Grain Direction on Mid-Century Modern Blanket Chest

[Dan Stuewe]

I'm getting close to actually starting to cut wood on a blanket/hope chest for my daughter. I've been totally over-thinking the design, but there is one big decision I need to make right from the start. My daughter really likes mid-century modern design, and I've come up with a clean design that she likes on paper (or Sketchup). It is simply a box with the sides sloped in by 10deg on four turned legs. I think I'm going to use plywood for the box sides for the uniformity and the clean look of no joints (both speaking more to my ability to do a fairly large glue up than to anything else). I'm planning on using either Baltic Birch or Cherry ply and darkening with stain or dye. So my crazy idea is to orient the grain on the plywood vertically instead of horizontally. A part of me thinks that with the relativly subtle grain of the plywood (which I think is appropriate for the design) it won't matter much. But it could be a unique design feature or it could look atrocious or just wrong. I'm open to any of your thoughts on this idea.

[Dave Richards]

Dan, could you share an image export from your SketchUp model? It might help with the opinions you'll get.

I think vertical grain would work on the piece although I'm not very fond of the look of vertical grain running off nearly but not quite parallel to the sides. I think that tends to exaggerate the slope.

[Dan Stuewe]

Dave,

thanks for replying. I don't have a model yet in SketchUp (just a 2D drawing to get a feel for the angle of the sides). I did do some modeling in SolidWorks and I've included a couple of screen shots of that model. The sides are angled by 5deg instead of 10 in this model and the legs and lid are not included.Chest2.PNGChest1.jpg

[Dave Richards]

I think you should mock up a corner of the box full size and take a look at what the grain does. See what you think of it.

Traditionally the grain on MCM furniture tends to be rather straight without much figure. If you are using cherry or birch ply, though, the grain may be wild enough that it isn't a big deal.

[Kent A Bathurst]

FWIW -

I made a chest - frame-and-panel style. Frame is walnut. Panels [3 across front, top, back, one on the ends] are QS sycamore. I ran the grain on the front and sides vertically. Looks fine to me.


In fact, I glued up 3 longer panels, and cut them into the top and front - so the grain continues up and over. Pretty subtle - no ever notices that bit - except me. But - at least I'm impressed, even if no one else is.

[Jamie Buxton]

Baltic Birch ply is all rotary-cut veneer. As much as I like it for structural stuff, I don't think I'd use it for the exterior of a nice chest.

[Tom Scott]

FWIW, having the grain going in the short direction just seems wrong to my eye. I always see it as a structural thing, and the sides would be spanning between the corners which would mean you want the boards spanning horizontal, not to an unsupported top.
Similarly, I'm not a fan of long dining tables with the grain going across either. But there are plenty of those so I may be in the minority.