chopnhack Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 My wife volunteered me to build a blanket chest for the schools charity gala event She said it had to look like the treasure chest from last year, but larger.... and the top had to be the same, but no shiny brass hardware this time and I had to put the nails in it again.... I asked her when she was going to build it! So I took the time to decide how I wanted to revisit this project. I usually do one off's primarily because I like the creative process and tire of the actual build after a while. Does that happen to you? Since the chest was going to be larger, the one thing I learned from the previous build was that the top makes the entire unit top heavy, so I decided to lower the rise (total height) of the recurved top. This seems to have worked out well. And since the entire piece was being upsized from a child's plaything to a blanket chest, I decided to make all the parts out of 5/8" thick wood instead of 3/4". To offset the potential weakness of the thinner wood forming the top, I added a third support in the center of the top. The treasure chest was supported solely by the end pieces. My youngest takes to sitting on it in front of the t.v. The initial sketchup's: Some shots along the way: I swear, the next shot makes it look like the piece was made out of cherry!! Anyone else agree? This is where I left off today. Got a few coats of tinted shellac on. Started first with transtint Reddish Brown in clear shellac. Gave it a pinkish hue like maple has sometimes. Next coat was Golden Brown, which toned down the pinkish and moved it more towards the orange side. Next up was medium brown and dark walnut 50:50 and that is what you see in the picture above. I need to move this a few shades darker still. I am going to try again tomorrow using solely a dark walnut coat, maybe double the transtint for the darkness I am looking for. I also have green t.t., but at this point I am loathe to try it The only other thing I have left in my arsenal is to glaze it with some van dyke brown. The only downside to that is, it takes forever to dry. Let me know your thoughts, thanks! BTW - 5 emoticons is the limit -> (You have posted a message with more emoticons than this community allows. Please reduce the number of emoticons you've added to the message) LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Looking good! :) :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopnhack Posted January 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 I put on a dark glaze and sprayed some top coats followed by a hand wax. It certainly darkened the color quite a bit. The mrs. made a quilt to put inside, one little pirate for each student in that grade. I hope it sells well!! I added on the hardware, decorative feet brackets, iron handles, colonial style hinges in the back and a hasp. The hardware is black, but this shot was in direct setting sun... So what do you guys think? What do you think the minimum bid should be? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted January 27, 2014 Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 Stunning! I'm sure it will move for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcrosley Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 I put on a dark glaze and sprayed some top coats followed by a hand wax. It certainly darkened the color quite a bit. The mrs. made a quilt to put inside, one little pirate for each student in that grade. I hope it sells well!! I added on the hardware, decorative feet brackets, iron handles, colonial style hinges in the back and a hasp. The hardware is black, but this shot was in direct setting sun... So what do you guys think? What do you think the minimum bid should be? That is gorgeous, Chop. Really stunning. If I had completed that, I'd have a hard time letting it go. Minimum bid? Knowing it didn't come from a factory overseas, I think it's easily a $500 piece, as it's truly an heirloom trunk. But I have no faith in my fellow man to understand value. I would think a starting bid of $200 would tell people it's valuable, without scaring them away. Be sure to let us know what it went for! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopnhack Posted January 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 That is gorgeous, Chop. Really stunning. If I had completed that, I'd have a hard time letting it go. Minimum bid? Knowing it didn't come from a factory overseas, I think it's easily a $500 piece, as it's truly an heirloom trunk. But I have no faith in my fellow man to understand value. I would think a starting bid of $200 would tell people it's valuable, without scaring them away. Be sure to let us know what it went for! Hey Bob, thanks for the kind words and valuation! My wife said it's not my best work and truly it's not but then again it's certainly not my worst either!! I was in a rush and I can make a thousand excuses, but I won't. Woodworking is a skill I need to hone more as is finishing along with temperance and patience... I agree on the $500!! That's the number that was in my head and I feel it would be satisfying to see the piece go for it. $200 is a great starting point and thank you for contributing that, I hope they take the recommendation! I had a friend ask me how long it took me and I figured roughly 30 hours. He whistled and said, "The piece should fetch $1,500" - I laughed and started thinking about all the reasons why it's so not worth that - it's pine I told him. He said, doesn't matter, the craftsmanship, people don't make things like this anymore, it's custom, etc... Well he made me feel better, but I am starting to wonder if he has a market that I am not aware of! LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Hey hack...I was following this at google. Didn't see it over here til now. Looks great man! -Ace- 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopnhack Posted January 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Hey hack...I was following this at google. Didn't see it over here til now. Looks great man! -Ace- No worries Ace, I started cross posting stuff so that its easy to find on whatever social media is easiest. I am still stunned by your chest!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Pritchard Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Chopnhack - how did you get the individual pieces of the top to join so well? That's awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopnhack Posted January 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Chopnhack - how did you get the individual pieces of the top to join so well? That's awesome! Thanks Andrew. The top pieces are "fitted" together. No measurements, no angles, etc. Basically butt them up to each other and start adjusting their angles until they start to close up. After that, you can cheat a little and rub some graphite on one piece and rub the other to see where the high spots are. A time consuming process as you really have to plan ahead and you must fit up two pieces together prior to gluing one down. A lot of hand planning. I will say, this time around I did make use of a bevel gauge and my jointer with the fence skewed to the bevel angle, saved me some time handplanning. Thanks for looking and commenting ;-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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