Cedar Chest

This is my first “nice” project. Well, nice to me anyways. :) I bought some used tools off craigslist and converted half my garage into a workshop. After building a quick workbench, I got started on this. First, I bought some rough sawed cedar and walnut from a local person off his land here in the Ozarks. I stacked the rough lumber in my garage for several months letting the moisture content get to about 10%. Next was the milling, jointing, planing, ripping, and cutting the pieces down to size.

Most of the joinery of the frame is done with pocket holes, but none are visible (except the bottom). The panels are all solid cedar that are just glued up. I sanded to 400 grit and then finished in tung oil. I have a couple coats on there and may add some wax, but I’ll wait and decide on that. I put 2 lid supports on from Rockler to keep the lid open in any position.

My son is using it as a toy box now, but can use it as a chest when he gets older. I signed the bottom in pencil with a note to my son. Now, I need to start my daughter’s out of the walnut.

I welcome any comments or ideas. Thanks, -Mark