James-inspired Dutch Chest with a Llama


Tony Wilkins

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It's horrible I know - I've got tools strewn hither and yawn across my shop.  Worse yet, gulp, some are in a plastic Stanley rolling 'tool chest'.  Then it happened; I stumbled on a Dutch Chest build by James.  Of course I'd seen the article by CS in Popular Woodworking and I've watched The Woodwright Shop episode a few (dozen) times.  But going through James' build I was finally almost ready.  Then a Llama nudged me: "I've been thinking about doing one of these too, let's both build one" (paraphrased of course).  So I ordered wood - 30 board feet of Beech at a good deal.

DSCF1749_zpse4d86f7b.jpg

 

At that brings me to my first choice.  The plans call for the sides to be 11 1/4" wide.  I have a nice 9" board but I fear I'd miss the 2" in depth of the chest.  I could add those 2" by glueing on a strip - but that means, shudder, ripping.  I think the answer lies in two boards that are a shade under 6" that I could glue together.  That seems a great solution.  Both are about 7' long so plenty of room to layout either the small or large version.  So how's that sound for a plan?

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Get your neighbor, or someone else that likes beer and pizza to help with the bandsaw.

 

I was thinking the same: use making this project as the motivator to get the bandsaw setup.  It will likely take you the same time to setup the bandsaw as to rip all those boards

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Great to see that you are getting this started Tony!

 

You are going to miss those 2", no shame in gluing boards together. All the ripping that I did for the Dutch Tool Chest build was by hand and trued with a hand plane. It was a great lesson in hand tool work. I would Highly recommend that you use relative dimensioning during the build and don't focus so much on the dimensions in the plan.  Good luck and I look forward to following your progress. 

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Mine's a little worse than usual because my mother-in-law was staying with us and we had hail in the area.  Shop got a hasty reorganization for fit an extra car in the garage.

BS, you made her sleep in the garage :lol:. If you have a rip saw just go at it, what's the worse that can happen? You gonna paint it (say yes)? Awesome work James, inspiring others to do it!

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BS, you made her sleep in the garage :lol:. If you have a rip saw just go at it, what's the worse that can happen? You gonna paint it (say yes)? Awesome work James, inspiring others to do it!

I'm planning on painting it; I've got milk paint on order and on the way. Ripping - worst that can happen - arm could fall off!

You're welcome TripleH

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Got my milk paint samples yesterday - prairie green, ultramarine blue, and pearl.

 

After a few rough days health wise, I got out into the shop for just a bit today.  Cut a knot of one end and took just a little bit of the other three ends of the side boards for check insurance.  Going to go layout the sides later if I can.

 

Progress marches on slowly.

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Well, because this is the Slack and Llama dual build, I figured I'd better start mine. I am using some left over pine from a previous project, and will be painting mine using milk paint with a top coat of BLO. Being a hand tool cabinet, I will do most of this build by hand.

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I've had the side boards marked for length and angle in pencil.  This afternoon I went an knifed the lines.  On one of them I tried the Sellers' double knife wall and on the other I just ran on pencil line and I'm contemplating 'vee-ing' into that wall on the waste side.  I know it's supposed to be a third class saw cut (a la Wearing) but I need the practice on more precise sawing (and my third class saw cuts sometimes come out fifth class cuts).  More later when I have the energy to saw them down.

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Slack,

I used a straightedge and my marking knife to get the line deep enough to register the saw blade. Then I used the front teeth and did the ol nibble and blow technique until I established the full kerf along the line. Then all I did was make sure I was straight and went for it.

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 Then all I did was make sure I was straight and went for it.

Aye and there's the rub.  I do ok with a bench hook but on what should be a saw bench cut not so much.  I'm playing around with the different techniques I've seen and see if one fits me better than the others.  Just drawing a pencil line gives me so-so results.  I'm really thinking that the Sellers' knife wall will be the ticket for the angle cut.  Oh, and I did make the knife lines nice and deep.

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