Reproduction of a 17th Century-type English Carved Chest

[James Owen]

A couple of photos of a reproduction 17th Century-type English Carved Chest that I built as a wedding present for my son and new daughter-in-law.

100% Neander project. Traditional joinery: frame and panel carcase, ship-lapped floor boards, and draw-bored mortise and tenon joints. Solid walnut throughout, including a few boards that were locally-harvested, some 20 years ago, here in New Mexico. Gimmel hinges. Boiled linseed oil finish. From rough-sawn lumber to final coat of BLO and installation of the gimmel hinges, there are about 450 hours construction/carving time and about 50 hours finishing time in this piece (not including drying time for glue and BLO). The carving was the most time-consuming part of the project -- probably somewhere around 300 hours.

This chest is based on an early 17th Century English linen chest. The pattern is in V. J. Taylor's book, Period Furniture Projects. This is a piece that I have wanted to build for several years, but was hesitant to do so, because of the carving. The carving patterns on this chest are not the patterns on the original, but are ones that I chose, based on patterns that I learned how to carve via the DVDs mentioned below.

Inspiration and "technical assistance" for doing the carving came from the two DVDs on 17th Century New England Carving by Peter Follansbee, and from his blog, Joiner's Notes. On the DVDs, the explanations of the layout procedures were extremely detailed and clear, and the step-by-step demonstrations of the carving techniques took the mystery out of what had seemed (to me) to be a very complicated art form. The historical notes, commentary, diagrams, and photos on his blog filled in many of the details that I had questions about from the DVDs. Many, many thanks to Peter Follansbee for researching and making all of this great information available to the public!!

First project with solid-wood frame and panel construction, and the first time I've ever tried anything even close to this extensive or sophisticated in the way of carving. Regardless of the numerous flaws/mistakes, it has been a really fun project, with many new things learned.

Best of all, my son and his new bride really like their new chest, and in the end, that's all that really matters....



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[Michael Peet]

Wow! I really like the carvings. Great job, James.

Mike

[Sean Richards]

Nice work!

[george wilson]

James,this is what we need to see more of on the forum: Pictures of interesting work!! It looks like a nice job to me.

I have one suggestion,if you don't mind: Next time you make a project,carefully stain the light wood areas to get the color more even. Keep posting your work!

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

That is gorgeous, and great work. I've been playing around a little bit with carving; yours looks great.

I was thinking along what george was saying with the light wood - the wood grain, it seems to be fighting the carving for attention a little bit - I'd actually like the little light streak on a plain panel. I have a feeling though that the fight between the wood grain and carving probably isn't quite as strident in real life - it seems like your lighting (maybe a camera flash?) has kind of subdued the carving work in these photos.

I'm really love this piece. I'm a big fan of these types of pieces, but for whatever reason, oak doesn't really speak to me. But I'm really in love with this style of piece in walnut.

Really, I just really really like this. I'd love to have something like this in my house. I think I've got a reason to buy that walnut I saw today . . .

[Bruce Page]

Spectacular piece James. I love the style and the carving is beautiful.
I see you have the same sprinkler timer as I do. I hope it keeps better time than mine!

[Calvin Hobbs]

Great project! I am a big fan of this type of chest, and you did a great job. And I love all the Peter Follansbee information from his blog, very valuable.

I hope this is cherised by your son and his wife throughout a very happy and blessed marriage. Cal

[Chris Vandiver]

Really a very pleasing piece. Very nice work and thank you for posting it.

[Eric Brown]

I love seeing this kind of work too. Any tricks you care to share? Thanks for posting it.

Eric

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

. . . I love seeing this kind of work too. Any tricks you care to share? . . .

Even if there aren't tricks, we'd love to see some progress shots!

[Jon Toebbe]

Beautiful work! The carvings look great, and the proportions of the whole piece look just right to my eye. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to hear more about the construction process.

[daniel lane]

Very nice chest, James. I've always been petrified at the thought of trying that level of carving, certain that I'd foul it up and ruin a project. Sounds like maybe I should watch one or both of those DVDs and take a page from your book and just try it! And I don't mean to contradict George, but I like the light streaks.


daniel

[James Owen]

Spectacular piece James. I love the style and the carving is beautiful.
I see you have the same sprinkler timer as I do. I hope it keeps better time than mine!

Thanks Bruce!!

My sprinkler timer probably doesn't keep any better time than yours: mine seems to gain about 10 minutes a week, so I'm constantly re-setting it......

[Jack Curtis]

Fantastic work, James, amazing. But I'm a little confused. I thought all those early chests were painted.

[James Owen]

Beautiful work! The carvings look great, and the proportions of the whole piece look just right to my eye. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to hear more about the construction process.

Thank you all for your kind words!!

*****

I'll post photos of the construction sequence here on SMC shortly; it will take a couple of days to select the photos, edit them (for file size, so they'll upload to SMC), and do the write-ups to accompany them.

For those with a Facebook account, there are photos documenting the construction on my Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000026412279) There are three albums -- nearly 400 photos -- showing how it was built. Just click on the "Photos" button on the upper left. The albums are open to the public, so you don't need to be Facebook friends with me to be able to view them. There are also about a half-dozen or so more albums (also open to the public) with other woodworking projects, for those who may be interested.

*****

@ George: Thanks for the suggestion! I internally debated how to treat the lighter wood for quite a while, and in the end, decided to leave it as is; I just like the contrast and the color. I know that it competes for attention with the carving, as do some of the other grain patterns in the frame and the panels. Traditionally/technically -- probably not the best design decision....

@ Joshua: My (digital) photography still has quite a long ways to go, as can be seen from these photos, and I'm still learning how to get the most out of my digital camera. The lighting in my shop is not the best for photography, and, unfortunately, the flash in my digital camera (it's a several-years-old 7 MP compact type) is pretty basic and tends to wash the color and details out, so I avoid using it unless I absolutely must; that sometimes results in grainy, low-definition photos. Looks like it's about time to get a good book on digital photography and improve my skills in that area. (Once upon a time, I could get pretty decent photos in difficult lighting with a 35mm SLR and either Kodachrome or Ektachrome, but, sadly, both of those films have been discontinued.....)

@ Daniel: I'd suggest starting with the first DVD -- it teaches several different patterns; the second DVD concentrates exclusively on the "S Scroll" type of pattern. As a side note, one of the nice things about this style of carving is that the required tool set is pretty small: a dozen or so carving chisels, a pair of dividers, and a couple of other tools that most woodworkers already have in their shop.