Nixon's Toy/Blanket Chest

[John Hain]

Awhile back, John Nixon created a nice little blanket chest. I believe the general concept has been used by a couple others since that time. I figured it was my turn to take a try at it. My nephew (for his first birthday) requested a toy chest. I swear I heard him ask me for it. Anyway, it's been awhile since I've posted anything I've made -- so I figured it's time.



This was the rough stock -- quarter sawn white oak, 4/4, originally about 8-9ft long. I like to thank a couple of members here for pointing me to the right supplier in the Omaha area.

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Milling lumber in the new basement shop. Granted, the basement isn't finished and neither is the shop. So, basically, here's the results of the milling process. Note that it's soooo dusty, the flash is bouncing off dust particles. Thank the Lord for respirators.


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One of my favorite parts of any project is finding the right color and finish. Here's two samples I made early on. Probably hard to see the difference -- my camera is pretty low-end.


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More to come.....

[John Hain]

Found the dimensions I wanted and did some glue ups. I started using a scraper routinely about 6 months ago. How did I work without it?


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Once the panels were dimensioned, it was time to convert the dovetail jig to handle longer panels. I have the PC4212 jig and it was relatively easy to convert. After some trial and error, I decided to screw it into my router table. This worked very well. I'll be keeping that jig for future reference. Here it is with a trial.

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More to come......

[John Hain]

Time to actually do the real work with the PC4212.


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Next, some pics of it before some gluing. The DTs fit great!

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More to come.....

[John Hain]

Sorry to keep replying to the original, but there's a limit on images I can enter per reply.


Next -- Dovetails need gluing......with a little help from blue tape for squeeze out.


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......and some clamps. I used Urac 185 for this glue-up. I HATE rushing glue-ups. It worked darn well.

Next is the top cover. The middle is 3/4" Oak ply. I'm not even sure what kind of cut the veneer is, but the contrast from the QSWO is what I was going for. I decided not to miter the top edges. I just don't like the look of miters. I actually though the endgrain would look good up front to bring out the dovetails.

[John Hain]

Time to get rid of the dovetail over hang. I had a good 1/8" overhand on the ends to get off. I tried a block plane and a #4, but the QSWO wasn't budging. So, enter Mr. Festool and 60 grit paper. That made pretty quick work of the overhang. The end result was nice and flush.


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Well, I usually make a big mistake during a project at some point. And this project was no different! I misplaced one side in the DT jig and the result......

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The result was about 1/8" misalignment. On the bottom of the case, it won't make a difference since it'll be covered. But on the top, it's a big ugly error.

So, the fix. I made a quick 1/8" strip of the QSWO and glued it to the side of the error. I figured I'd treat it like a piece of veneer.....thus mucho clampos.

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And the end result......after some planing and sanding.......a perfect fit; flush on both ends. I'd never notice it unless I knew it was there.


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As usual, more to come.....

[John Hain]

Here's a couple more pics of the fix:

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Time to turn attention to the base. The base will be mitered around the bottom of the box/case. First, a rabbit was cut that will house the box portion. After I had the depth for that, I laid out the curves in the bottom. The curves were made on a MDF jig first and then taped to the respective side and rough cut on the BS. The final pass made with a flush trim bit on the router. Here's the end results.....


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Now the part I've dreaded from the beginning.....mitering the base. I wouldn't think it should be a big deal. But my TS is a POS and the size is too big to fit in the miter saw. I could bevel cut it on the miter, but that NEVER seems to work well on a precision level, in my limited experience. So, to the cheapo TS it went. I set the saw to 45 degrees. Then checked it with my newest toy....the Wixey angle finder. Of course, the real angle was about 47 degrees. That would have left a huge gap. So, when I try to get it lower, there's a table screw in the TS that doesn't allow the blade to tilt further. A quick grinding later, the screw was no longer an issue. So, the blade gets set at 44 degrees to eliminate any gap in the final miter product. Here the Wixey. I love that thing.

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[Jeffrey Makiel]

Wow! I love these kinds of posts. Lots of pictures. Please keep 'em comin'.

I've poked around John Nixon's website. If I remember correctly, he has some very professional looking videos. It's a great way to spend lunchtime at work. :)

-Jeff :)

[John Hain]

The miters are cut one at a time to fit the previous existing miter and the individual corner. It actually goes wonderfully smooth and it's ready for a dry fit.


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Next biscuits are cut for strength.


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Finally, the whole thing goes together. TBIII is the glue used on the miters and in the rabbit; and mucho clampos are applied.


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I like to make the bottom/floor of the chest from pegboard. There's alot of stuff that gets spilled in toy chests and some things that smell. The pegboard doesn't look the greatest, but it breathes and drains well. I'll put that in later. It will be sandwitched between the box and some 90 degrees supports in the miter joints.

........and that's all I've got for now. I'll place the pegboard tonight and get to sanding tomorrow. This is my first bigger project for the Festool......and I can't wait.

[gary Zimmel]

John

The toy chest is comming along great.

I bet your nephew is going to love it..

[Mike Cutler]

Nice work John. That's a real classic you're building there, destined to be an heirloom.
The pictorial is fabulous, especially the "recovery shots".

Nice work all around.

[John Hain]

Quick update.


Sanded yesterday with the new Festool 150/3. Great sander! Put on some brown toned stain today - I don't even don't the color. Seems like everyones colors are different and the name just doesn't mean anything. Anyway here's the post-stain pic:


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Here's the bottom with the pegboard sandwitched into place and one pic of the inside.

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[Norman Pyles]

Thank you for all the photos. Great job.

[Barry Bruner]

I like the step by step and I really like your dove tails and quarter sawn oak. As pretty as it is going to be I think I would limit it to blankets only. Barry Bruner

[Jim Becker]

Coming along great!

And I'm glad you showed your fix for the dovetail boo-boo...and how if you do it right, it just disappears. Nice....

[John Hain]

I like the step by step and I really like your dove tails and quarter sawn oak. As pretty as it is going to be I think I would limit it to blankets only. Barry Bruner

LOL. My nephew will take objection probably!

Thanks for all the positive replies. Any critiques on things I could/should have done better? Maybe I shouldn't ask that until it's actually done......!

[John Hain]

Finished pics.............

My sister-in-law likes her furniture to shine like glass. So the chest got sanded to 400 grit, coated with 2 coats of sealer Waterlox, and then 2 coats of gloss Waterlox. It's way too shiny for my tastes, but they'll like it. Heck, the sides of the chest are like mirrors.

Overall, it was a fun project. A couple firsts for me.......a new bandsaw, a new Festool sander, first project completely done with Waterlox, first time using the Porter Cable dovetailing jig on pieces over 12". Everything worked out pretty well.



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[Tim Thomas]

That looks awesome, and being made from solid oak I think it should probably stand up to anything your nephew could throw at it. The white oak and dovetails should make it pretty well bomb proof. I've got a nephew of my own who might need one of these. He won't be one year old until next August though, so maybe I should just make him a rattle. :)

Did you get the hardware from Rockler? And how do you like those hinges? They seem to do a great job of holding up the top and I know it has to be pretty heavy.

[John Hain]

That looks awesome, and being made from solid oak I think it should probably stand up to anything your nephew could throw at it. The white oak and dovetails should make it pretty well bomb proof. I've got a nephew of my own who might need one of these. He won't be one year old until next August though, so maybe I should just make him a rattle. :)

Did you get the hardware from Rockler? And how do you like those hinges? They seem to do a great job of holding up the top and I know it has to be pretty heavy.

I believe I ordered the hardware from Rockler. I may have used Lee Valley....I ordered them some time ago......

I've used those hinges and stops for a couple projects and really like them. They haven't worn out.

[J. Z. Guest]

VERY nice, John. I just love through dovetails. When I start making drawers, I think I'm going to do them with through dovetails all around. "What's the point of doing them if you're going to hide them?" I say.

[John Nixon]

John, you did a fantastic on this chest. The QSWO looks awesome, and your choice of finish sets it off very nice!

I think the arches on the sides of your chest look much better than mine. Yours are more in proportion. I felt the arch was a bit too sever on the sides.

Again, great job...and thanks for the honorable mention.

John