Pics of Pine blanket chest – finished

[Mike Allen1010]

This is the last part of a pine blanket chest build, previous build pics I think are above.

Planing the Cooper, curved chest lid.
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Adding the rabbits along the long grain that will capture the lid panel in the chest top frame.
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Using a cutting gauge and router plane to do the cross grain rabbits.
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Using the template to lay out the groove in the frame for the Cooper chest lid and a dry fit.
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The lid glued up. The pine gets dirty so easily that there are multiple “final cleanup” planings. Personally, I really like the look/color of the unfinished pine – IMHO super clean and bright. However the Boss said “it should be darker”. I ended up adding a stain that turned it the color peanut butter (although my initial description of the color was much less appetizing). It seems like every time I try and add color to a project it never works out well. I’m resolving in the future; whatever color/tone the wood is – that’s it – shellac and paste wax for me!


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[Mike Allen1010]

Fitting the lid to the rest of the chest. I thought the reference services for both pieces were flat and coplanar before I put them together, somehow it took 20 minutes of planing to get them to fit reasonably.
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Plowing the groove for the bottom in an African mahogany sliding till.

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Dovetailing the till together.
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Using a shop built, panel gauge to layout final width for the till bottom. For me a panel gauge is a fundamental tool (sort of the Neander equivalent of the rip fence on your table saw). The first version I built had a blade at the end of the arm. Now I can’t see cutting gauge line, so a pencil is more practical.
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Rabbiting the edges of the till bottom. I’ve had this Japanese rabbit plane for 30 years and the blade is probably some of the best steel in my shop.
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I’ve had trouble avoiding tear out with the rowed grain of African mahogany. This is a St. James Bay kit Norris style infill plane that works great for me with difficult grain woods.

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[Mike Allen1010]

Cleaning up the dovetails after assembly, always one of my favorite things.
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The sliding till inside the chest.
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Drilling the mortice for the lock. Kind of a white knuckle or because the rail is relatively thin and the margin to avoid catastrophic blowout is small. In cases like this, I prefer the brace and bit take – takes longer for me to totally screw it up.
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Finally some pictures of the finished chest with plywood bottom and cedar lining.
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This chest will be a Christmas gift for my nephew (I’m sure my sister will hate me when it comes time for them to try and get it home). I really enjoyed building this in pine, however the mahogany for the till was really fantastic.

[Mike Allen1010]

My local hardwood yard had a bunch of mahogany cut offs in their discount bin. I’m really tempted to build a another, slightly smaller version mahogany – I might just try and keep this one for myself, if I can slip it by the boss.

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Thanks for looking,

All the best, Mike

[Brian Holcombe]

The chest is fantastic! Really wonderful detail work.

[Andrew Hughes]

Hey Mike thats pretty nice,reminds me of a Treasure chest.I like the cooperd top.

[Reinis Kanders]

I really like it! Pine was a good choice for a big chest, it is probably still reasonably light.

I also like whiteness of unfinished pine, but even seal-coat shellac seems to yellow it a bit. Is there any way to really keep it white? Maybe soap based finish, but that would probably yellow with age as well.

I found that Flexner has a partial answer to my question. Seems that soap finish on pine is done in Denmark, it works, but is high maintenance, so it would not work on a chest that well.
http://www.woodshopnews.com/columns-blogs/finishing/498776-soap-can-be-a-surprisingly-good-furniture-finish.

[Mike Cherry]

Mike, it looks fantastic!

[Jim Koepke]

Great job on the chest.

Inspirational.

jtk

[John Kananis]

Pretty awesome, Mike.

[Christopher Charles]

Totally cool, your nephew will love it for years! You could put in a jar of jelly as an inside joke :), though I think the color came out well.

best
C

[Bruce Haugen]

Very, very nice both on the construction and the look. The only question I have is the hinges. That's a pretty big lid, so are two hinges enough to support it?

Nice work, Mike!

[Don Emmerling]

Mike I think you sure hit a home run here. Craftmanship is great.

[Barry Dima]

Stunning. And from reading through this and the prior thread, sounds like you had some fun too.

[Nick Stokes]

Wow, you are very talented. That is a great work of art, and an awesome addition to your family.

Just wow.

[Mike Allen1010]

I really like it! Pine was a good choice for a big chest, it is probably still reasonably light.

I also like whiteness of unfinished pine, but even seal-coat shellac seems to yellow it a bit. Is there any way to really keep it white? Maybe soap based finish, but that would probably yellow with age as well.

I found that Flexner has a partial answer to my question. Seems that soap finish on pine is done in Denmark, it works, but is high maintenance, so it would not work on a chest that well.
http://www.woodshopnews.com/columns-blogs/finishing/498776-soap-can-be-a-surprisingly-good-furniture-finish.


Thanks Reinis for the information about soap finishing. I agree with you, might be a challenge for something that's liable to get fairly rough treatment and needs a durable finish.

For my next pine project, I will likely use Amber shellac and call it done. I tried some of that on a test piece and the Color was much lighter than the stain I used.

[Mike Allen1010]

Very, very nice both on the construction and the look. The only question I have is the hinges. That's a pretty big lid, so are two hinges enough to support it?

Nice work, Mike!


That's a great idea Bruce – the Chest lid is fairly heavy and the Pine doesn't hold the hinge screws especially well. I'll pick up a third hinge and add it on.

The lid support is inexpensive hardware and the leverage on the screws holding it to the chest lid is pretty significant. I think there's a fair chance they may pull out sooner rather than later. I was thinking about just using a piece of paracord attached to some simple "U" brackets, but I wasn't sure if the cord would Get caught between the lid and carcass when closing – plus I'd have to brush up on my knots. Maybe next time.

Best, Mike

[Jerry Olexa]

Wow!!! Very nice detail work....Great results!!!

[Steve Beadle]

Great job, Mike! I really enjoyed the pictures of this beautiful project. I find myself "pining" to build one for myself!

[Tom Vanzant]

Mike, hardwood yard off-cut bins can be a treasure trove. I ran across 4/4 soft maple ripped to 1-1/4"+ wide that ended up as many cutting boards. Same for knotty walnut off-cuts...that swirly grain makes beautiful Colt 1911 grips.

[Joe Beaulieu]

Mike,

Beautiful Job! Wow - how many did you throw away before you got it right? I know I would have made 4 or 5 of each piece. Just kidding - you are really a great craftsman and I hope to have that level of skill someday. Your nieces and nephews must love Uncle Mike!

[Don Slaughter]

Mike, you continue to amaze me! What a craftsman you are! That is a really nice chest....heirloom quality. Wish you would bring it to our next SDFWA meeting 'Craftsman's Corner' http://www.sdfwa.org/next-meeting/
Thank you so much for posting your work!

[Will Boulware]

Beautiful work, as usual. Thanks for sharing!

[Matthew N. Masail]

Really fantastic work! I also prefer to go natural with most things, but it did turn out very nice. I agree about the hinges, a good piano hinge would be fitting of such fine craftsmanship. You might also consider a lid stay, LV have a few types.

[Mike Allen1010]

Thanks everyone for your very kind comments. I sometimes wonder if I'm boring folks with build pictures. Personally I always enjoy the picture/builds others post, so that's why I'm happy to add my two cents.

I'm pleased with the way the chest came out, but like every project if I were to do it over again I might do a few things differently. As I mentioned, I have some mahogany that I'm thinking about for a smaller version of the chest. Maybe flat panels for the carcass without the decorative rabbits I used on this one and perhaps some Line and Berry inlay. I really enjoyed working with the Pine, but the African mahogany I used for the till was absolutely fantastic to work with hand tools. AM has alternating, rowed grain and historically tear out has been a problem for me, but this time that wasn't much of issue, maybe sharper tools .did the trick



Mike,

Beautiful Job! Wow - how many did you throw away before you got it right? I know I would have made 4 or 5 of each piece. Just kidding - you are really a great craftsman and I hope to have that level of skill someday. Your nieces and nephews must love Uncle Mike!

Joe, I certainly had my share of screw ups, but except for the coopered top, the build is pretty straightforward; frame and panel construction with M&T and dovetail joinery. One of the beauties of pine is it doesn't break my heart to have to throw out a piece and start over – Pine is inexpensive and works quickly/easily.

One thing I learned that I might suggest for someone considering a similar piece is to build the Coopered Top first. That way if the radius of the curve is slightly off from what you planned you can just build the frame to accommodated.


[Quote = Don Slaughter] Wish you would bring it to our next SDFWA meeting 'Craftsman's Corner' http://www.sdfwa.org/next-meeting/

Don, I'm flattered by your invitation, but we both know I'm too old and fat to lug the chest around. It's taking up space in the shop right now and that's where it's going to stay until my nephew comes to visit and he can pick it up.

All the best, Mike