Birth of a Blanket Chest

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Sorry Marty I love the title line because what we do is give something a birth be it a shop or a piece of furniture. I am starting on a journey to build the prototype of a Shaker Blanket Chest for a class I will be teaching at American Sycamore. Well the class is comming up soon and I need to get the prototype done asap doccumenting heavily along the way so I can create a nice handout for the class. I thought I'd sort of "blog" this endevor here like Marty has for his shop. I know I tune in every day to see how he is doing. Hopefully some of you might enjoy my journey this week to get the prototype done. I have this week off and with the wife's blessing I'm going at it pretty much full time, well it is vacation and I may slip off to see a movie or something to keep the war department happy.

The Chest is a one drawer transitional piece from John Kassay's book of Shaker Furniture. 40"x18"x 24" tall.

Here is the pile of lumber I started off with this morning. I bought it from a supplier in PA and it arrived this last week. Some nice wide boards several from the same tree, the grain and color and markings made that clear. Here are the nicest ones all chalked out as to what I'm cutting from where.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Chalkedoutlumber.jpg

This is the money board. A 15" wide curly cherry board that will be the front board of the Chest.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/15inchboard.jpg

The boards were so unweildy to manuver that I took my circular saw and speed square to them to break them down.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Breakingdownlumber.jpg

Here are the boards after they were broken down. A little more manageble.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Brokendownlumber.jpg

Now my real delima came when it was time to joint the lumber. I'm pretty well equipped with an 8" jointer and a 13" planer but these tools were not up to the task of surfacing these boards. Several are 12" to 15" wide. Luckily the good folks at American Sycamore let me come over and use their 12" jointer and 20" planer since I am instructing some classes there so my problem is solved except for the 15" wide board. I made a sled that would carry the 15" board and I used shims to keep it from rocking or moving. Mounted on the sled the board will not move or rock allowing the planer to function as a jointer, flattening one side so I could then flip it and plane the other (thank you for the idea Fine Woodworking). Here is the sled I used. It is a piece of 3/4 baltic birtch and I used good old ceader shingles as the shim stock. The shims were stapled into place and a strip of wood was glued at the end of the board to keep the board from slipping back on the sled.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Sledshim.jpg

I'll continue the first days accomplishments in the next post.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Once at American Sycamore I was anxious to try the sled jointer approach. Gotta love those 20" jointers!! :D
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Jointingontheplaner.jpg
It worked like a champ! Taking light passes the planer made a flat board out of it.

After that I jointed the rest of the lumber on Mike's 12 inch Jointer:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Jointing.jpg
I had to get this all done so I could go to my friends house to watch the NASCAR Bristol race in High Def. I should have noticed the banner in the shop. It was telling me who was going to win! (:mad: I'm a fan of the 24 car).

Here is the pile that represents today's work safely back in my shop ready for some edge jointing and gluing during the next days activities:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Finishedpileoflumber.jpg

Here is what it will look like when finished. This is the chest we built during a Cancer Build a thon last fall. There were some details left out to simplify a weekend build but the basic chest will look like this:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Buildathonchestopen.jpg.

Day 2 will likely be Monday as we are going up to Purdue in West Lafayette tomorrow to see that #1 son finds his way to church in the morning.

[Mike Cutler]

Mac.

Very nice pictorial essay. Well done. That's going to be a very nice looking blanket chest when you are finished.

There was a thread a few weeks back about setting up a planer to face joint a board. If you have a few more pic's of that process, it would make a good stand alone thread. Just a suggestion.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Very interesting. I love to watch the progress of other
peoples projects. Keep us informed. I bet it will turn
out great.

[Jim Becker]

Mac, I'm looking forward to how you carry this story forward. Tutorial threads are wonderful!! And Shaker is my fav!
------

{Moderator personality}

Please do consider uploading your photos to SMC rather than hosting them at Photobucket so that they continue in the SMC archive for future generations of the SMC community. If you take them down from the remote server or they "go away", the photos will disappear from the tutorial. There is a thread in the Support Forum about how to do in-line photos that is quite useful in this regard.

{/moderator personality}

[Martin Shupe]

Thanks for posting, Mac, I can't wait to see the rest of the journey.

[Henry Cavanaugh]

Beautifull blanket chest. I built my daughter a similar cherry hope chest and seeing yours I like it better with the drawer on bottom. On the under side of the 22" wide one piece top I put two dovetailed cleats going cross grain. Allthough its in airconditioned space now I was afraid of warping down the road.

[Corey Hallagan]

Excellent work! That is a beautiful piece!

Corey

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Well I got back from good old PU in time today to get a little work done before going off to Church tonight and did some glueups tonight after Church.

The Pile of boards I finished with yesterday were face jointed and planed but were not edge jointed as I knew I could do that here at my shop. The first order of business was to get the 4 sides of the case ready for some jointery tomorrow. With a one piece front board only the back and sides had to be preped and glued. First I tackled the back. It is being made from 4 pieces cut from two flatsawn boards. I lay them on my bench and go for the best layout. I kept the two pieces from the same boards together and then pick the best match of those pairs together:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/Backboardslayout.jpg
As you can see the one pair of boards matched up nicely but the other pair had some sap wood I wanted to get rid of. I like boards in a glueup to have very close to the same width where possible. As it turns out I was able to saw these down to a little over 6" each, getting rid of the worst of the sapwood. Any that is left will be hidden by the drawer
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/BackBoardslayoutdone.jpg

I like to sweeten the glue joints with my handplane. I do this by folding the joint open, lining up the boards, putting them in a vise and taking a few swipes with a handplane, just enough to take off the pencil marks I put on prior to planing. Any change from 90 degrees I introduce is offset because folding the joint open and planing together causes the angles to be complimentary to each other. It works and works great!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/BackBoardsJointplane.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/SIdeboardsjointplane.jpg

I then got the sides ready for glueup cutting both 18" long pieces for the each side from 1 board insuring good color match.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/Sideboardspriortocutting.jpg

Here is one of the sides getting it's glue after a dry run in the clamps. I'm using Plastic resin glue. It comes in a powder form and you mix what you need. With a long open time I really like it. This is my 3rd project with it.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/SideGlueApply.jpg

Clamps R Us! That's the side in clamps squeezed together by some jorgie's and bessys with some cauls and clamps on the sides to insure the panel stays flat.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/SideGlueup.jpg

I'm very picky about my gluejoints and keeping the pannels flat. That way you don't sand away unecessary thickness after they come out of the clamps. One of the best ways I have found to do this is to use the Lee Valley Panel clamp system. Basically it is a bench dog between some good flat boards.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day2/BackGlueup1.jpg
With good use of a mallet to seat the assembly it does an outstanding job!

Well hopefully tomorrow will se me through panel sizing, sanding and dovetailing.

[Jason Tuinstra]

It looks great so far. Excellent looking lumber. I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

[Mike Kelly]

Love that cherry. Those are good looking boards.

Here are a couple I did, one in walnut and one in cherry.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=5315

[Jim Becker]

Yes, that cherry is premo...Irion, I presume? (The marking on the ends of the boards look familiar)

The joint "sweetening" technique is very interesting. I learn something new every day here!

[Marty Walsh]

Sorry Marty I love the title line because what we do is give something a birth be it a shop or a piece of furniture.

...




Mac,

I'll forgive the blatant plagarism...this time ;)

Very interesting project, and you're doing a great job documenting it. Thanks for sharing...and good luck with the class.

- Marty -

[Jerry Olexa]

Great story and pictures....Thanks for posting...Keep it up. Beautiful wood

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

[QUOTE=Jim Becker]Yes, that cherry is premo...Irion, I presume? (The marking on the ends of the boards look familiar)

Jim you win the prize! It is indeed Irion Lumber. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago. It came fast!

So you want to see my plans? Here they are, blowups from Kassay's book:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%203/KassaysPlan.jpg

Started by unclamping last nights glueups:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%203/Sideandbackpanelssansclamps.jpg

So I could glue up the top:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%203/Topgluedup.jpg

Scraping the glue was a pain so I wimped out and took them to Northwest Lumber to uhttp://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%203/Scpapingglue.jpgse their Widebelt sander. I came home with some nice flat panels:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%203/Subshot.jpg

I have needed to build a better panel sled So I did it today. I needed something to hadel these big glueups.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%203/Bigsled.jpg

The other jig was a height booster for the dovetail jig:


Oh well I'm beat so off to dream land for me!

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Well I've been busy with some other things but I did get the DTs cut and the thing glued together. Cutting the DTs was made easier because I built this riser for the Leigh Jig.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%203/DovetailjigRiser.jpg

No more crouching for me when cutting DTs (waxing the baseplate also makes a HUGE difference)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Routing1.jpg

Here are the results for the first pass on the Back board:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Firstboarddone.jpg
And the resultant joints on the first two corners:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/twoboardsjoined.jpg

Because of the short front board ( at 15" wide how can I call that short but as compared to the back board) I am making what Leigh calls "asymetrical" dovetails. They cover it in the book very nicely. Basically you cut the opposite corners of the case on the first setup. You put a board in the jig and mark the locations of the fingers, turn the board around in the jig like turning a page in a book and then move the fiingers to match the layout "mirroring" the previous layout. You then cut the DTs for the other two corners. Here I am moving the fingers to match the marks.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/FingerAdjust.jpg

Here is the back board ready to be Dovetailed on it's second end using the mirror setup:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Backboardbothendsrouted.jpg

Now the drumroll.................................

The case dry fitted:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/4boardsJoined.jpg

I do love it when a plan comes together!

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

I needed to put non through grooves into the panels to capture the center panel above the drawer. I considered using a router but the required precision to get the 4 grooves to lineup was not attainable when moving the guide to 4 different boards. I chose the slightly riskier dado blade route. Running 4 boards across one setup. I have never had any problems carefully lowering a board onto a dado as long as the cut is shallow. At a little over 1/4 inch I had no problems:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Midboardrabbit1.jpghttp://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Midboardrabbit2.jpghttp://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Midboardrabbit3.jpghttp://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Midboardrabbit4.jpg

I cleaned up the "ramps" left at the ends of the dado with a router and some chisels:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/Midboardrabbitcleanup.jpg

The grooved lined up perfectly:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%204/RabbitsFit.jpg

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Glue up time! I cut the center and bottom panel and laid out everything I needed to glue the carcass up:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%205/GlueupOverall.jpg

Clamps and cauls ready to go:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%205/GlueupClampsandcauls.jpg

And the Chest pieces sitting there staged:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%205/GLueupcarcass.jpg

I am trying something on this glueup I thought of today. Gluing DTs is problematic in that unless you spend an inordinate amount of time making custom cauls you can't put the clamp pressure right on the tails and pins of the joint. I thought of using these rubber door bumpers to put the pressure from the caul right on top of the tail/pin. They are self adhesive makes placement easy. I ended up using some thick self adhesive felt meant for furniture pads and cutting them up into little squares: here's a picture of it before glueup:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%205/Glueuppads.jpg

And here is a picture of the joint after glueup showing the pads holding the caul out from the carcass just enough to put the pressure where I wanted it.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%205/Glueuppadgap.jpg

Looks to me like it's working but I'll know more tomorrow when the clamps come off of this massive glueup. 8 cauls and 19 clamps!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%205/Glueupdone.jpg

Tomorrow I work on the top with it's shaped end cleats and the plinth pieces (think base moulding). All day to work ini the shop! Man if I could just get to do this every day instead of just for this week.

Taking these pictures of the process has slowed me down a little but they will be invaluable for when I teach the class in September.

[Jim Becker]

Great progress, Mac. I'm really enjoying this pictorial.

And BTW, I love the windows in your shop...natural light is really wonderful to have and using the windows high up on the wall is a great way to add that light in places that you sill need the wall space for workstations.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Thanks for construction shots. I enjoy them a lot. I don't recall seeing your shop before, but it looks fantastic. Keep up the good work.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Great progress, Mac. I'm really enjoying this pictorial.

And BTW, I love the windows in your shop...natural light is really wonderful to have and using the windows high up on the wall is a great way to add that light in places that you sill need the wall space for workstations.


Jim,

Thanks I'm glad you are enjoying it, I am too!:D

The windows up high serve two purposes. One they look out on the back and side neighbors yards (about 4 feet away) and I really didn't want them watching me or me them! Two, as you said, they let in a lot of light without sacrificing workinig wall space. they are the south and west walls.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Thanks for construction shots. I enjoy them a lot. I don't recall seeing your shop before, but it looks fantastic. Keep up the good work.


Jason,

If I cant be in the shop I always enjoy seeing how others aproach their projects, so I thought I'd share. It also gives me a head start on getting the pix and process doccumented so when I sit down to make the handout for the class I'm instructing next month it will be half done already!

About the shop, yeah it's great, far better than I derserve really but the wife wanted me to fix it up nice so what was I to do?

Mac

[Mike Spanbauer]

Mac,

Looking good so far!

And, I have to say I'm envious of your shop. It's quite clean and has excellent natural light. Some day...

mike

[David Duke]

Great pictorial Mac, I'm sure your students will benefit greatly from your efforts to document the different steps as we all have here.........Thanks!!!!

[rick fulton]

Mac,

I've been looking forward to more progress pics since before the SMC power outage. I've given this thread a 5 star rating even before it's conclusion. I hope it has a happy ending. Beautiful work so far.

I also hope this isn't a "to be continued" ending; where we have to sign up for your class to see the results. But I wouldn't blame you since your teaching X thousand SMCers for free.

Thanks for sharing.
rick

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

After a couple of days diversion I got back to the blanket chest: Yesterday I got busy shaping the cleats on the end of the lid and the bullnose on the front of the lid. Here is the cleat shaped with my block plane and sanded. It's not a single radius since it meets the lid at 90 degrees but ends up at about 60 degrees on the bottom . It has more of a half teardrop shape than half round. I just shaped by eye till I liked it and did the other end the same way.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%208/Cleatroundover.jpg

And here is the layout for the cleat cutback at the front of the lid. The cutback is a nice detail that functionally allows the blending of the shaped cleat and the bull nose edge:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%208/Cleatcutbacklayout.jpg

I cut it out with a jigsaw (actually the only power tool I used in the shaping process) and smoothed it with a file:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%208/Cleatcutbackfile.jpg

Next I had to layout the Bullnose on the lid's frontlip and then I took a plane and shaped it by eye. It really is quicker than setting up a router and doing test cuts. Plus it's quieter and I can listen to a little Bethoven!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%208/CleatcutbackdoneBullnoselayout.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%208/Bullnoselidplane.jpg

Here is the profile all shaped and sanded:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%208/Bullnoselidandcutbackdone.jpg

And as it looks on the chest:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%208/Bullnoselidonchest.jpg

This is the one detail that drew me to this particular blanket chest design in Kassay's book. It adds a nice detail.

Next up is the plinth (think base moulding). The pieces are marked and ready to be dovetailed.

[Bart Sharp]

Scraping the glue was a pain so I wimped out and took them to Northwest Lumber to use their Widebelt sander. I came home with some nice flat panels:



Mac,

Northwest Lumber is the only place I've bought wood since we moved back to Lafayette from Tennessee, but I've never talked to them about their millwork. How much do they charge to run panels through the sander? I rarely do projects big enough to need it now, but always good info to have!

Bart

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

The posted price for the wide belt sander is $35 for the first 15 minutes (minimum) and $1/min thereafter. They were generous in just charging me the minimum as we took a bit more than 15 minutes but I had just bought a bunch of plywood there the previous day and they were not busy.

Do you actually live in West Lafayette? I did not think anyone except students actually lived on that side of the river! My daughter graduated from PU in 2005 and lives in Lafayette. My son is in his second year of college there at PU studying Computer Engineering (at least this semester).

There are other options for lumber if you are buying much quantity. NW has good selection but not always the best prices. The convience though is worth it sometimes!

[Jim Becker]

Now, that last bit was really, really educational, Mac! I agree that the little cleat cutback detail is divine...I can see why you were drawn to it. It's wonderful!

[Jerry Strojny]

I absolutely love these type of tutorials...I really like the little detail that drew you to this chest. (and your workmanship) Keep up the good work.
Not to mention, your shop is very cool too. I really like the high windows. and wood floors, and tools, and......Need and apprentice to test on before you present to students??

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Now, that last bit was really, really educational, Mac! I agree that the little cleat cutback detail is divine...I can see why you were drawn to it. It's wonderful!

Thanks Jim! I'm enjoying it as much as any of you reading it because I get to do it, photograph it (one of my long lost loves that is comming back to me), talk about it to a bunch of like minded folks that actually appreciate the conversation (unlike so many of my local friends who are not ww'ers).
I meant to ask if you lived near Irion Lumber. Some might think it pretty anal recognizing the markiings of a particular lumber yard. I think it's high praise for them if you have used enough of their stuff to know their markings! This has been excelent lumber to work with, we'll see how the curl pops when I finish it.


......Need and apprentice to test on before you present to students??

Jerry, Milwakee isn't that far away, c'mon over anytime and hang out in the shop, but don't be suprised if I put you to work! I've been up there once. It was for an Indy Car race at the fairgrounds. (it was right before they discovered Mr Jeffry Dahmer's atrocities, so it's been a while!)

I was just out laying out the dovetails for the plinth but decided to wait till tomorrow to do the cutting when my mind is a little fresher.

More tomorrow,

Mac

[Brian Buckley]

Mac,
This is a wonderful tutorial. Thanks for sharing your skill.

Brian

[Rich Stevens]

Mac,

I've been following your thread very closely and must say I am very impressed with the quality and speed of execution of this blanket chest project.

I too, am in the final stages of my own blanket chest (which BTW, has taken the best part of 6 months to get to where I am now) which I have loosely based on the Thomas Moser design. I am learning as I go along and have had some close calls as far as major blunders are concerned.

One of which is the fitting of the through dovetails - could i ask you to describe in a little more detail the steps you take to machine a set of tails and pins on your Leigh dovetail jig. I also used the Leigh D/T jig for my project and am not all that pleased with the final quality considering the pain I went through to get each pin/tail perfect. I even went as far as 'wasting' away huge chunks of wood on the band saw prior to setting each panel on the jig so that I wouldn't overload or blunt my dovetail router bits. Judging by your pics it appears you just 'went for it'.

Finally, the fit of the D/T was very much trial and error as I wanted the joints to be very tight - what I ended up doing was remachining tails and pins which were TOO tight. You know what happens then don't you? ... I ended up taking off too much thus leaving gaps here and there - in some cases as much as 1/32" - real heart breaking stuff!

One other question please - how are you proposing to restrain the lid from collapsing backwards - chain? lid stay? I haven't yet worked out how to deal with mine. I was going to use ones made by Brusso but chickened out of milling the slot mortises with my router seeing I had already glued up the carcase... Any advise here would help - thanks.

The photo below was taken not long after the glue-up with after the clean-up of dried up glue with a hand plane


http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/ricgstevens/IMG_0202_BC.jpg

Thanks

Rich

[Jim Becker]

Irion is in PA. I'm in PA. But PA is a big state. I'll say it's probably about a, well...3 hour ride to get there, but I'd consider it if I was going to buy a bunch of great cherry or other hardwoods. He really stocks premo material and his background as a furniture maker means he knows what the good stuff really is before he puts it in his inventory. As to the markings, I remembered them from an article I saw not all that long about about his lumber operation in one of the magazines...the specifics escape me.

I tend to buy my "regular" cherry from a local fellow in Lambertville NJ who has been air-drying and selling local hardwoods for about 45 years. When I need figured stock or non-local/exotics, I travel down to Hearne Hardwoods in Oxford PA. (I recently found out my cousin's son works there and also grew up with Rick Hearne's son)

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

I've been following your thread very closely and must say I am very impressed with the quality and speed of execution of this blanket chest project.
Thanks Rich, I am very anal about the quality of every little detail which, good or bad, don't always show well in posted pictures. Do you think I'm going to take a closeup uf a loose pin fit that I had to fix up?! As for the speed part, my wife would get a kick out of seeing that comment. I am normally very slow to get things done since I, like most everyone else, make a living doing other things and only woodwork evenings/weekends. That said I took all of last week off to work on the blanket chest and the doccumentation for the class. Those were 10 and 12 hour days, so I better have made some decent progress with that kind of time devoted to it!




I too, am in the final stages of my own blanket chest (which BTW, has taken the best part of 6 months to get to where I am now) which I have loosely based on the Thomas Moser design. I am learning as I go along and have had some close calls as far as major blunders are concerned.
Again this is an edited presentation. I'm not showing the "blunders"! Actually what I have learned is that even the best make those blunders, the difference is knowing expedient ways to fix them without having to start over. Last night I made my first fatal error on a piece when I cut the pins wrong on a piece of the plinth. Had to make it over. Other mistakes have been repairable.




One of which is the fitting of the through dovetails - could i ask you to describe in a little more detail the steps you take to machine a set of tails and pins on your Leigh dovetail jig. I also used the Leigh D/T jig for my project and am not all that pleased with the final quality considering the pain I went through to get each pin/tail perfect. I even went as far as 'wasting' away huge chunks of wood on the band saw prior to setting each panel on the jig so that I wouldn't overload or blunt my dovetail router bits. Judging by your pics it appears you just 'went for it'.

Finally, the fit of the D/T was very much trial and error as I wanted the joints to be very tight - what I ended up doing was remachining tails and pins which were TOO tight. You know what happens then don't you? ... I ended up taking off too much thus leaving gaps here and there - in some cases as much as 1/32" - real heart breaking stuff!
I have had very good results with the Leigh Jig. Thats not to say I have not had any poor fits. Make sure your bits are sharp and read the manual. I think the key is to make many practice joints to learn all the adjustments the system allows and then when you get to the actual pieces for a project you will know the system capabilities and limitations. Also make practice boards for the project you are working on so you can adjust the fit on something other than the good pieces. It is the fitting of the Pins that make or break the joint. This is a tails first jig. You make all the tails uniform and then fit the pins to them therefore the spare lumber is used to zero in the pins. On this project I intentionally made the boards for the ends of the blanket chest an extra 1.5 inches long and used them as my test board. When the joint was zeroed in then I cut off the test tails and cut the real pins. There are always a few bad fits after everything goes together. For those I run a saw kerf down into the offending joint and slide a piece of thin wood into it to tighten up the joint. Watch the orientation of the grain of the sliver of wood so as to match up and camoflage the fix with the parent materiel. For barely loose fits I just put a little thick CA glue into the crack and sand it untill dust and glue fill the crack.




One other question please - how are you proposing to restrain the lid from collapsing backwards - chain? lid stay? I haven't yet worked out how to deal with mine. I was going to use ones made by Brusso but chickened out of milling the slot mortises with my router seeing I had already glued up the carcase... Any advise here would help - thanks.
I am using a chain from Lee Valley. I have used it before and it works well and looks nice.




The photo below was taken not long after the glue-up with after the clean-up of dried up glue with a hand plane
Handplanes clean up the joint nicely but I have found that a belt or random orbit sander actually makes it look better. Maybe I'm not good enough or patient enough with a plane.

Keep your spirits up and don't let a few minor flaws ruin the project for you. We woodworkers are quick to see/know where each little mistake is and point them out to everybody that try to compliment us on our work. I've found they don't want the detailed list of mistakes. I've started trying to just give them a heartfelt Thank You and explain how much I love the work.

[Peter Stahl]

Excellent job on the blanket chest!

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Since I am back at the day job I am only getting bits and pieces done at any one time but I finally got the plinith dovetailed and fitted up last night about midnight. The Plinth has a very nice cutout detail that esentially form the four feet at the corners which are dovetailed.

Last week I was able to get the plinth pieces ready to dovetail. This involved laying out the cutouts. I made a pattern to speed the process.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Cutoutlayout.jpg

I cut the long straight parts of the cutout using a plunge cut on the table saw. This involved using a feather board to hold the piece in place,
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Plungecutsetup.jpg
making marks on the fence to deliniate the front and rear travel limits.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Plungerearlimit.jpg http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Plungefrontlimit.jpg
Once the piece is put in place with the mark at the rear limit point the blade is raised up through the piece. The piece is then pushed through the saw blade untill the front limit lines match up. The saw is turned off and the blade lowered. Repeat 3 times.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/TSPlungecut-1.jpg http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Plungecuttingatfrontlimit.jpg

Next it's off to the bandsaw to finish up the straight and curved cutouts followed by sanding the curve on a drum sander.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Bandsawstraightcuts.jpg http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Sandingthecutout.jpg

The pieces were finished up at the bench with a chisel and sandpaper
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Chiselandsand.jpg

Now I can get to the adventure I had dovetailing these pieces (see the next post)

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

My initial problem was one of drawing layout versus the norm for cutting tails on the Leigh Jig. The Leigh is setup to cut the joint with half pins on each end. The original shows the joint cut with half tails. I liked the look of the latter on the original.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Halftaillayout.jpg

In laying out the jigs fingers there was a problem. No outter finger to support the router. Instability = a bad joint.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Initialjigfingerspacing.jpg

My solution was to move a finger from the left end...........................
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Halftailfingersolution1.jpg
..............................to the right.....................
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Halftailfingersolution2.jpg

...................thus giving both ends of the mirror setup a half finger to support the router.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Halftailfingersolution3.jpg

Here is the jig ready to route, with the fingers flipped ready to cut the tails and the half ones too!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/Flippingthefingers.jpg

After a series of fits and starts (including making new short pieces due to a brain fart at 2300 last night) I ended up with decent joints:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/JointJoined.jpg

Assembling and checking the board lengths before cutting the last two sets of pins resulted in 3 good joints and 1 okay joint that will be good after some tweaking. Here is the first assembly of the plinth in place:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%209%20Plinth%20layout/PlinthFirstfitup.jpg

Tonight I hope to put a slight cove cut on the top outside corner of the plinth before gluing it up.

Mac

[Martin Shupe]

Mac,

Your tutorial is truly excellent. I have learned quite a bit, and like how you cut out the plinth. I have a partially finished blanket chest, waiting for me to finish the plinth and lid. You have inspired me to finally get it done.

I tend to put off things that I am afraid of screwing up. The plinth on this chest is one of them, but your method to do the cutout seems better than just free handing on a bandsaw, like I was planning, and will give me a straighter line.

I have one question regarding the lid. I really enjoyed seeing how you did the edge treatments. Your attention to detail regarding Kassay's plans is admirable. I must have missed it, but how did you attach the trim pieces to the ends? Did you drawbore and pin them? Glue them at the front and not at the back? I was trying to decide between your method and CHB's dovetail key method. Please enlighten me on your technique.

Also, did you use any cleats on the bottom of the lid to hold the lid flat?

Your work is outstanding, but could be even better if you had the time to hand cut your dovetails.:eek: (Ducking and running.;) )

Well done, and I am looking forward to more of your article. Thanks for posting.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

I must have missed it, but how did you attach the trim pieces to the ends? Did you drawbore and pin them? Glue them at the front and not at the back? I was trying to decide between your method and CHB's dovetail key method. Please enlighten me on your technique.

Also, did you use any cleats on the bottom of the lid to hold the lid flat?

Your work is outstanding, but could be even better if you had the time to hand cut your dovetails.:eek: (Ducking and running.;) )

(1) There is a tounge on the cleat. I hate to disappoint but I glued them in place. I know the crossgrain issues but the lid on the similar one has shown no problems (so far) and I didn't have thick enough materiel to make a long enough tounge to glue and pin (my first choice) Next time I may give the sliding dovetail a try. This one is ours so I'll cut them off and fix them if they become a problem.

(2) No cleats. The original drawing shows none and the previous one I built has had no warpage issues.

(3) I really thought about hand cutting the plinth tails and considering the problems I had I probably will next time.

Thanks for the kind words,

Mac

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Dang! the 4 days I have been at work this week have been tough. After being off for 10 days doiing mostly woodworking of one sort or another, getting back in the day job saddle has been a pain, more so than normal since I need to finish this chest up and get the class notes written up!

It's a glueup for the plinth pieces tonight and then I'll tackly the drawer tomorrow. Unfortunately the drawer box materiel is still in the rough so I'll have to joint and plane it before cutting it up for the drawer sides. I have some figured maple for the drawer sides (I know overkill on the figured wood!) so at least it should be fun to see the figure show up out of the rough boards.

I should have a lot to post by Monday! Have a good and safe weekend!

Mac

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Had one of those days Saturday! Very frustrating! Seemed every time I'd try one thing something else would throw up a road block. I am cutting Half Blind Rabbetted Dovetails for the drawer front to sides. I've done half blinds before but never the rabbetted ones where you are dealing with the overlay lip of the drawer. My first mistake was to assume I could cut them at the depth that I wanted! When I was a teenager looking to go to engineering school a British Engineer told me one had to be very carefull about assuming things else you will make an A** out of U and ME (ass-u-me). Well I forgot that for a moment and that assumption came to bite me in the.............!

Well in my blissfull ignorance before the frustration hit I machined up all the maple for the drawer sides and then I rabbetted the drawer as I wanted it:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Rabbettingthedrawerfront.jpg

Then it was off to the Leigh jig to do the dovetails. Not only did the Leigh not allow the flexibility I assumed it would (nor does any jig as far as I can tell) I didn't even have the bit I needed that was closest, nor could I find it locally. I tried the bit I had in a piece of scrap but it was going to leave the tails significantly short of the rabbetted depth. I just think the drawer looks best if the tails extend all the way down to the bottom of the rabbetted depth on the side. I quit for the day and stewed about it till Sunday. Hand cutting was the best option but I couldn't figure out how to saw the pins effectivly with the rabbetted lip in the way. Then it hit me that I had read somewhere that someone had used a hammer and a card scraper to make that cut instead of a saw. I tried it on scrap and it worked just great. I had to use a thicker scraper, the thin one bent to much wasting the energy the hammer was supplying. Also I decided the Leigh excells at making Tail boards so it was to be a hybrid joint, Machine cut tails (fast and square) with hand chopped pins (Depth and look I wanted!). So now I had a plan!

Here are the boards to be joined, rabbetted drawer front for the pins and maple for the side. It is marked out for the depth of the rabbet ready to go to the Leigh Jig.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Taildepthmarkout.jpg

Here it is in the Jig already routed to the baseline:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Tailsrouted.jpg

To mark out the pins I first use the Tail board to mark out the pins.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Pinsmarkoutsetup.jpg

The resultant markings are further clarified by putting an x in the waste parts so no mistakes are made on which side of the line to cut.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/PinsmarkoutwithX.jpg

After marking the depth of the tail board on the pin board the lines are extended down to that depth line defining the pin:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/PinBoardextendinglayoutliines.jpg

To be continued in the next post

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Here is the initial defining of the pins with the scraper edge. It's not as exact as a saw but close enough and makes wasting out easier.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/ScraperhammerPinboardcut.jpg

I facilitated the wasting out by using a router to get close.............
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Pinboardrouteroutthewaste.jpg

...........and then finished up using the trusty old chisels and mallet:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Pinboardchiseloutthepins.jpg

The joints both went together on the second try with just a little tuning of the pins. I must say I wasn't sure why they included a 1/8 inch chisel in the set but now I know. Very handy cleaning out the corners! Here is the joint, right at the bottom of the rabbet and just the length pins with just a hair of cleanup to level them.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Pinandtailfit.jpg

I'm really quite proud of the result! It was a frustrating journey through Saturday into Sunday afternoon (I even tossed and turned Sat night) but the result was what I wanted and it was a unique solution. I'm happy! One last shot:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2010%20Big%20Drawer/Handcutthingofbeauty.jpg

To borrow one of Bill Nye's tag lines: It's a wood joining Thing of Beauty!

Mac

[Jay Kilpatrick]

Mac,
Did you just drive the scraper into the wood as it is shown, or did you work it in gradually in some fashion? The question, Howdeedoodat? comes to mind.

Thanks,
~Jay

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Mac,
Did you just drive the scraper into the wood as it is shown, or did you work it in gradually in some fashion? The question, Howdeedoodat? comes to mind.

Thanks,
~Jay

It is just driven in with the hammer. Some of the lines I hit on pretty straight, some not, but I never strayed more than about 1/32" from the line, always staying on the waste side of the line. It took about 2-4 hits to drive it in. This is really only usefull on half blinds as they are impossible to saw.

Mac

[Jim Becker]

Wow...I learned yet another new thing in this thread!

[Jerry Olexa]

Excellent work...Much fun watching your project!

[Bob Stegemann]

Wow! What an awesome thread and craftsmanship. Thank You!

[Martin Shupe]

It is just driven in with the hammer. Some of the lines I hit on pretty straight, some not, but I never strayed more than about 1/32" from the line, always staying on the waste side of the line. It took about 2-4 hits to drive it in. This is really only usefull on half blinds as they are impossible to saw.

Mac

FYI, Chris Becksvoort saws his half blind lines well beyond the scribe line, on the inside of the drawers, as was done on some original Shaker pieces. He said he only got one complaint, from a customer in Europe. Not sure if this would help on a rabbeted drawer, but I thought it was interesting. I think Glenn Huey does the same thing, if I am not mistaken. I am sure about CHB, because I saw it with my own eyes, not as sure about GH.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

I just got in from the shop. I said that I would be ignighting the midnight petroleum tonight! I got the plinth fitted to the case, the cove detail cut along it's top and glueblocks cut and installed. Oh well pictures are in the camera in the shop. I'll get it tomorrow.

Thanks for your continued intrest in my postings and the nice things you say about it.

Mac

[Martin Shupe]

I just got in from the shop. I said that I would be ignighting the midnight petroleum tonight! I got the plinth fitted to the case, the cove detail cut along it's top and glueblocks cut and installed. Oh well pictures are in the camera in the shop. I'll get it tomorrow.

Thanks for your continued intrest in my postings and the nice things you say about it.

Mac

Did you cut the dovetails in the plinth before you cut the cove, or after?

Looking forward to seeing more pictures.

[Rich Stevens]

Mac,

Ahah! You had one of those moments too, eh? (where roadblocks appear every which way you turn).

It must have been a heart wrenching moment when you discovered your preferred method of cutting those dovetails couldn't be done using the Leigh D/T jig. Seems you worked it out though.

Question - doesn't using the scraper as a very thin chisel risk splitting the piece of wood rather than cutting though it?

Rich

[Chris Padilla]

Mac,

Great stuff! However, you need a new avatar! Try this one out if you like. :)

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Mac,

........... you need a new avatar!


Thanks Chris! As you see I've adopted your avatar for me. I've been meaning to update it for some time. This will do for now but may get replaced if I can get my budding photographer son to take a proper pix!

Mac

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Mac,

Question - doesn't using the scraper as a very thin chisel risk splitting the piece of wood rather than cutting though it?

Rich

I suppose that's why you use a square edged scraper instead of a chisel. It tears through the wood rather than splitting it. Much like dulling a nail lessens the tendency for it to split the wood it's being driven into.

I think I could have gotten by with just wasting away the wood with a router and chiseled to the lines but this is one of those "I've gotta try this" things that popped into my head.

Mac

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

As promised, pix of the plinth work from last night:

My first task was to plane off the the tails and pins:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2011%20Finish%20Plinth/Shavingthepins.jpg

And here they are all shaved off:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2011%20Finish%20Plinth/planedplinth.jpg

Next on the to do list was to cut the cove detail on the top of the Plinth. I did this at the router table and backed up the wood at the exit point of the bit with a recycled piece of designer firewood:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2011%20Finish%20Plinth/Covecutsetupatrouter.jpg

They came out pretty decent so there will be less sanding rather than more. I didn't plan the DTs to be that close to the cove. I'll adjust for that the next time:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2011%20Finish%20Plinth/Covecutresults.jpg

Installing the Plinth the right height all around was made easier using a "story" stick of sorts, set to the apropriate length and used at the other 3 corners.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2011%20Finish%20Plinth/Installingtheplinthsettingtheheight.jpg

Finally before the midnight petroleum was completly exhausted thru rapid oxidation I nailed and glued "glue blocks" in place to support the weight transfer from the chest to the plinth while maintaining the proper ride height!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2011%20Finish%20Plinth/Glueblocksandnailgun.jpg

Here they are (pre glue & nail) in the corner:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2011%20Finish%20Plinth/Cornerglueblocks.jpg

Well that's all for last nights activity. Tonight I finish the drawer, dovetails at the back and grooves for the 1/2" plywood bottom.

Mac

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Did you cut the dovetails in the plinth before you cut the cove, or after?

Martin,

As the pix from last night show I cut them after the DTs were cut. I should have allowed a little more margin for the cove than I did. I knicked one in the back but you have to look close to see it (no I didn't take a pix of it).

Mac

[Lori Kleinberg]

This is a great tutortorial. I am loving every minute of your project.
Thank you again for posting. Keep the pictures and details coming.

[Martin Shupe]

Thanks, Mac, excellent work and tutorial. Now I just have to get off my butt and finish mine! Thanks again for a great post!

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Well I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday when I got home so I just messed around in the shop a little while. I sensed that I my mind wasn't 100% into what I was doing so I just swept up, put all the tools away, turned out the lights and went in and parked myself in front of the TV and watched "House" with the family.

I did manage to get the drawer runner and kickers cut and test fitted.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Drawerrunnerandkickerfitting.jpg

Not much but a little progress. I'll get back after it tonight or tomorrow!

Mac

[Jerry Olexa]

Mac EXCELLENT work AND EXCELLENT pics...Thank you...

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Mac EXCELLENT work AND EXCELLENT pics...Thank you...


Thanks Jerry, it's been fun so far. I took today off to get some things done around the place but I'll probably get to some WW'ing sometime today. The rear dovetails and the groove for the bottom are next on the hit parade.

Mac

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Well this weekend I managed to get enough time in the shop to get the big drawer done. The first thing that had to be done was to groove the sides and front to receive the 1/2" plywood bottom. This is a BIG drawer so I went with the 1/2" to give it some strength. I plowed the grooves at the tablesaw with the stacked dado set to fit fairly tight (I don't like rattling drawers). I was able to cut end to end on the front and back but the sides I cut all the way through on a tail for the front half blinds and stopped the cut at the back.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Groovesidesforbottom.jpg

I used the little trim router and chisels to cleanup the stopped grooves. If you look close one of the sides has been cleaned up the other has not.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Groovycleanup.jpg

After dry fitting the drawer together the glueup was next. I alwasy try to lay everything out for the glueup before starting. Running for this or that after the glue is applied is not a good idea (DAMHIKT).
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Glueupsetup.jpg

This time instead of the self stick pads used as cauls the last time I cut a few traditional cauls to put pressure on the tails during glueup.:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/DrawerDovetailGlueupcauls.jpg
The glue up came out nice and square with no twist to the drawer.

Cleaning up the tails and pins fell to the Rabbetting block plane on the lipped half blinds ..................
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/HalfblindDTcleanup.jpg
.......... and the good old PC belt sander with the MAC dust extraction system (it's no festool but it works great)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Macdustextractionsystem.jpg

Finally I needed to markout for the roundover on the four sides of the drawer front. The original drawing shows a less than complete roundover, just a rounding of the edge leaving a crisp line on the front where the incomplete roundover intersects the flat plane of the front. Hard to explain but I laid out the lines about 3/16 down from the edge.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Drawerliproundovermarkout.jpg

I hit the ends first with my block plane. That way any breakout of the grain will be trimmed off when doing the long grain top and bottom edges.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Roundoverdoendsfirst.jpg

A few minutes with the block plane and a little 150 grit sandpaper on a cork block gave me this result. I like the crisp line on the front!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Drawerliproundovercomplete.jpg

See next post.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Here is the drawer all finished up and installed in the carcass.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Drawerinstalled.jpg
and finally here is the roundover shown right above the front plinth. The roundover softens the drawer edge nicely and doesn't take away from the plinth.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/Bigdrawerbottommarginatplinth.jpg

Well thanks for looking. The next job is to work on the "till" inside the main chest compartment.

Mac

[Jim Becker]

Looking great, Mac! (I would have never thought about using the block plane for the "round over" either...geepers...you have me thinking!)

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Looking great, Mac! (I would have never thought about using the block plane for the "round over" either...geepers...you have me thinking!)

Thanks Jim. I am curious isn't breaking the edges and rounding over corners common work for a block plane? It's more consistent than a piece of sandpaper and much quicker than setting up a router. For a whole chest of drawers I'd set up the router but for one or two drawers the block plane is quicker. Am I in the minority on this? How do other folks round and chamfer edges?

I set my sharp low angle block plane (best for the end grain) for a medium to light cut to start with on this small of a edge treatment. Then as you get close to the profile you want you lighten the cut progressivly untill you are taking the lightest possible of shaving. Three or four passes with 120-150 grit sandpaper on a cork block and the job's done.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Well I found out you can actually turn those knobs for the drawers on one of those spinny things! I thought you had to buy them at a place like Rockler's.

Seriously a fellow WW'er who is in town teaching a class at American Sycamore this week, has said he'd help me turn a couple of dozen knobs out of which two might actually look decent enough to use. This is good because I've put off learning to do this kind of little turning stuff for too long. I've made pens by the dozen but those were pretty straight forward. I actually have to roll a bead and cut a cove for these knobs. I will go with a smooth tennon and glue it in but otherwise I'd like to replicate it like the drawing shows.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/DrawerPulldetail.jpg

Scarry stuff! Wish me luck!

Mac

[Michael Panis]

I'm really enjoying your progress. That roundover is an excellent detail. It's the type of thing you might not notice right away, but it just makes the drawer and plinth look "right."
Looking forward to reading more...

---Mike

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

That roundover is an excellent detail. It's the type of thing you might not notice right away, but it just makes the drawer and plinth look "right."---Mike

Thanks Michael. It is surprising how a little detail can make a big difference. My wife is far from being as anal about little details as I am and she even commented what a difference that roundover on the drawer lip made.

My biggest problem right now is that with the roundover it's hard to get the drawer open, nothing for the finger grab like the previously square edge. Oh well if I can get those knobs turned (or bought) that will be solved.

Mac

[Jerry Olexa]

Mac this is superb work and great attn to detail!! I admire and respect your results...

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Well I did get over to American Sycamore to get some help with turning the knobs but I got to talking to much and didn't get them done! I started turning some round blanks per Mike's (Mike Stafford the instructor of the turning class) instructions.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/Day%2012%20Big%20Drawer%20Finish/ASWRturning2.jpg


The idea is to the blanks and put them in a 4 jaw chuck. That way I can turn whole face of the knob and not cut them out of a series of them on a spindle which would require sandiing of the face. He's thinking like a bowl turner but I like the idea. Unfortunately with the turning class going on there was no 4 jaw chuck free while I was there. I made 4 blanks turning between centers as shown above and had a good time watching the bowl turneres do some of their work. I will get 4 jaw chuck or go use someone elses here soon.

Mac

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Well it's been over a month since I posted that last bit on starting to turn knobs. I did manage to pickup a 4 jaw chuck at Woodcraft when they had them on sale.

In the previous post I was turning multiple knob blanks between centers. I cut them apart and mounted it into my new chuck.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/knobs/Knobblank.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/knobs/BlankinChuck.jpg

I really don't know much about turning like this but I marked out the transitions with a pencil first:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/knobs/Markingblank.jpg

Then I rounded the end of the knob:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/knobs/Roundedend.jpg

After which I took a parting tool and established the major diameters:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/knobs/Sizeddiameters.jpg

At this point I used a tiny gouge and shaped the rest of the knob. unfortunately I didn't get a decent picture of it at that point. After that I used a dowell rod and sanded it all to 400 grit. I ended up with 6 knobs:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/indymac24/Shaker%20Blanket%20Chest/knobs/Sixknobs.jpg

This was fun. I could have bought knobs for a couple of bucks apiece but that's not the point, I guess.

Oh well that's all I've done recently. Thanks

Mac

[Jim Becker]

Nice job on those knobs, Mac...very uniform! Much better than I can do... ;)

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Great work Mac and thanks for all the pics. I got this one bookmarked for future reference!

[Tyler Howell]

Well Done Mac,
How did I miss this. Really enjoying it.:cool:
TJH

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Thanks guys!

Jim, I'm not showing the 4 or 5 I chucked in the waste can! Heck I figure with the $100 for the Nova chuck and the 6-8 hours I spent trudging up the learning curve these knobs cost me something like $50 bucks apiece, could buy them for $5 each or less. It was great fun and a real learning experience so I guess like the visa commercial they are priceless! Now I need to get off my butt and finish the Till and install those knobs. Oh and install the hinges too!

Mac

[David Less]

Mac,

Thanks loads for the insperation. Great job and documentary on your blanket chest.

Can't wait until your next project.

David