Sea Chest Build Pics

[Mike Allen1010]

These are some pictures of an African mahogany chest with a coopered top and a nautical theme. I built a similar chest for a 30^th anniversary that is described in a earlier post and built this coopered top at the same time. This Sea chest is smaller 14 x 14 x28.

I built the coopered top first because I can’t really predict what the curve will look like when it’s finished. The rest of the chest is built around the top once it has been cleaned up/surfaced.

Here’s the framework that captures the top joined with dovetails and with interior groove to house the coopered top.
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I’ve added some string inlay and carving to this chest. I’m a novice at both. Here is the Holly and tools I used to make the inlay/banding. One lesson I learned is I’m better off sawing inlaid objects out of 3/16 inch thick stock, rather than my earlier attempts to cut them out of veneer with an eX-Acto knife. This way there is less risk of planning through the inlay during final surfacing.
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I put a star at one side of the lid and a dolphin on the other, sawing them out with a bird’s mouth and fret saw. This would be much easier with an electric scroll saw, but not impossible by hand
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One of the most difficult parts of string inlay for me is getting consistent thickness of the stringing. There are dedicated hand tools for this, but I just clamped to the bench and used a block plane to get them as close to a consistent fit with the .040 inch groove the inlay cutter makes. The small syringe for putting glue in the groove is a “must have tool”, however it’s a huge headache trying to keep the small diameter nozzle from clogging with dried glue (lots of emptying, rinsing, repeat). Once glued in, I trim the inlay with a paring chisel and plane to final flush fit.
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Cutting top rails to consistent length to hopefully keep the carcass square.
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For the vertical stiles I used a shop made crosscut jig and got fairly consistent lengths.

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[Mike Allen1010]

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The carcass sides/front back are frame & panel construction. Plowing the grooves to house the panel. I have an old Marple’s plow plane from the 70s and frankly it’s one of the most difficult planes for me to use consistently. I spent a lot of time tuning and now can get fairly consistent grooves until I’m tired and then I usually screwed up.
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Laying out/Cutting the M&T’s that join the vertical styles to the rails. Because the tennon cheeks are show surface, I use the paring chisel along the layout Mark to build a fence force where saw cuts.
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Layout is more complicated that looks because once the frame and panel assemblies are glued up the carcass is joined with through dovetails at the top and bottom rails. That means the baseline for the tales on the front and back rails need to line up so that when pins are cut/assembled, the carcass vertical style will lay flush with the front and back. In addition the bottom rail is a quarter inch proud of the rest of the carcass.
Yeah I know that was impossible for me to visualize too so I had to draw a full-scale mockup to figure things out – still took me 30 minutes and two beers.
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[Mike Allen1010]

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Pins are cut before the F&P carcass pieces are assembled, but tails are only Mark/cut after the F&P carcass assemblies are glued up. I didn’t do this last time and it was a real headache affecting the fit of the dovetails.
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This time all the joinery came out nice and tight (third time’s the charm).
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Here are the ebony handles.
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[Mike Allen1010]

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After fitting the lid to the back of the carcass and installing the hinges, a little planning got the lid to fit flush all the way around. If I were to do this again I would just build the lid and carcass as one assembly and saw them apart after glue up.
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Here is a “Leopardwood” till that slides inside the case with some inlay (which took forever).
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The last bit was carving a couple shells and a starfish to be applied to the case front – here’s the layout and shaping.
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[Mike Allen1010]

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Some pictures of carving the applied shell. Excellent picture/descriptions of this are in “carving 18^th-century American furniture elements” by Tony Kubalak, which I highly recommend.
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Next is the starfish:
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And the last shell:
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[Mike Allen1010]

As a novice carver one of the hardest things for me to learn was sharpening the carving tools. Here’s my set up: I made some lexan,,acrylic discs that fit on top of the Mikita motorized Whetstone and applied different grades of abrasive paper to the disks – for me this works well in combination with stripes etc.
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And some pictures of the completed carvings:
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Here’s some pictures of the completed chest

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[Mike Allen1010]

I forgot to mention the compass rose on the chest lid. In the past I glued in all the pieces individually which is a real white knuckle experience. This time I super glued the dark and light pieces of each triangle together and then did the final assembly – much easier.

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This is my last project for a while, need to be spending more time in the office, but appreciate the opportunity to share with my fellow Neanders.


Thanks for looking, Mike

[Kent Adams]

This is incredibly beautiful. I wish I had the skill to produce something like this.

[Mike Null]

WOW! Thank you for sharing your beautiful project with us.

[Chris Hachet]

Wonderful, thanks for posting these pics....

[Pat Barry]

Mike - very very nice project and thanks for all the great photo's to go along with your description. I'm super impressed by what you have done here. It seems just the other day you were posting your anniversary chest and now this one so close behind is super impressive. Congratulations, well done.

PS - this is the type of thread that is most valuable here in this forum IMO. Seeing someone who puts into practice their skills and knowledge and takes the time to document things so well. I congratulate and thank you and the others who take this approach. There is so much to be learned from this type of documentation

[Keith Outten]

Incredible craftsmanship.

Thanks Mike

[Brian Holcombe]

Beautiful work, Mike! That one will make it into the house!

[James Pallas]

Exemplary work sir! Your build posts are great. Thank you.
Jim

[Pat Barry]

I forgot to mention the compass rose on the chest lid. In the past I glued in all the pieces individually which is a real white knuckle experience. This time I super glued the dark and light pieces of each triangle together and then did the final assembly – much easier.

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Hi Mike,
Could you esplain how you cleaned out the material from the lid to fit in the compass point? I guessing the bulk was done with a router plane but that you carefully cut the boundary in first with a knife / chisel?