The inspiration for the chest came from an image of a 16th century Italian coffer in a book of furniture pieces. I wanted to make a small chest that you could store important remembrances from a person’s life. The design would be different for every person. A design for this chest soon evolved and early sketches led to a full-size drawing of each panel and a half view of the bottom assembly.
Click the photo or the images below to see each step of the process. You can also use your arrow keys if you are on your computer.
The material, 8/4 Butternut, was broken out and glued up into panels.
The boards were originally flat-cut so I ripped them on the table saw and then re-oriented the pieces giving me rift-sawn panels for carving.
The corner figures were carved at the same time to keep them similar.
The design was transferred to the front and side panels. The carving was completed in stages, sometimes horizontally and sometimes vertically, just to keep my perspective fresh.
The box was glued together as soon as the dovetails were cut
The bottom assembly glued up. The assembly closely followed a full-scale drawing. Edge details were run on the shaper before assembly.
A change of benches for one final cleanup of the panels.
The box being glued to the bottom assembly using biscuits for alignment.
I used strips of rubber to secure the corner figures in place.
The top moulding was run on the shaper before being mitred and glued in place. The moulding itself rested on the upper backs of the corner pieces as though the figures were bearing the weight of the top panel
The top was cut to size and then the edge detail run on the shaper. The hinges were also morticed at this point.
The finish was carefully applied using a brush.
The early diluted coats of finish were able to soak into the end grain of the carving stabilizing the material and slowly building a film thickness.
I couldn’t resist an early look at the assembled chest once the Butternut began to change color because of the finish.
