovetailed keys. This worked out pretty well and I'm glad I did it that way instead of nailing the moldings directly to the lid even though it was a little fussy to setup. The lid's already shrunk across the width an 1/8" or so since bringing it inside.

I don't own a lathe, so the feet came from tablelegs.com. Brass and half mortise lock from Horton, hinges and lid stay from Lee Valley.

Finish is as follows:

- coat of BLO
- left in the sun for a four days
- two coats of garnet shellac
- five coats USL
- rubbed out by hand

Shockingly (or not for those of you with kids), the chest is already completely full of toys :eek: Better than tripping on them all over the floor.

[John Keeton]

Mike, great job on the chest - and don't you just love cutting the dovetails. Since switching to handcuts, I wouldn't ever consider using a jig again.

The hardware looks great - especially the hinges. I am getting ready to learn spray finishes, and will start with some shellac and the EM 6000. I hope my finishes come out half as good as you have on this piece. What did you use to rub out the finish?

[Michael Sobik]

Thanks, John! I'm pretty sure the EM 6000 is basically USL. If that's the case, it's pretty easy to spray. You want to put it on pretty wet, 2 mil or so. It'll come out milky and wrinkly, but smooth right out.

I rub it out as follows:

- 800 grit mesh on a hard block
- 1000 grit on a firm foam backer
- 2000 grit on a firm foam backer
- wax with a soft cloth

You'll need to build up a pretty good thickness to rub it out smooth. Say five coats or so. You can spray subsequent coats pretty quickly, as soon as 30 minutes if the milky color has disappeared so it goes quickly.

Don't be afraid to work it quite a bit with the 800 grit and the block. It won't get any flatter than what you're left with after that step, so take the extra time there.

[Jack Camillo]

Stunning, pure and simple.

[Mark Carlson]

That came out beautifull. I like those hinges. Can you tell me where you got them?

~mark

[John Keeton]

Thanks for the finishing info! I will add some of those items to the list of abrasives I need to order. Where do you get your mesh?

[Jim Kountz]

Wow graduated dovetails no less!! I see its already been put to good use too!!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Another great one. I really like the hardware on this one as well. This almost seems too nice to simply be a toy chest though. Nice work!

[Michael Sobik]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys. I'm really proud of this one.

The hinges and lid stay came from Lee Valley:

01H2139
01A6220

[Jim Becker]

Awesome!!!

[John Thompson]

Nicely done Michael. I like the hardware also as I just used some similar on an old-timey computer desk-hutch. :) Your DT spacing gives away the signature joint as a true signature in this case. I've been cutting them by hand for around 36 years and when I lay them out by eye.. they still come out somewhat even un-intentionally. I must have a symetric mind I suppose as I usually have to to go back and scatter a bit. :D

Well done...

Sarge..

[Todd Hoppe]

Beautiful work. Are there adequate air holes in case a child gets stuck inside?

[Don C Peterson]

Very nice!

One question: I'm not sure what you mean by using dovetailed keys for the side moldings. Can you elaborate or post pics?