| Project by HeirloomWoodworking | posted 115 days ago | 306 views | 4 times favorited | 13 comments |  |
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Here is a piece that I recently created.
It is a a simple cherry blanket chest, made using raised panel construction and lined in aromatic cedar..
The interesting part of the piece to me it the wood.
I came by a load of scap wood from a window and door company. Literally a pickup load of hundreds pieces of wood. The rough lumber was a mixture of oak, poplar, birch, cherry and walnut. In various widths, thickness, lengths and grades.
I started by sorting the wood by species then worked on sawing, and planing the pieces to straighten and true them. I then tried to match grain and color (in the cherry and walnut especially) of each of the hundreds of pieces of lumber that I had laying on my garage floor. That was too much hassle, so I just gathered up a pile of the sticks, made sure I had at least 2 smooth sides on each piece, then randomly edge glued and clamped them into individual boards approximately 1×12”x12’.
After the glue dried I ran the boards through my surface planer until I had nice smooth and true 1×12’s, some of them made of 12-15 individual pieces of lumber. (I am sure that my neightbors were very tired of hearing the hours of annoying whining of that planer.)
With the oak I made the queen a new bathroom vanity, bathroom wall cabinet, and doors for the linen closet. With the cherry I made this chest. I once tried to count the individual pieces of wood in the piece, but it is in the hundreds.
I like the look of the contrasting heart and sap wood pieces that occur randomly throughout the case. The only metal fastners on the piece are in the hinge and the lid supports, all other joints are glue only.
I finished it with several coats of Watco Dainish oil (natural) and 5 coats of semi-gloss poly. I have made several chests of this type, but I think that I will be keeping this one in the family.
Thanks For letting me share.
Trev
-- Trevor Premer Head Termite and Servant to the Queen - Heirloom Woodworking
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13 comments so far
CharlieM1958
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3504 posts in 607 days
posted 115 days ago
Beautiful work, Trev. Talk about sweet scraps!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
teenagewoodworker
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1682 posts in 156 days
posted 115 days ago
wow. that looks like you spent hours choice selecting all the wood out of a lumber dealer for it to look so great. i can’t believe that you made it out of scrap.
Scott Bryan
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7762 posts in 210 days
posted 115 days ago
Trev,
This is a beautiful chest. I am sure that your wife would not let this one get away. The different colors of the cherry add a nice detail to the top. Aand the raised panels make this a very nice piece. All this is made from scraps (and a little hard work on your part)!!!!!!
Very nice.
Thanks for the post.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
rikkor
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6465 posts in 263 days
posted 115 days ago
That is great. Its beauty just sings, and salvaged lumber makes it even better. Good job.
-- Maplewood, MN
Grumpy
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3782 posts in 239 days
posted 115 days ago
Great job, stands out from the rest.
-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python
Robb
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308 posts in 322 days
posted 115 days ago
That really looks great; you’ve inspired me to use some of my scraps more productively! Great work!
-- Robb
GaryK
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8182 posts in 376 days
posted 115 days ago
Great job. Makes me think more about what I throw away.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
ND2ELK
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1822 posts in 162 days
posted 114 days ago
Hi Trev
Nice looking blanket chest. What a beautiful piece from scrap. Thanks for posting.
Tom
-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa
cajunpen
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5256 posts in 454 days
posted 114 days ago
That is a sweet chest. I really like the frame and panel construction. Wish I could find a pickup load of scrap.
-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/
Cooper
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8 posts in 102 days
posted 94 days ago
Nice chest, do you have an idea what the top weights? I like the stays you used but was concerned on the closing weight of a chest I built. My top is around 15 lbs. and is 44”x 20”.
-- Jason, New York
HeirloomWoodworking
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19 posts in 128 days
posted 94 days ago
Cooper,
If memory serves me correct, the lid weighed something like 23lbs, and the weight was a big concern for me when choosing the correct support.
I believe that these are the lid supports that I used. From Rockler.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=411&filter=lid%20support
Good Luck with your project, and share a picture(s) with us when your have it completed.
Trev
-- Trevor Premer Head Termite and Servant to the Queen - Heirloom Woodworking
Cooper
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8 posts in 102 days
posted 92 days ago
will do thanks
-- Jason, New York
Steffen
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229 posts in 424 days
posted 25 days ago
Very nice chest Trev….
-- Steffen