Cherry Blanket Chests Complete

[Todd Burch]

It's been over a month with these two chest sitting, waiting for handles, final sanding and a finish, but now they're done and will be picked up this week.

Sniff, sniff... I'm going to miss them. They've been in the shop for about 13 months, either in raw wood form or partially assembled. Oh well - life goes on! I have one more to do - a walnut one for myself.

The inside was finished with blond shellac, sprayed. The outside with satin lacquer. Spraying this afternoon, in low humidity and mid to upper 70's weather, SURE WAS NICE!! The finish dried fast, flowed perfectly, and I had no issues. Wish every "spray day" was like today. I used shellac on the inside to cut down on smell. The previous chest I made like this, pine, 2 years ago, still smells of finish (lacquer) when I open it.

The aromatic cedar bottoms for both the case and the sliding till were left unfinished.

I posted these a month or so ago, and was asked to repost when I got the finish on them. The color sure came out. Air dried american black cherry. The black streaks are epoxy repairs from cracks, splits, knots, punk and borer hores.

Todd

[Todd Burch]

Here's one last closeup of an epoxy repair to a borer hole. I left the frass in the hole and simply poured epoxy all over it. You can still make out the frass, now forever encased.

One last point. I make these lids tight so that you can push the lid closed and let it drop all the way. The air forced out by the fast closing lid is halted by the lip around the lid and causes the lid to set down very gently.

Todd

[Pat Monahan]

Great work, Todd! The epoxy "repairs" make it look like an antique :D . Fine wood and a fine job - my hat's off to ya!

[Mike Tempel]

Todd, great job!! I think the dovetails really set it off. I live directly east of you - on the east side of Houston. We truly don't get many days when you can spray a finish do we? I have never tried to spray before - do you have a special setup or do you just do it in the shop/garage and work towards lessening any overspray effects? HVLP is something I have always wanted but just don't have the space to do it without worrying about everything else in the area and I always worry about finishing due to our environment anyway. Heck, I live about 4 miles from Galveston Bay so the prevailing wind always seems to be sticky.


Anyway, you do fine work. Thanks for sharing with us, Mike.

[Michael Stafford]

Mighty nice, Todd, mighty nice. The color is beautiful as is the workmanship. Repairs look like natural defects. You colored the epoxy as I recall?

[Aaron Montgomery]

Looks really good Todd! I really like the repairs. I think it adds to the piece. Well done!!

[Tyler Howell]

One more hurdle Sen Sae! A very fine job.:cool:

[Jim Becker]

Beautiful! I also look forward to seeing your walnut version, Todd.

[Todd Burch]

Thanks everyone!

Mike. Those are 1/2" box joints made on the tablesaw. I use hand cut through dovetails every now and then, but not on these boxes. Whenever you make it up to Katy, give me a holler! I don't have a booth, but if I did, I would set the temp and humidity to duplicate yesterday. I used an HVLP reduced pressure setup. My gun is a Sata LM2000 "RP" (reduced pressure). It requires 8.4CFM @ 40PSI. I work out of the garage, and normally I shoot just out back. It was a bit too breezy yesterday to shoot and leave them outside, and they are so bulky I couldn't move them with a wet finish. Therefore, I shot them in place on sawhorses and had 2 fans catching the overspray and carrying it out.

Michael, I wanted to color the epoxy, but didn't. The client wanted clear. However, putting clear on a "black hole", make it look black. There are a couple through hole repairs in both lids actually, so when they are open, you can see daylight through the clear epoxy.

Pat & Aaron, I agree with you both. These chests are driving me to want to use lower grade wood for period pieces. The wood gives instant character, something a brand spanking new, perfectlt clear wood piece can't give you.

Tyler - go make something!!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Todd....I like them! Great work!

[David Hayes]

Todd,
Thanks for posting the "finished" pieces. I agree that the use of the "old" wood adds a LOT of character. Thanks for sharing the fine work with us. You continue to inspire.
Dave

[Jason Tuinstra]

Todd, you did a great job on these. Way to make the most out of the wood!

[Ian Barley]

Beautiful work as always Todd. Thanks for sharing.

[Gredo Goldenstein]

Beautiful job Todd! Thanks for the pictures.

[Michael Stafford]

Todd, these are the chests with the wedged boards? The wedges virtually disappeared when you applied the finish. I went back and looked at the chests in the raw and mentally compared notes. Truly amazing how the wedged boards have blended together to from a very uniform whole. Love it!

[Todd Burch]

Thanks Michael. Actually, in person, you can still see them, but they have blended with the finish applied. I also set them out in the sun all day the other day and they blended even more while darkening.

The client picked them up this evening, and she was BLOWN AWAY!! She even tipped me!! WOO-HOO!! She also wanted me to sign them, but it was raining while we loaded them and I didn't get around to that.

Todd

[Chris Padilla]

Todd,

You might need to start using a medallion or something to 'mark' your work! :) Congrats on the tip! Isn't that a wonderful feeling to know you've made someone especially happy? It goes way beyond the extra dough although that is nice, too!