Spalted Maple Chests

[Mark Ball]

Morning all

Here are two blanket chests from spalted maple. The wood was acquired locally from a guy who searches for old growth maple that has died, he told me he has some secret spots that have quite a few of these trees. He has his own wood fired kiln at his house. The plans are from Wood Mag a while back, the finish is BLO followed by two thin coats of clear shellac. The only change to the plans was that I left the panels at 1/2" instead of 1/4" due to to the spalted properties of the wood. That meant that the inside of the case is flat, instead of the panel effect seen on the outside. The most challenging part of these was that there were some soft spots in the wood that weren't always apparent, I used CA glue to harden them up. Other than that, the jointery is quite easy, thanks to the plans. One of these will be a wedding present for my sister, the other a X-mas present for ma in law.
Comments and critiques welcome

[John Thompson]

Nice job on executing and all the spalting is quite striking. Secret spots.. huh? Sounds like all those secret spots you wouldn't reveal back in the days I fished for bass. We called them "honey-holes".

[Mark Tokheim]

wow That maple is awesome. Nice job on the chests. Just out of curiosity what issue of Wood mag were those plans from?

[Mark Ball]

http://www.woodstore.net/foblch.html

Here is the plan. Feb/March 2005

[Brad Wood]

great chest.... that wood is out of sight

[Jarrod McGehee]

nice work. the wood is AWESOME!

[John Keeton]

Excellent job! That maple makes for a very dramatic effect, but I bet it can be a challenge sometimes to work with.

[Jeff Mohr]

Wow...very nice. So where is this sawmill so I can get some of that wood?

[Kevin Looker]

Beautiful wood, beautiful work. Those will make fantastic gifts!

Is there some provision between the battens & the top to allow it to expand & contract?

Kevin Looker

[Mark Ball]

I can give the email of the guy who I got the wood from, if anyone is located in N. Minnesota (a little north of Floodwood, to be exact) He does have quite bit, the problem is he sawed it to mostly 5/8" because he is going to get into making custom wainscoting with it, I bought most of his 3/4" stuff, but he was in the process of more cutting when I was there in late August. I drilled the holes in the battons oversized so the wood could have room to move, I have done this before without trouble.

[Rob Gieringer]

That wood is gorgeous! Great build!

[Brian Effinger]

Those are beautiful chests, Mark. Fine craftsmanship and great wood.

Do you think your maple guy would bundle some pieces up and ship them? I've been thinking of making a vanity out of jatoba with spalted maple panels. So far all of the spalted maple I've seen locally and on ebay isn't all that great. Thanks.

Brian

[gary Zimmel]

The spalted wood sure sets off those blanket chests.
I'm sure your Mother in law and sister will love them.
We have the same one in our bedroom, but made with QSWO.

Great job again Mark and thanks for the look see.

[Wayne Sparkman]

Beautiful wood and excellent execution of the design.

If a newbie may offer one thought, cautiously:

This is taken from a friend who studied under a well-known Chinese pen and ink artist--

"The eye must have a place to rest".

Applying that principle to your work, can you visualize how the chests might have appeared if,

1) only the lid were in the spalted maple, or
2) the framing of the chest were in regular maple with just the panels and lid in the spalted maple?

Those options wouldn't have created the unique works here, but I offer this idea as a conversation starter. Context can also play a huge part--I could see your chests as real knockouts if placed as the focal points in the grand entry room of some huge Alaskan or Colorado resort cabin.

[Mark Ball]

In response, yes the guy does ship - he sells on ebay, but for me an hour one way was worth the savings in shipping, plus I got to pick out the boards I wanted.

Yes, the spalted may be a little much, in fact on another WW web forum I was asked the same question, and if I was making more of these, I would either have the panels or rails & stiles the spalted and the other a less busy wood, I was thinking walnut would have looked nice. I too am just a newbie and learning on the fly.