Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Blanket Chest
Steve Bellner
>Here are some pictures of a blanket chest I built for our neighbors.
Red oak was finished with Trans-tint water-based dye, followed by shellac and a finish coat of wipe-on poly. The interior was lined with cedar planking from HD.
I'm by no means a professional, but it gives me great satisfaction having one of my pieces prominently displayed in someone else's home. Thanks for looking.
Steve B.
Can I be your neighbor?
Lee Schierer - McKean, PA
>Great looking chest. The following comments are not criticism, just questions because I may have to make a similar chest soon. How did you do the miter corners? Are they just glued or did you do something else. It would appear that the panels are plywood, is this correct? If not how are you allowing for seasonal expansion? How are th legs attached to the bottom?
Lee
VERY nicely done!!
doug f, san clemente, ca
>Outstanding job; your neighbors should be proud.
Are the drawers functional or decorative?
Doug
Great execution of a nice design
Clay Foster
>
Re: Blanket Chest
Jim Shaver Oakville, Ont.
>Beautiful Work Steve,
I am sure that they will treasure this for a long time.
I have a question. The wood grain on the end panels is verticle, while I see the opposite grain direction on the face panels. Did you use veneered panels?
Again a beautiful chest.
Take care,
Jim
Re: Blanket Chest
George@Colonel's Workshop-Havertown PA
>Good Afternoon Steve,
What a beautiful chest. They must be special neighbors. You obviously took a lot of time getting it so "right". I like the vertical cedar orientation very much. Great job.
George
THANK GOODNESS: NO PIANO HINGE !
Mark Valsi
>
Re: Real sweet Blanket Chest
JL
>
THATS NICE/ NICE
Frank of Mantua NJ
>
Re: Can I be your neighbor?
Steve Bellner
>Lee,
The miters on the lid frame are simple glue joints. The frame is joined to the lid via a tounge and groove joint, so I didn't see the need to reinforce the miter. The bracket feet miters are reinforced with a 1/4" hardboard spline. The feet are attached to the base frame with glue and screws. I added a triangular brace block to the back feet, as they don't extend to the back of the chest.
The case is made from 3/4 oak plywood for the sides and bottom. The front and back are rail and style type frames with 1/4" floating oak panels. They connect to the sides with tounge and groove joints.
I got the basic plan from Woodsmith No. 145. They go through a very thorough construction sequence in the presentation of the plan.
Steve Bellner
Re: Blanket Chest
Steve Bellner
>Hi Jim,
The sides and bottom of the chest are made from 3/4" oak veneer plywood. The front and back are rail and style with 1/4" oak plywood floating panels. The panels are attached to the sides with tounge and groove joints. The tricky part was applying the moulding to the front panel. I had to try to keep the glue off the panels as much as possible so the panels could still move freely. I think it will end up being a very sturdy piece.
Steve Bellner
Re: VERY nicely done!!
Steve Bellner
>Yes, the drawer fronts are purely decorative. The original plan called for two functional drawers, but as we were reviewing plans, we decided the drawers took up too much volume inside the main chest, so I deleted them. The original plan is in Woodsmith No. 145.
After I had attached the drawer fronts, the neighbor decided she didn't even want hardware on the drawers. I think it would have looked good either way.
Steve Bellner
Re: Blanket Chest/...Molding question
lee beeden
>Wow I have to say that if you' are by no means a professional', your doing a very good job at bluffing it. Very nice proportions and i especially like the feet!! I have a question regarding the mouldings you have used on the flat panels. How did you make these? I have some shaker style cabinets that i am making and was thinking of putting some kind of moulding to dress them up a little. Only thing is i'm pretty much limited to the basic 12 piece router set from lee valley.
Once again very nice work...............perhaps you should be doing this thing full-time?
Lee
Thank You Steve
Jim Shaver Oakville, Ont.
>Thanks Steve for your post, a wonderful blanket chest.....
:-)
Take care,
Jim
The house next door is for sale
Mark Goodall - ATL - tooljunkie
>THe house next door to mine is for sale. Please feel free to buy it and move it and make stuff like this for me anytime.
Very nice!
Happy Woodworking!
Somehow
Robert Hutchins
>. . . I have this vision of soda fountain geysers and flaming gizmos and large bonfires . . . .
Nevermind!
Re: Blanket Chest/...Molding question
Steve Bellner
>Lee,
The panel moulding was made at the router table using a 1/4" classic ogee bit (the one with the fillet in the middle). Using the top half of the bit, I ran the stock vertically to make a roundover. Then I raised the bit and laid the stock flat with the rounded end facing up and ran it through the full profile of the bit. Finally, I cut the moulding to width on the table saw.
I thought I could save some time by jointing both ends of the stock and then run both sides at the same time, but I found out that even the slightest bit of taper in the main stock really was magnified when the moulding was cut. I had quite a few quarter-swan odds-and-ends pieces sitting around, and that's what I used for quite a bit of the moulding stock. It turned out not much of my odds-and-ends were very square.
The thing about not being a professional has to do with the amount of time I spend on things. If I paid myself minimum wage, the chest would probably be worth $40,000 if you know what I mean. I really admire all the folks who can do this kind of stuff without all the rework, and can turn out a piece without creating a scrap heap large enough to affect the global carbon balance.
Steve B.