Bonnet Top Spice Chest

[Robert Maloney]

I have always wanted to build a Bonnet Top Secretary or HighBoy, but the ceilings in my house are not tall enough. So I enjoy building Spice Chests and figured I would try to build a bonnet on one. I case is made from air dried Walnut and the drawers are made from Maple with Tiger Maple fronts. I made the bonnet from 5 layers of veneer to achieve about 1/8th thickness. I was amazed at how powerful a vacuum press could be. I imploded three jigs before I constructed one that worked. There were a lot of firsts in this build. I had not turned since Middle School and had never carved anything. All in all it was a fun build. Maybe now I will build the Secretary, just scale it down a bit to look right in my house. Thanks to everyone for their knowledge and advice I have gotten from this site.

[Mel Fulks]

Love that form, really beats the heck out of the GERSTNER chests!

[Patrick McCarthy]

WOW Robert, nicely done!

[Bruce Page]

You nailed it! Build the secretary!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Very nicely done Sir! Very nicely done!

[Yonak Hawkins]

What a beautiful chest, Robert ! There's lots of detail to attend to in this build. I love the tiger maple drawer fronts. Did you hand carve the rosettes at the top ? It would certainly be the focus if it were in my kitchen.

[Jim Becker]

Stunning. Truly.

[Mike Ontko]

Fantastic! And nice precision on the drawer divides. That would make a dandy shop organizer for screws and bolts ;)

The bonnet sections are glued laminations bent over a form? You used a vacuum bag but is that something that could be done with press forms or, as in veneering, would there be too much of a risk of leaving voids and creating an uneven bond?

[Robert Engel]

Absolutely beautiful.

How did you finish it?

[Will Boulware]

Wow! Don't know what to say that hasn't been said, but I love it! I like the mix of maple and walnut. Not something you usually see on a spice chest, but neither is a bonnet top and you pulled that off nicely as well!

[Robert LaPlaca]

Robert that's a very nice looking spice chest. Actually, I think construction of a highboy will seem like a cinch compared to the spice chest, there is just so much fussy fiddlely work in spice chests, kind of like a secretary gallery.

[Mel Fulks]

I think Robert LaPlaca makes a good point. For one thing the tops of the few period highboys I've seen with bonnet tops did not have the nicely worked highly finished look that adds so much to the smaller piece.

[Robert Maloney]

Yonak, Yes I did hand carve the rosettes at the top. They were actually my first attempt at carving. I watched a couple videos but I guess beginners luck. Thanks

[Robert Maloney]

Thanks Robert. It was dyed with a light brown dye, 2- 1.5# Garnet shellac coats. Then sprayed with Target EM6000. Drawer Fronts were finished with Blonde Shellac, then EM6000

[John Lytle]

Wow, just wow. I think that just took spice boxes to a whole new level

[Mike Allen1010]

Robert,


Beautifully done! Your execution of drawer fit/finish, curved bonnet, carved rosettes and the beautifully profiled feet are all awesome! I'm particularly impressed this is one of your first efforts with these skills.


Thanks for posting. Look forward to seeing more of your work.


All the best, Mike

[Robert Maloney]

Thanks Mike. I am always amazed at your work. It is great to follow your builds on the forums. It really helps and inspires people like me.

[Jerry Olexa]

Really EXCELLENT work!! Well done... Does it have a secret compartment like many of the early spice chests??

[joe maday]

Excellent job! I really like the clean look to the inside with the tight curly maple drawer fronts all so similar in figure.
Again very nice.
Joe

[Robert Maloney]

Thanks Jerry. Yes it has two secret compartments. The secret compartments make the building process more fun for me. Now I want to learn some more intricate mechanisms to make them even more fun.

[Robert Maloney]

The drawer fronts were resawed from a 12/4 piece of quartersawn piece of Tiger Maple I got so the figure would match.