Townsend queen anne chest in curly maple

[Tom Sontag]

I was impressed long ago by the beautiful simplicity of John Townsend's Queen Anne chest featured in Jeffrey Greene's spectacular "American Furniture of the 18th Century". The book included a full frontal photo I could scale from plus an exploded drawing showing construction details; enough to make the piece.

I had some silver maple set aside that had some moderate curl to some of the boards. I had practiced dovetails but never actually featured them as this piece does. This project is larger than most I tackle and would require careful craftsmanship, so I do not apologize for setting it aside twice and taking a total of four years to finally finish it.

Here is what I worked from:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsendplan_zps71a1cfe6.jpg

Big drawer just out of clamps:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsendtails_zps98158060.jpg

They cleaned up just fine:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/IMG_7776.jpg

Time to fit drawers:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsenddrawers_zpsf59c4a2f.jpg

Feet are on, time for some tung oil:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsendinshop_zps5bdbbdc8.jpg

I was worried about the through dovetails on the top; I think they came out okay:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsendtop_zps06260657.jpg

I spent as much time applying the finish as it seemed to want. Most of the curl was featured on top and front.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsendtopfinal_zps42af2e4c.jpg

The piece makes our stairway landing into a tiny room, with storage!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsendscene_zpsed128fcd.jpg

Brasses from Londonderry.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/SirDoofus/Townsend%20chest/townsendfinal_zps13ee17b6.jpg

[Patrick McCarthy]

Wow, nicely done. Very nicely done!

[Jay Jolliffe]

Looks great....Woods really nice also....

[Jim Becker]

Truly beautiful work and material!

[Prashun Patel]

Wow. Wonderful. I am curious though about the molding around the top. Won't it crack with th seasons?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Wow. Wonderful. I am curious though about the molding around the top. Won't it crack with th seasons?

Not if the side moldings are attached with sliding dovetails, and glued only in the front few inches.................... We shall see soon enough, hopefully.....

[Curtis Myers]

I really like curly maple. Very nicely executed.

[william watts]

Really good workmanship the dove tails are great. Show us the box, with the interesting top, that I see. Looks like spalted wood ?

[Brett Robson]

Great job! I love that curly maple!

[Bryce Adams]

A really fine piece of furniture. After taking on a large project that stretches your capabilities, the normal sized projects seem a lot easier.

Good work.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Prashun, if the front 3" near the mitre are only only glued on the sides and the rest of the molding is only attached with wire brads there shouldn't be a problem with the cross grain molding... Having said that, If one is OCD, attaching the molding with a sliding dovetail is the best..

[Tom Sontag]

Prashun, if the front 3" near the mitre are only only glued on the sides and the rest of the molding is only attached with wire brads there shouldn't be a problem with the cross grain molding... Having said that, If one is OCD, attaching the molding with a sliding dovetail is the best..

This is what I did: glue the front 3" and brad the remainder. The sides have contracted ~3/8" this winter and everything is still in one piece. I thought about the sliding dovetail - it is superior - but I had just spent many hours shaping the moldings without router bits and had no spare curly wood if I botched a piece, so I went the way Townsend probably did himself.

Thank you all for the kind comments. I think that this piece is a good example of the primary forces behind most people's opinion of a furniture piece: the first things they take in are the overall design (thank you JT) and the finish. I spent more time than ever getting an oil finish to look its best and managed to pop the curl in the wood. If you get these two things right - I think I did - then the fixed mistakes and suboptimal joinery etc. just slide into the background. Memorize this. You will find yourself making more reproductions as a result. This is okay.

[Randy Red Bemont]

You did a great job with construction and wood selection. You should be proud.

Red

[Robert LaPlaca]

Tom that is a fine looking chest, congratulations.. Beautiful curly maple. Jeffery Greene's books is one of my favorites

[Trever Williams]

Nicely done. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that has taken 4 years to finish a project.

[Calvin Hobbs]

Beautiful. I remember discussing this chest with you a few years ago. Congrats on getting it done! CH

[richard poitras]

Nice job looks great.. Thanks for posting pic's

[Dave Novak]

If you wouldn't mind sharing, I'd love to read about your finishing schedule. I'm not far from beginning the finish process on a similarly figured maple entertainment center.

[Tom Sontag]

I figured somebody would ask. I committed to getting the best oil finish I could, and I would repeat all of these steps:

Sand to 220
Wipe on a fairly dilute wash of transtint dye (dark vintage maple, I think). I could have gone darker but preferred a subtler pop. Let dry.
Sand with 320. The curly highlights are barely more visible after this. I use compressed air after sanding.
Wipe on a 50% diluted coat of S&W Polymerized tung oil. Wipe off and let dry 3 days or more. There's the curl!
Sand with 400.
Wipe on another 50% diluted coat of the oil. Wipe it off after 30 minutes or so and again an hour or so later. Do not let any of those little oil seepages dry into hard puddles. This is the hand rubbing part of oil finishes that makes a difference.
After another day or two of drying, sand with 600.
You can step up the oil coat to maybe 75% oil/25% diluter. Same wiping strategy.
The oil is starting to build and you might repeat the 600 grit/75% oil step once or twice more. One day of drying is now probably enough, but you will notice that all other shop activity is stopped because of this finishing routine. This is why everyone prefers fast and easy finishes!
Before the final one or two coats of undiluted oil I sanded lightly with 800 grit. If you prefer less sheen then stay with some dilution to the oil.
The curing oil will give off an odor for another couple months.

A lot of bother, but I have never had anything leave my shop that I felt better about finish-wise.