Just a simple jewelry chest - but some nice wood

[John Huber]

My wife weaves necklaces where the decorative part is about the size of your palm. She needed a chest that would allow them to lay flat. The design idea comes from a chest of drawers that I examined at the Yale Furniture Study (a great place for the furniture design lover!).

The jewelry chest is approximately 17" w x 6" h x 9" d. I got the curly maple from CurlyWoods.com. The top is book-matched. The finish is David Marks' using General Finishes Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal.
http://www.djmarks.com/stories/faq/What_is_the_mix_ratio_for_the_Linseed_Oil_Tung_Oil _and_Urethane_46687.asp

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. I'd like to improve both my design taste and my construction skills.

[Randall Houghton]

John
Great piece and great craftmanship.Nice match on a beautiful piece of wood. I like the inlet pulls that don't distract from the grain pattern. Great job.
Regards
Randy

[Jim Becker]

Very kewel! I love the "pulls" on the ends of the drawers, too.

[Chris Jenkins]

You asked for a change? OK here is something I would have tried. Love the curly, but I would have accented it. I would have wrapped the drawers in a thin edge banding, maybe Wenge or Walnut? Just a little accent to pronouce the drawers a bit? Maybe even do the same to the top? Though edgebanding all four sides of the drawers would have been tough to do with the cool drawer pulls you incorperated. Makes me wonder what two sided edgebanding would look like?

Either way cool project.

[glenn bradley]

That is a neat little chest. I love the finger pull detail.

[Glen Blanchard]

That is beautiful. Great job. Suggestions? How about just a small amount of contrasting wood somewhere? Other than that, I see nothing I would change. It's awesome.

[Jude Tuliszewski]

Sweet, great figure on the maple. Ditto on way you put the pulls to have a nice clean front.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

I'll give a contrarian view about the contrasting woods. I like the box the way is except for the drawer "wall thickness". Thedrawer materiel seems a bit thick and then with the applied drawer fronts it is accentuated. I'd thin the walls down a bit maybe the front wall a bit more than the rest and then apply the thicker drawer front with the neat little finger pull in the end. Could you do a rabet edge on the drawer ends and join the sides directly to the curly wood front?

[Don Bullock]

I'd hate to see what you'd call complex. That's beautiful. The design is very creative, especially with the "pulls" on the ends of the drawers. Well done!!

[Jim Becker]

After reading Mac's comments and going back to the pictures, I have to agree about the drawers...the sides are not optimally proportioned in thickness. Not horrible, but not optimal.

That said, I also like the total curly maple setup on this and don't wish for any other contrasting woods.

[Brad Trent]

Very nice work. I like the simple lines that tend to make the drawers disappear. I think it helps to focus attention on the beautiful wood.

[everett lowell]

love the wood and your design,great job!

[Peter Stahl]

Very nicely done John!

[Hans Braul]

Nice job John. I agree that the piece doesn't need contrasting wood. It's quite eye-catching enough with the spectacular figure. Your wife must be very pleased.

Hans

[Ralph Dobbertin]

Great workmanship, especially on the drawer pulls. I too would have thought about some contrasting colour. Perhaps some 1/8" banding about a half inch in around the top. Perhaps even some banding on the top of the drawer fronts, so that you see it when you open the drawers. Also I was wondering about feet...no suggestions but something I would play with. Finally some sort of edge treatment, perhaps a small bevel. Just some thoughts...either way, a very noce piece.

[Neil Lamens]

Hi John:

Really GREAT!!!..........You continue to keep pushing your skill-set and that's very admirable.

Neil

[Ian Gillis]

Very nice box - much nicer than the one that inspired it IMO.

As far as the contrasting wood question, I don't think you need it. The fiddleback maple makes a a bold statement on its own. If anything, I would go for some low contrast stringing -perhaps holly. Is satinwood still available?

But really, it's a very contemporary design - very nice just as it is.

.02

[Glenn Clabo]

I love the wood...I love the design. Because we all want a different look at what we do... My suggestion...think softer and lighter. This is for a lady...I'd make the edges a little softer...like the the angle at the end of the box...the pulls just a little "rounder"...the draw fronts a little thinner.
Of course this is just my humble opinion...and I really love what you have as is.

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, that is some fine work and some beautiful tiger maple there! Nice!

Corey

[John Huber]

Yes, I agree with your opinion that the drawer sides are too thick. This was my first set of drawers without ball bearing slides. The maple runners are glued to the carcass sides and slide in dadoes on the outside of the drawer box sides. Similarly, the drawer bottoms fit into dadoes on the inside of the drawer box. With drawers only about an inch tall, I was concerned about drawer side wall strength and failure. In retrospect, I was too conservative. I greatly appreciate your suggestions.

BTW the gaps between the drawer fronts are 0.10" +/- 0.005"

[lou sansone]

great looking box... my only comment is that it would have been nice to use a single board on the top, and as others have said, do half blind dovetails on the fronts .
lou