Cedar Cedar Chests - a pair completed!

[Bryan Nuss]

Finally finished a pair of cedar blanket chests, made totally from Eastern White Cedar. They were a challange since the cedar is quite soft and warps easily. My wife and daughter were quite pleased with the result.

The finish is 3 coats of 1.5# clear shellac with 0000 steel wool lightly between coats, with a final application of furniture paste wax. The interiors were left uncoated.

I used the Stots Master Template to make my working dovetail jigs. I was quite happy with this jig and with a cost of $89 USD (including dovetail and straight router bits), quite a bargain. I made a 24" through dovetail jig in an afternoon and it worked like a charm.

Thanks for looking.

[David Wilson]

Bryan
Beautiful job. The dovetails look great. I'm sure they will become family heirlooms

[Dick Parr]

Bryan those a pair of aces. Very nice job on both of them. :)

[Warren White]

Bryan, those are very nice. You really put me in my place, as I have been working to get one chest done for a long, long time. Could you provide details on the tops? What did you use on the inside of the top to fit around the body, and how did you fasten it?

Warren

[Jim Becker]

They really turned out great, Bryan!! Dr. SWMBO is asking me to make a couple of similar chests for toy boxes sometime between now and when we actually have kids...this is pretty much the design I had in mind.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Bryan, great job. They both look fantastic!

[Bryan Nuss]

Warren, these are meant to be "rustic", and eventually will show all sorts of dents and marks (some people pay a lot for distressed furniture!). That's why I went with a shellac finish, so it will be easy to repair the finish if necessary.

The tops are made from boards biscuited and glued oversized, then trimmed to size. After mounting the lid on the hinges with only about half the screws into the lid, I carefully turned the chest upside down and marked some lines about 1/8" outside the line of the carcase on the underside of the lid on the front and both sides. I then removed the lid from the hinges.

The dust seals are made from 1/4-round cedar I made from 3/4" x 3/4" strips, rounded over with a 1/2" round-over bit on the router table. I cut the "front" piece to exact length from the pencil marks on the underside of the lid and installed it to the underside of the lid with 1-1/4" finishing nails and glue, then cut the 45's for the side dust seals, dry-fitting them in place to get their final required length. I then cut the side dust seals to length and nailed and glued them into place. I countersunk all the nails and filled the holes with "natural" colour wood filler and sanded them down. I then reinstalled the lid and ran a round-over bit over the front and sides of the lid for the edge treatment. I sanded all the sharp edges down so my one year old grandson won't get blood on my chests!

The lid supports I got from Lee Valley are great. They keep the lid at whatever position you put it, and at at $6.90/pr. are a bargain. The lid will not close by itself. The hinges I also got from them.

The attached photos should make things more clear. If it doesn't, please get back to me.

[Ken Shoemaker]

Well Done!!! I've never made a dovetail joint, but now I know how it "should" look.... You did a wonderful job.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Bryan,

They both look great. You did a wonderful job on them!

[Earl Reid]

Very nice chests, the ladies must be very proud to recieve them. I like the trays. How long did it take to make each one? I am making my 4th one now and its about 2/3 done. keep up the nice work.
Earl

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, nice work! Great looking chests!

Corey

[Ken Gartin]

THAT'S the kind of woodworking I LOVE! The more warm, rustic beauty that is practical and useful!

Those are beautiful Mr. Nuss!

By the way, that's one reason why I'm a huge Norm fan and not much of a David Marks fan...

[Bryan Nuss]

Thank you all for your generous comments.... they keep me going!

Ken - These dovetails were my first ever attempted. Before going out to pop a wad of money on a top-of-the-line dovetail jig for a hobbiest who only occasionally makes dovetails,I would recommend they look at the Stots jig makers. You can find info at: http://www.stots.com/ They really produce good looking and very well fitting dovetails.

Earl - It took me roughly about 130 to 140 hours to make the pair of chests, however I take frequent coffee breaks and meditative puffs on my pipe to contemplate either the next step or to admire what step I have just accomplished. I consider my pipe as one of my best woodworking tools! Not included in the time to make the chests is the 10 days I left the rough cedar stickered in my shop/garage to acclimatize. I estimate the wastage at about 25% - 30%, but that's the nature of cedar. Clear cedar is twice the price and doesn't look as nice, in my opinion. I bought all my lumber rough and planed it down on my Dewalt. I must have emptied 6 or 7 barrels of shavings!
Total materials cost was about $150 CAD per chest, including finishes.

Once again, thanks for looking.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Excellent work Bryan! I'm thankful that the women in my life don' frequent this website!

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Very nice!! I love Cedar chests...built one for the wife back in '00....she loves it.

[Mark Singer]

Beautiful job! They look great!

[Bart Sharp]

Those are beautiful chests! I have a cedar chest that was given to my mother when I was born, they make great heirlooms.