Popular Post bradseubert Posted August 21, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 I have enjoyed following other people's journals so I thought I would take a shot at doing one was well. My brother is getting married in the October and I want to build a blanket chest for them as a gift. The plan was to work on it this spring so I wasn't rushing to finish it right before the wedding. Of course that didn't happen and here I am. I think I should be good for time though. I saw a stickley style blanket just awhile back and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to build it. After search through google images for away I found this image and used it as the inspiration for this build. I'm not a fan of the big hinges and corner pieces so those won't be used. I also added a nice curve to the bottom rails and will be building my out of maple. I have a bunch of maple picked up cheap on craigslist and about 300 bf of curly maple. The curly will be used for the panels and the top with regular maple used for the rest. I have a family friend that is a logger and runs a sawmill. He called me awhile back and asked is I wanted some curly maple. He said they can normally tell if it is curly before they cut and then they just sell the whole log. Somehow this log slipped though and they sawed it. He said "its only 300 bf, and that's to small of a quantity for me to sell to any of my customers so I'll make you a great deal". His great deal was $0.75 / board foot. It's nice stuff some boards are 14" wide I have bought wood from him before and it's all green and needs to be dried so I built a small kiln to dry it all. Works really well. I started a week of so ago and have made good progress so far. The corners are mitered with dominos. Back panel all dry fit together. I prefinished the panels so I don't end up with a line when the panels shrink this winter. Not sure why they look so dark in this pic. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Looks good so far, nice find on the lumber, those panels look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Great progress and a great price on that material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Very nice and those widths will certainly come in handy. I'd love to see a separate post detailing the kiln build and operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Looking good so far. Great idea on prefinishing the panels ! I do the same here as we go from like 10% humidity in the heating season to 90% in summer . Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Nice curly maple. Wow. Beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bradseubert Posted August 21, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Got some more done this afternoon. The front panel is all dry fit and looks good. Also got the back panel glued up. First time using epoxy. The extra working time was nice but it was a little messy. Hopefully it cures! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemenifee Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Wow the grain in those panels is awesome!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Yeah that's some killer maple. I like how much heartwood you're leaving in, and how you're balancing the look of the panels. It's gonna be an awesome chest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 How did you finish? That maple looks awesome. I have some curly stashed away but i don't know how to finish it so I'm waiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Bitchin!! What did you prefinish with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Sweet project! I like the design, and the lumber is awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradseubert Posted August 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 Thanks everyone. I'm really happy with how it is turning out. @brendon_t I'll get a separate post going on the kiln. @chestnut @k cooper. The finish is two coats of transtint vintage maple sprayed. A coat of zinser shellac and the arm r seal. I'm pretty happy with how the finish turned out so far. I hope the color is the same on the regular maple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elroy Skimms Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 This looks fantastic, and I'm horribly jealous of your Maple pricing. I can't even get warped Aspen for $0.75/bf. I look forward to seeing the progress! -E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradseubert Posted August 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 Good news. My epoxy cured nice and hard. I was alittle worried since it was my first time trying epoxy. I was pretty happy with result though. I see a lot more epoxy in my future. Not much progress tonight, got some sanding done on the back panel though. Onto the question of the day. I want to line this with aromatic cedar. I am thinking a box that will slide inside this box but not have a top or bottom. So like a sleeve. I would probably rabbet the sides and glue it together. Will I have wood movement issues doing something like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradseubert Posted September 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 Making some more progress. I built the front and back and glued them up and now I just have to get the side panels finished and then I can glue the front and back together. Really happy with how it is turning out. Should be able to get everything glued up tomorrow and the I get get going on the lid and bottom. I need to get some hinges ordered and was thinking of getting these from Horton. Anyone tried them before? Id like something of decent quality but don't really want to fork out the money for Brusso. http://www.horton-brasses.com/PB-409.asp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted September 4, 2016 Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 Horton has a decent reputation, although I have never tried that particular hardware. Earlier, you asked about lining with cedar. Keep the grain oriented the same as the outer box, and wood movement shouldn't be a problem. I have to ask, why no cedar on the bottom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted September 4, 2016 Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 Why cedar at all? Cedar was traditionally used in blanket chests to keep moths out of the textiles. We don't have moth problems anymore because we live in modern homes. I don't know who wants their blankets smelling like cedar. I certainly don't. In fact the only time I wanna smell cedar is when I'm being fed a juicy chunk of salmon served on a hot cedar plank. (I've never actually experienced this but it sounds good. ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradseubert Posted September 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 Why cedar at all? Cedar was traditionally used in blanket chests to keep moths out of the textiles. We don't have moth problems anymore because we live in modern homes. I don't know who wants their blankets smelling like cedar. I certainly don't. In fact the only time I wanna smell cedar is when I'm being fed a juicy chunk of salmon served on a hot cedar plank. (I've never actually experienced this but it sounds good. ) Well I like the smell of cedar. I have a cedar chest that I keep some things in and love the smell. Probably the bigger reason is I think it would look nicer if the inside was lined with something. I put the bad side of the panels to the inside and some of them have some chip out. And a few of the other pieces have defects that I put to the inside as well. Just seems like it would look more finished when you opened it up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted September 4, 2016 Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 Well I like the smell of cedar. I have a cedar chest that I keep some things in and love the smell. Probably the bigger reason is I think it would look nicer if the inside was lined with something. I put the bad side of the panels to the inside and some of them have some chip out. And a few of the other pieces have defects that I put to the inside as well. Just seems like it would look more finished when you opened it up. Totally agree. I love the smell of cedar as well. Was thiking of making a cedar closet one day. Id love to walk around smelling like wood all the time lol. Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted September 4, 2016 Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 2 minutes ago, shaneymack said: Id love to walk around smelling like gerbils all the time lol. FTFY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted September 4, 2016 Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 FTFY I already smell like a gerbil, thats why i want the cedar closet. Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bradseubert Posted September 5, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Made some more progress. Have everything glued up and sanded to 150 just about ready for finish. Still need to make the top and the bottom. For the bottom I plan on gluing a ledger strip around the bottom and the putting some ship lap boards on top of the strip. The cedar lining will then sit ontop of the ship lap boards and hold them in while allowing them to expand and contract. Similar to how the bottom shelf on a bunch of the roubos is done. Really like this Lee Nielsen Rabbeting Block These mitered corners came out awesome. I cut both sides from the same board so the grain wraps around the corner. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 beautiful work Brad and nice progress on a big project. i've lined all the hope/blanket chests i've built with cedar, i like the way it finishes the inside and i don't mind the smell and after a while the aroma gets less. thats going to be a great gift that will last many lifetimes, and to quote wdwerker "be sure to sign and date it" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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