Chest for Mom - Completed Just in Time for Xmas

[Chris Griggs]

Well, I finally finished this jewelry chest for my mother. I started this thing probably 6-8 mos ago, and if I had to guess, I'd say it has at least 150 hours in it (I am a slooooow woodworker). A lot of the time was spent learning certain things as I went and also on design considerations - the first time I do any given type of project it takes an extra long time. Anyway it's done. I do not have any molding planes so the moldings were shaped on a router, but other then that the build was entirely hand tool. I previously posted (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?172956-A-challenging-project-for-me-–-but-coming-along-quite-nicely&highlight=) some build pics part way through the project so I'm not going go into detail about the build at the moment. I will say that the great feedback I received on the feet from Josh Pierce, Tony Shea, Archie E, and others was very helpful in ultimately getting the design of the feet looking right.

The chest is about 14.5"W x 17.5"H X 7.5"D. Case is cherry, drawer fronts are spalted QS sycamore, back and drawer sides are soft maple, and other interior/secondary components are poplar. Knobs are these (http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=67978&cat=3,46742,44005,50468&ap=1) small turned knobs from Lee Valley, 9/16" diameter. After smooth planing, sanded up to 600 (to minimize potential for blotch), applied a thin coat of BLO, padded on several very thin coats of dewaxed shellac,then applied wax with steel wool and buffed out (a la Jeff Jewitt FWW #112 & #186).

I wasn't sure how the sycamore and cherry would look together or if I'd be able to get the feet to look right, but I'm really happy with both the design and execution, and I love the finish. As always, it has it's imperfections and things I would do differently, but there is nothing glaring at me as a faux pas everytime I look at it (that's a first).

I showed it some folks at work earlier this week and received the ultimate non-woodworker compliment from several colleagues :rolleyes:. "Wow, that looks like it came from a store." That one always makes me laugh....

Happy do be done with it, and ready to move on to other projects.

Questions and criticisms are welcome! It's the only way I'll get better....

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[Curt Putnam]

Beautiful! I love the no compromise attention to detail. Feet came out just right.

[Gil Knowles]

Chris
That is a beauty I am sure your mom will cherish it.
Thanks for posting.
Gil

[John A. Callaway]

love how the dovetail joinery shows in the top of the chest. The details are fantastic. Really great work.

[Gordon Eyre]

Excellent work Chris, your mom is lucky to have such a nice son.

[Dale Cruea]

Very nice piece. Looks like you took some time building it. Great work. Your mom should love it. Great design.

[Greg Earley]

Chris
Awesome workmanship. Your Mom is going to love it.
Merry Christmas
Greg

[gary Zimmel]

Beautiful piece Chris. I'm sure your mom will be smiling from ear to ear when she gets it.
The proportions are bang on to me as I first thought it was full size...
Only thing I would of done different is to add one more pin on the drawers, but thats just me.
Sweet piece again Chris..

[Peter Pedisich]

Chris,

Yes it is very nicely proportioned and I like the dovetail layout on the drawer sides.
That reminds me, I should call my mom!

Pete

[Harlan Barnhart]

I wasn't sure how the sycamore and cherry would look together ..

I showed it some folks at work earlier this week and received the ultimate non-woodworker compliment from several colleagues :rolleyes:. "Wow, that looks like it came from a store." That one always makes me laugh....



I love that sycamore. Looks fantastic. "Came from a store"; don't think so. Way to nice for that.

[David Weaver]

Looks great to me.

[John Fabre]

Awesome joinery, beautiful workmanship.

[Joe Fabbri]

Very nice work. I really like the look of the dovetails showing through the top, instead of a top covering the case. You also left the dovetails fairly large, so it's not too distracting at the same time. Nicely done, your mom should really appreciate the work.

[Chris Griggs]

Thank you for the complements everyone.

The sycamore was a lot of fun to work with and I have absolutely fallen in love with it -it's such a beautiful wood. It's definitely something I'll try to use again in the future. It's an interesting wood. Probably about as hard as walnut so not too hard not to soft. The grain interlocks, but it doesn't tear out as long as you don't go against the grain; when you do go against it though it tears out big time.

I really can't say enough how happy I am that this project turned out so well - this was definitely the most advanced project I've ever taken on, but it also came out better then anything I've ever built. It really pushed me both in terms of design and execution and I really didn't know if I would be able to pull it off. I spent weeks trying to figure how to proportion the feet and trying to figure out what size knobs to get. It's amazing what you can accomplish through careful planning and slow methodical work.

Now if I could just learn to build things like this in an eighth of the time I might be able to quit my day job....but hey, I like my hobby, so I guess I wouldn't want to ruin it by trying to make a living at it anyway.

[Archie England]

Outstanding job! That's a beautiful job

[Paul Murphy]

Outstanding piece! I love the dovetailed top, and the wood you selected for the case sides and top. Your Mom will love it.

[Ron Brese]

I was participating in a show sponsored by the local arts council and one gentleman thinking he was paying one of my pieces a compliment said "that looks store bought". You have to appreciate that they want to compliment your work, however it shows how clueless people are about what makes up a quality piece of woodworking. By the way, that's a nice gift, I'm sure she will love and will cherish it.

Ron

[Bruce Page]

Very, very nice Chris. Your Mother is going to love it!

[Tony Shea]

The extra time spent on getting your feet proportioned really payed off Chris. There is nothing left to say about the peice that I would have done differently or anything of the sort. You nailled it man. And time spent is nothing to worry about, eventually things will speed up. Just learning where to spend your time is a big deal. I'm also slow in the eyes of everyone around me but most do not know what it takes to make fine furniture peices like this.

The absolute only criticism is in the picture taking. It'd be nice to have something to reference the size of the peice. When I first looked at it today I thought it was a full sized chest of drawers, until remembering back on your thread about it earlier. I bet many see this as a full sized chest.

Again, great job.

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks again everyone for the very kind compliments. And Tony, thank you for the awesome compliments and for the previous input on the feet - it was sooooooo helpful!

No, I'm not overly concerned about the amount of time it took. Any time I take on a major project, I try to take on something that is just outside of my current comfort zone and that will give me the opportunity to learn some new skills. Anytime your learning as you go things take extra time. In my opinion though, it's the best way to learn new things. I'm guessing if/when I do a similar build it will probably take me about 3/4s or even half the time, just because I'll have done it before.

Actually, one of the biggest take aways from this build had to do with pacing and order of operations. Folks often talk about how in neander woodworking it's better to break things down into their rough dimensions before doing any major flattening and thicknessing by hand, so you won't need to remove as much material to get things flat. Parts are generally dealt with more individually rather than batched out like in a more power tool oriented shop. This individual dimensioning works well for more standard sized components, but when you have lots of little similar components (e.g. dividers and drawer parts) it is much more efficient to take a more power tool minded approach and dimension in mass before breaking things down. When I got to the drawers I very quickly realized that I was wasting a ton of time trying to individually dimension each drawer part. Thinking about it now, it seems like this should have been obvious up front, but I had gotten in the habit of doing things in a certain order, and didn't really think to do things differently until I realized how much time/energy I was wasting on all those little parts. Learning when, where, and why to do things one way vs. another way is one of those things you only learn within the context of a build.

Regarding the pic, I was going to do another with the cat which has become my standard scaling device lately:), but didn't want to bother. I agree, a scaled pic is always a good idea, but honestly I'm kinda glad I didn't because it's been fun to have people comment that they thought it was full sized until they saw the dimensions.

Thanks again everyone. It's great to be able to share my work and progress as a woodworker with all of you!

[Mike Allen1010]

Congratulations Chris, your jewelry chest is awesome!

I love all the elements you've incorporated to this project: the proportions, the beautiful figure on the carcass, the wood combination and the very well executed joinery (especially the exposed dovetails on the top).

You must be very proud of what you've accomplished here and I'm sure your Mom will be thrilled! I would encourage you to get some pictures of Mom on Christmas morning when she sees your gift. I'm guessing they will be increasingly valuable to you over the years.

Thanks again for sharing your work – it's very inspirational!

Merry Christmas,
Mike

[Christopher Charles]

Congrats Chris--a lovely piece so well done that I too thought it was a full-sized chest at first. I think the time you spent on design was well spent. And I do know a store or two that would place a piece like that (galleries in portland and seattle...).

one question--did you have a reason to have the grain on the left side have the 'cathedrals' point down?

Again, fantastic--i'm sure your mother will be speechless.

Cheers,
Chris

[Chris Griggs]

one question--did you have a reason to have the grain on the left side have the 'cathedrals' point down?


Thanks Chris. Yes I did have a reason. The the grain orientation was based on what I thought looked best for the top of the chest. I wanted a continuous grain match so the sides are simply the pieces from the same board that were cut from either side of where I took the top piece from. The orientation of the cathedrals was simply a biproduct of this decision.

Funny enough, with finish it doesn't actually look like it was cut adjacent from the same piece, I keep looking at it thinking I may have oriented the board on the left side wrong, but I didn't - I guess there was just a sudden change in grain pattern and color right where I cut the board.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Thats just beautiful. Well done. I think the sycamore and cherry go very well together.


I showed it some folks at work earlier this week and received the ultimate non-woodworker compliment from several colleagues :rolleyes:. "Wow, that looks like it came from a store." That one always makes me laugh....

Very much like the one I have heard from my brother: "Man, that thing looks factory". He sincerely meant it as a compliment, and I took it as such :).

[Allen Breinig]

That is fantastic work I don't care how long it took. Did you sign it and date it?
WOW!

[Brent VanFossen]

Add my name to the long list of those seriously impressed.

[Chris Griggs]

That is fantastic work I don't care how long it took. Did you sign it and date it?
WOW!

214930 214929

The message is both sincere and intended to be slightly silly - my mother is more than familiar with my sense of humor (in my mind the message is also a small reference to inscription to Bills brother's Hanzo sword in Kill Bill 2)

[Brian Ashton]

Hope she's got a strong heart cause that will blow her away.

[David Keller NC]

Chris - Take it from someone with bad experience in this area that wishes he'd been a bit more diligent - take good photos of your work. The chest is very, very nice, and I'm sure you put a boatload of work into it.

While flash-photos in a darkened room is a-ok for forum purposes, I can guarantee that 4 or 5 years down the road you'll wish you'd taken more, and even though it will stay in the family (a lot of my work is at my parent's and brother's houses), it's not always easy to get more photos once the piece is in the hands of a new owner. Even if it's got a conducive background in its new setting (definitely not always the case), there may be papers, chotskies, and all manner of things normal to a home that would have to be moved to get a new pic. And - your piece will definitely change color and shade (perhaps a lot) over the next several years, and you'll want a photo in its initial state.

Even though I'm nearly a professional photographer with 35+ years of experience, I've still been lazy about photographing my own woodwork, and I'm eternally sorry for that now - I'd estimate I have good photos of perhaps 1/10 to 1/15th of what I've built.

That doesn't mean rush out and buy a new camera, photo lightsl, backgrounds, and all the other accoutrements of photography, but what you should do is take a few pics of your chest in diffuse natural light with no flash with whatever camera you have (even if it's just a cell phone). Direct sunlight won't work, nor will flash photography. An ideal situation is a north-facing window on a cloudy day.

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks for the photo advice David. I hate the flash too - I actually tried really hard to get enough light so I wouldn't need to use it, but could not make it happen where I had set the chest up to take the shots. Maybe I'll cover up my workbench with something, but the chest on there and try to take some photos. That's the part of the house with the most natural light (two windows and a skylight). Great advice man... Thanks!

[Bob Stroupe]

Hey, that ought to be worth an atta boy or two.
Nice work.

[Joe Arcimboldo]

I'll second a lot of the positive comments (wood selection, joinery, feet, etc.).
Really nice work. I have yet to take on a large case like this, so I applaud your attention to detail.
But let me also say that for my money, the drawer dovetails seem a bit large. Their size is of course relative to the thickness of the drawer fronts, which I think for most of us, could tend to be a little smaller.
The reason this critique came to mind is I had the good fortune to meet Frank Klauz at Highland Woodworking a couple months back and he made a similar comment as he was demonstrating dovetail technique. He said something to the effect that many novices like myself get so hung up on the technique and the desire to do tight work that we over-incorporate that into a piece.
If I remember correctly, he likes a drawer front in the neighborhood of 1/2". I could be wrong about that exact dimension, but I think his general point is a good one. (And one that I have yet to really heed in my own work).
Hope this is helpful.

[Chris Griggs]

I'll second a lot of the positive comments (wood selection, joinery, feet, etc.).
Really nice work. I have yet to take on a large case like this, so I applaud your attention to detail.
But let me also say that for my money, the drawer dovetails seem a bit large. Their size is of course relative to the thickness of the drawer fronts, which I think for most of us, could tend to be a little smaller.
The reason this critique came to mind is I had the good fortune to meet Frank Klauz at Highland Woodworking a couple months back and he made a similar comment as he was demonstrating dovetail technique. He said something to the effect that many novices like myself get so hung up on the technique and the desire to do tight work that we over-incorporate that into a piece.
If I remember correctly, he likes a drawer front in the neighborhood of 1/2". I could be wrong about that exact dimension, but I think his general point is a good one. (And one that I have yet to really heed in my own work).
Hope this is helpful.

Thanks Joe! That's great feedback. I see what you mean. I'm not sure if you saw the dimensions of the piece, but it's spice box size so the fronts are only 1/2". I thought about bringing the fronts down to 3/8s but thought the tails might look stubby then. Thinking about it, in the future perhaps bringing them in from the front a little to make them smaller would work. I actually made the half-blind front/lap that covers the endgrain dangerously thin (~ 3/32" in from the front) so that the tails would look longer, but that may have been unnecessary. Perhaps also bringing in the outer pins a bit more would balance things. These are pretty small details and can get pretty subjective, but I think they are worth discussing as it is always good to reevaluate design elements. The small scale definitly created challenges with DT layout and proportion so the contructive feedback is always welcome.

[Joe Arcimboldo]

Hah! Silly me. Here this whole time I was thinking it was a chest of drawers. Obviously I didn't pay much attention to the dimensions you had there. In that case it really changes my impression of the whole deal. Gestalt switch!

In that case, I can see why you would want the tails to look longer, as you you say. For a spice box the joinery details are the whole point, so yeah, why not accentuate them?

[Zahid Naqvi]

That's some seriously good work Chris, and LOL on the store bought comment, I too am the proud recipient of such comments for a hall table I made several years ago. I am afraid a more discerning eye which appreciates the hand work will also find all the flaws that I know are there. So I am happy to receive the "that looks like it came from a furniture store" comments. I think your mom, of all the women you have loved, will truly appreciate the time and effort you put into it ;-)

[Chris Griggs]

Hah! Silly me. Here this whole time I was thinking it was a chest of drawers. Obviously I didn't pay much attention to the dimensions you had there. In that case it really changes my impression of the whole deal. Gestalt switch!

In that case, I can see why you would want the tails to look longer, as you you say. For a spice box the joinery details are the whole point, so yeah, why not accentuate them?

Either way it was good food for thought...


That's some seriously good work Chris, and LOL on the store bought comment, I too am the proud recipient of such comments for a hall table I made several years ago. I am afraid a more discerning eye which appreciates the hand work will also find all the flaws that I know are there. So I am happy to receive the "that looks like it came from a furniture store" comments. I think your mom, of all the women you have loved, will truly appreciate the time and effort you put into it ;-)

Thanks Zahid! Also, I absolutely take the "store bought" comments a very complimentary, though to those of us who know better they are quite amusing. I think "that looks like it came from a store" is a non-woodworkers way of saying - "that looks like it was done by a professional"... and that's a compliment (whether or not it's true) that I think all of us would accept any day of the week.

[David Keller NC]

Chris - your photos of your work will be greatly facilitated by the use of a tripod. While a cell phone doesn't typically have a tripod mount, all of the dedicated-purpose consumer cameras do, even the very inexpensive ones. And a tripod that's plenty good enough for what you want to do with it can be had for less than $100 from Tamrac or Slik. The price of a tripod typically has to do with the weight beyond a certain basic price point of say, $75. In that range, the tripod is plenty stable - lots of extra money gets you fancy materials that dampen vibration and result in lighter weight (such as carbon fiber tripods). But a basic aluminum tripod from one of those 2 companies will serve you admirably.

Just set your piece up with a natural light source (which can be supplemented with a standard lamp and a color-correct fluorescent bulb), set the timer on your camera so that the camera shake from pressing the trigger release doesn't cause a blurry photo, and you're in business.

And - I just realized the scale of this piece. That makes the result even more impressive - smaller is harder (a lot harder).

[Chris Griggs]

Chris - your photos of your work will be greatly facilitated by the use of a tripod. While a cell phone doesn't typically have a tripod mount, all of the dedicated-purpose consumer cameras do, even the very inexpensive ones. And a tripod that's plenty good enough for what you want to do with it can be had for less than $100 from Tamrac or Slik. The price of a tripod typically has to do with the weight beyond a certain basic price point of say, $75. In that range, the tripod is plenty stable - lots of extra money gets you fancy materials that dampen vibration and result in lighter weight (such as carbon fiber tripods). But a basic aluminum tripod from one of those 2 companies will serve you admirably.

Just set your piece up with a natural light source (which can be supplemented with a standard lamp and a color-correct fluorescent bulb), set the timer on your camera so that the camera shake from pressing the trigger release doesn't cause a blurry photo, and you're in business.

And - I just realized the scale of this piece. That makes the result even more impressive - smaller is harder (a lot harder).

All good tips, these photos were taken by a an older (~ 4 yr old) cannon power shot. It's not a great camera but it does have some basic aperture, shutter speed, an film speed settings and a tripod mount. I have a basic understanding of the photo settings from way back when I took "basic photo" as a freshmen in high school. I didn't even think to use the timer, even without a tripod I probably could have put the camera on a table and used the timer for a steadier shot.

However, I failed to listen to your advice in a timely manner, and as of this morning UPS is shipping the chest north to MN (lets hope it get's there safely!!!)- I wanted to ship it this week to make sure it would get there before Xmas. Fortunately, I'll be there over the holiday, and my Dad is a pretty darn good photographer with better equipment than I have. I'll make him do a series of shots somewhere with good light and a non cluttered background before my mom places the chest on her dresser.

Regarding the size, it definitely does create some challenges, but it also makes some things simpler. For example, because of the small scale all the dividers could be made by just mounting full width boards in stopped dados, and then gluing narrow pieces of the primary wood to the create the fronts of the dividers. On a full size chest I would need a more complicated web frame system, possibly attached to the case with sliding dovetails - I've never done a chest with webframes and sliding DTs, but it is something I would like to try soon. For the last year and half or so most my work has been quite small (except my bench) and other than a few coffee tables and a night stand I build when I was getting started, I haven't made enough full scale furniture to have a good idea of how the challenges differ from those of small pieces. Honestly, at the moment I just want to take on something simple - I'm seriously considering making one of those nailed together 6 board blanket chests just for some quick gratification, and then maybe redoing some bench appliances. Although, I should probably wait to make a full size chest/dresser as I'll be moving cross country in less than a year, so each thing I build is just one more thing to move. Maybe I should make some handplanes... they're easy to move!

[David Keller NC]

All good tips, these photos were taken by a an older (~ 4 yr old) cannon power shot. It's not a great camera but it does have some basic aperture, shutter speed, an film speed settings and a tripod mount. I have a basic understanding of the photo settings from way back when I took "basic photo" as a freshmen in high school. I didn't even think to use the timer, even without a tripod I probably could have put the camera on a table and used the timer for a steadier shot.


Your existing camera will take just as good a shot as a new camera - the only significant advance in digital cameras in the last 3 or 4 years as far as actual photography is concerned is ultra-low light performance, and that improvement is really only significant in the higher end, professional cameras. The rest of the effort by manufacturers has been in useless areas - adding HD video shooting, bluetooth wireless downloading, and making the cameras inappropriately lighter and smaller (which correspondingly reduces the size of the optics, which is more important than even the CCD chip in the quality of the images).



However, I failed to listen to your advice in a timely manner, and as of this morning UPS is shipping the chest north to MN (lets hope it get's there safely!!!)- I wanted to ship it this week to make sure it would get there before Xmas. Fortunately, I'll be there over the holiday, and my Dad is a pretty darn good photographer with better equipment than I have. I'll make him do a series of shots somewhere with good light and a non cluttered background before my mom places the chest on her dresser.

Yikes! Don't do this - UPS stands for "Ultimate Package Smashers" - never , ever ship a piece of handmade furniture to someone that you'll be visiting in a few weeks. I have my fingers crossed for you, but unless you crated the piece, I fear the worst.


Regarding the size, it definitely does create some challenges, but it also makes some things simpler. For example, because of the small scale all the dividers could be made by just mounting full width boards in stopped dados, and then gluing narrow pieces of the primary wood to the create the fronts of the dividers. On a full size chest I would need a more complicated web frame system, possibly attached to the case with sliding dovetails - I've never done a chest with webframes and sliding DTs, but it is something I would like to try soon.

While this type of construction has been "the standard" espoused in Fine Woodworking and other magazines for years, realize that it's not historically accurate construction, and for almost any reasonable application, it's waaaayyyy overkill. It's not that such construction didn't exist in period pieces from colonial America, but they are exceedingly rare - they're almost non-existant outside of Charleston, SC, which was an extremely rich city in the 18th century, and almost all of the cabinetmakers were trained in London.

Certainly, it's an interesting exercise in building skills, but it's about the best way I can think of to build the heaviest piece of furniture that you can for a given form/size. It's also entirely unnecessary from the standpoint of lasting for generations - there is a tremendous amount of colonial American furniture out there, and almost all of it has single drawer dividers with a tiny, 1/2" long dovetail joint in the front, with the rest of the divider glued/nailed into a dado in the case side. Full dustboards are very rare - most case furniture had no dustboards whatsoever.