One man's trash, another man's trophy (case)

[C. in Indy]

I've been itching to rework another machinist's chest.   After the last boxes recovered over several years, I narrowed down a 2022 search.  I realized I don't actually need a (hinged) top "till", and I consider the front-panel to be optional.   True Gerstner's are the best but they reflect that in their cost, even when falling apart.

This no-name oak box just came in today!


Just enough missing parts to make it interesting:

   



Wood can be planed clean, for the most part, but the grain on the carcass isn't as pretty as quartersawn or rift-sawn:

   



I think I have enough oak on hand to make whatever I decide to replace:

   


With weather getting nice, I won't be on it very often, but I heard once an old German proverb.... "work is not like a shy animal,  it will still be there when you come back to it".

Chris

[museumguy]

I love these type of threads. I bought a cardboard box full 0f original Gerstner drawers. One day, I will make a case to hold them, hopefully authentic looking. Keep us posted with your progress please.

[C. in Indy]

Many thanks, museumguy!


My mind is working on this with some occasional shop visits and picture taking.   Main thought trails are now:

(1.)  The wood is probably more recoverable than I thought

   


(2.)  The carcass joinery is a locking rabbet style, which plays into the next thoughts about re-build-ability and perhaps re-proportioning.

(3.)  I feel like the proportions need to be adjusted.  The drawers are kind of long, and I don't think they'd be practical and sturdy if fully loaded.  One of my guilty pleasures is watching car-channel TV programs like Iron Resurrection, Full Custom Garage, etc.
       So...   I am actually thinking about a "chop and lower" approach here, rendered in poor-man's photoshop:

   


Chris

[toolmiser]

I've got two that I need to make a couple drawers and fronts for. Always so little time and ambition.

[C. in Indy]

I took off all the corner-metals and broke down the carcass with my rawhide mallet.

This allowed a nice sweeping pass with my No. 14 plane over the 'beauty' pieces.   But the top did crack after some whacking, so it's now gluing back together, using 3 cam-clamps:

   

[C. in Indy]

Both the top and the bottom boards needed gluing back together.   Once that was done, I decided to proceed with the "chop and lower" plan.   About 3/4" of height and 2" of width are now removed from further relevance.

Of course, now I have to go and narrow the width of every drawer....

   

[toolmiser]

I've got two that I need to make a couple drawers and fronts for.  Always so little time and ambition.

Correction I have three.  I guess my shop needed a little tidying up.  I 'm hoping to get them back in shape and give two of them to my girls for jewelry boxes.  I'm sure they will want them (yeah right).

[C. in Indy]

The planned ~ 2 inches of width reduction is rippling through every lateral piece on the whole thing.   I still like the idea, but the workload went way up.

Here the plywood back is freshly re-sized, edge rabbets tuned with my 140 plane.   I had chiseled and jack-planed away the outermost ugly brown layer of plywood (which looked to be 'peeled' rather than 'planar sliced' veneer), and I plan to glue some better-figured oak veneer onto it:

   

[C. in Indy]

Top-o-the-Mornin' to You!

And... figured-grain veneer is a pain to work with, but I'm using what I had on hand.    It's not visually perfect, but this revised carcass is now rock solid.    Up next will be a lot of drawers.    Along the way I figured out the one missing drawer is of slightly different height than the other 7 drawers (!) ....

   

   

[Arlin Eastman]

And the rest of the day to you.


Just looking at your wall and thinking if you need any trimming just use the hatchet.