Re: A Project For Miss T

[BrokenOlMarine]

A couple months ago, Miss Tina asked me about making her a "Sewing Chest." 
  Simple I thought, a tool box for thread and needles.  Not hardly. 
  This was going to be something similar to the pendulum cradles I had made for the grand kids as they came along.  She wanted something to hold the yarn that she uses when she crochets, with holes in the top of the chest for the yarn to feed out of, keeping things neat and organized.  "Just something knocked out in pine or oak would be fine," she said with a sly smile.  We have been married for more than twenty five years.  She knows two things.... I don't just knock things out... and I have too many nice woods in the wood barn to make anything for HER out of pine. 


She sent me a couple pics of what she had seen on line to give me ideas, told me how big she wanted HER chest to be, and some guidelines and / or suggestions, and I spent about a week making rough drawings.  Then, I showed her a "tight" drawing with measurements and accurate angles.  "Nice," she said, "That'll do 'er."  She had questions, but she would have questions over the next two months, and of course I would ask for her input on this and that.  I wanted her to have a "Wow!" reaction at the end.

[BrokenOlMarine]

The first step was going to be to find the wood for the components.  I went out to the wood shed, the old boathouse where I stored the wood.  I found a slab of spalted maple, and I knew we were good.  I started off by cutting a section off that would produce the lengths I needed for the sides.  Then I ripped them up the middle and book matched them.  After some work on the jointer and planer, I ended up with the panels to put together two sides 18" x 10".

   

   

[stav]

This sounds like it should be an interesting build along. I have never seen a sewing chest with holes for thread to feed through.

[BrokenOlMarine]

I had planned on the entire chest being spalted maple, however, I had a giant stack of black walnut thanks to help in processing twenty logs by Jstraw and his brother several months before.  They came up from another county and cut the logs to manageable lengths for me so I could run them thru the band saw mill.  Might as well get some use from that gorgeous wood.  So, contrasting rails. 
  I spent a couple days processing the slabs of walnut to make the rails and shape them with the spoke shave and cut the dadoes needed to form the slot for the side panels.  Then form the rabbits in the panels so they fit properly, but in the end, it all came together.

   

   

[BrokenOlMarine]

Next up was forming the basket ends.  Tina called the shape for the end panels the coffin.  I cut another section off the slab, ripped and bookmatched sections and played with the panels until I found the ones that most complimented, and formed the two ends that were wide enough.

   

   
Once the ends were glued up and solid, I made up the cardboard template, taped the two panels together and cut them out.

   

[BrokenOlMarine]

much more to follow

[Stwood_]

   

[BrokenOlMarine]

Next up was the handle for the top of the chest.  I took a piece of the walnut and began by cutting a 2" by 3" x 20" board and began shaping it.  By hand, with one of my favorite tools in the shop, the Veritas Spoke Shave.  I love using it, and it's like therapy.  The only sound in the shop is the whisp of the spoke shave and the air isn't filled with router dust.

 

   

   

Once I had the handle in the shape I wanted, I gave it a light sanding and set it aside for later.
Next up, the wing doors.  They would fit at the top of the chest, afixed to the cross bar, where the holes would be drilled, and open, like wings. 

[BrokenOlMarine]

I started on the wing doors by choosing slabs of black walnut and beginning to book match so I would have blanks to work from that would fit the opening and be long enough to hinge from the center and rest on the side panels, which is the way Miss Tina wanted them to work.  This turned out to be a lot harder than I had planned as the pieces that looked the best were not flat and easily usable, they had to be worked a LOT to become flat panels.  So... I worked them a lot.  I ended up cutting most of them into quarters, book matching the quarters then rejoining, then flattening.  Eventually I ended up with the size panels I needed for two doors.

Rough Panels:

   
Book Matched:

   
and eventually, the Concept:

   

After a lot of work, I got them to where I wanted them and moved on to the next step.  Flexibility, the name of the game.

[BrokenOlMarine]

Got back to work on the side panels, with them glued up, I had to trim them to length, then make sure they were both exactly the same height.  Afterward, I decided that the squared edges on the top and bottom were boring. 

   

I went to work with my favorite hand tool in the shop again... remember?  The spoke shave.

   

After a couple hours of careful work, I had turned those squared edges into something graceful.

   



The day wasn't over yet.  After lunch, I was looking at the wing doors. 
  They just didn't work for me.  I wasn't happy with the look or the contrast.  The top of the chest was too dark.  I cut another slab and got to work.  Same deal, but across, then rip.  Then book match.  

I turned this:

   

Into this:

   

These two panels would later become the wing doors.