Solid Cedar Raised Panel Blanket Chest

That’s a great looking chest. I usually see them with cedar just on the inside.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Love the all-cedar look!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

This is a beautiful chest. I can smell it from here. :)

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.

Great looking chest, really like those raised panels, they give it a different look than most cedar furniture.
Did a great job.

-- Mike, Bruce Mississippi = Jack of many trades master of none

WOW! Awesome job on the chest. The cedar is really striking and I like it very much.

-- Paul D, Atlanta GA

Always have enjoyed all cedar chests. The raised panels really dress it up. You did a beautiful job on it. Thank you for posting.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

Nice chest. The finish looks fantastic!

beautiful chest

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ Stay so busy you don't have time to die.

Beautiful chest. Cedar finishes up really pretty.

-- Working at Woodworking http://www.VillageLaneFurniture.com

I love the looks of your chest. Geat job.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Very pretty chest. I made one for my daughter last year out of cherry. Wish I would have used the raised panel look. Love the look, bet it smells great too. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

I’m glad this is a woodworking forum, because with all the comments that say “nice chest,” “beautiful chest” or trifern’s “I love the looks of your chest,” someone could take that the wrong way. Sorry, I’m terrible for that …worse than paper….LOL

By the way “NICE CHEST!!”

This type of cedar is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful woods known to mankind. I am building a bookshelf out of 4/4 cedar and the marbling effects, swirls, and occasional flame figuring, make my eyes (and nose) tingle with delight.

-- Lane Custom Guitars and Basses

Great looking chest. I want to do one just like it.

-- Yogi Sez... Work like you will live forever...LIVE like you will die TOMORROW...

I can appreciate the pain cedar is to work with. It is brittle, prone to split, chip, loose knots, etc. This helps me appreciate this one all the more. It is beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with us.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

Great choice of wood Tooldad. Nice piece of furniture.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

As a woodworker it pains me to say this, but I probably burned just as much wood in the fireplace from this project as there is in the project. I was very selective in the boards I used and yielded all I could from them. However needing pieces at least 2ft or 4ft long with tight or no knots was fun to scavenge for. This was the equivalent of #2 or worse wood grade material. I did end up redoing one of the raised panels due to chipping on the shaper. All it required was cutting off about 4” and then regluing another piece to it to return it to the finished width. Unfortunately I have learned from experience, and this time it payed off. I always surface and mill a few extra boards when making stiles, rails, and raised panels. It is so much easier to run one or 2 extra pieces through the planer while you are already in the motions, than to try to match up one later when something splits. Then it is a real headache trying to get an exact thickness or width match. This time the extra preparation paid off.

Believe it or not, I was asking $325 for this chest at a craft fair which the school I work at was hosting. Got lots of compliments, but no takers. On the other hand, I have to build 2 out of oak @ $375 each for someone as a result of displaying this one. Darn my luck sometimes.

Very nice. I bet shaping the panels was a real challenge.

Beautiful wood. Great peice. I can’t belive that is cedar!

-- Tyler, Illinois

Great chest and a great finish on it. I can almost smell the cedar

-- Larry...IF A MAN SPEAKS IN THE FOREST AND THERE'S NO WOMAN TO HEAR HIM, IS HE STILL WRONG ?

love that shine…I am sure the cedar smell is great…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

The grain patterns are beautiful. Great job with the Cedar. Don’t fret about your luck… at least you’re gonna make a good profit on the Pine chests!!

-- Learn something everyday!

I love the marbeling effect on this, and the excellent finish! Awesome post! :)

My wife has a lucky cousin. This turned out to be his wedding gift. I made it for a show piece at a craft fair. Got 2 jobs from it, but they wanted oak boxes. Either way it was a fun project to build. I still have enough cedar from that tree in grandpa’s yard to make one more smaller 6 panel (2 front/2 back / 1 each side). The cousin getting the chest is wife’s family and it all came from wife’s and cousin’s grandpa’s yard, so a lot of sentimental value in that gift also.

I absolutley love this chest. A few weeks ago I received a gift of cedar boards ranging from 6, 8 and 12 inches. I have been looking for cedar chest plans and now I know what to do. I only hope mine turns out half as good as yours. Beautiful job.

-- Bill from Lithia Springs, GA I love the smell of sawdust in the morning.

This chest is really good. He has a smaller one that he made and it had like 27 clamps on it. No mechanical fasteners. That was a sight!

-- Your not a true woodworker until you blow your nose and saw dust comes out! (WoodWorker Rule)

This is a great looking project. Do you have any plans or close-ups that you could share? I would love to try my hand at replicating this one.

-- If at first you don't succeed... then skydiving's not for you...

send me an email and I will forward a pdf file with the measurements. I did this one before I used sketchup.