Four down, four to go ..

[Derek Cohen]

Coming along very nicely,Derek! Up here you'd have a fortune in the woods!

Hi George

This wood could cost a bomb, but fortunately it was accumulated over a few years - what others reject because it is too figured and interlocked, I grab with glee! It is only the secondary wood for the drawer sides that is an outlay now.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Robert Norman]

What does the hardware look like? Looking incredible so far!

[Phil Mueller]

Wow, really nice Derek. I've hesitated doing drawers for fear of those darn dovetails, but the skill many of you have here is certainly inspiring. Look forward to the rest of the build.

[John Kananis]

She's a beauty so far - really admiring your work.

[Derek Cohen]

What does the hardware look like? Looking incredible so far!

Robert, that is a nightmare. I have drawn up a design for the handles and am searching for African Blackwood to use to build them out of. Not easy to find in Oz. Below is an example that is very close to the design I have in mind ..




Originally I had planned to make the handles using some scrap from the drawer fronts. That would, obviously, be a good match, but not the best way to go.


The aim is to not let the handles dominate. I want to keep them on the small side (approx 4" long - this is not a large chest), and only have a single handle in the centre of each drawer.


However, I am mindful that the figure in the drawers is pretty wild, and any small pieces from the drawers placed on top (in the form of a handle) will have a clash of grain. I think that will detract. Consequently, the handles need to be a uniform colour, and it will come down to either bronze (my wife's preference) or black (my preference).

The other area is a hinge for the lift up top, which will house a mirror. Either I use Brusso Quadrant hinge ..



This is quite bulky. The alternative is the Smart Hinge, which is significantly smaller, and claimed to take the same stresses. Both open with a stop, with the SH just hidden in the mechanism.



Interested in the thoughts of others.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Holbrook]

Beautiful Derek, and very inspiring. From other posts I am assuming you are working that wood with custom Veritas Bench Planes. Whatever you used, the surface are beautiful. You have an eye for choosing wood which is exceptionally interesting to look at, though I imagine it isn't quite as pleasant to work.

I am in a rough furniture phase, reading Schwarz's new book "The Anarchist's Design Book" on Staked & Boarded furniture. Planing to build furniture for a timber framed retirement cabin in the mountains. Maybe building rougher furniture will disguise my lesser skill set. Derek's chest design seems to demand the unique skill set he employs.

[Stanley Covington]

Excellent work Derek! Beautiful wood. Which drawer will be the esky for her grog?

Stan

[Derek Cohen]

Excellent work Derek! Beautiful wood. Which drawer will be the esky for her grog?

Stan

That's in the secret drawer at the rear ... of course!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

Beautiful Derek, and very inspiring. From other posts I am assuming you are working that wood with custom Veritas Bench Planes. Whatever you used, the surface are beautiful. You have an eye for choosing wood which is exceptionally interesting to look at, though I imagine it isn't quite as pleasant to work.

I am in a rough furniture phase, reading Schwarz's new book "The Anarchist's Design Book" on Staked & Boarded furniture. Planing to build furniture for a timber framed retirement cabin in the mountains. Maybe building rougher furniture will disguise my lesser skill set. Derek's chest design seems to demand the unique skill set he employs.

Thanks Mike. I have been using the Custom #7 a lot. Outside of my wooden jack I built, the smoothers switch between a Custom #4 and the LN #3. The other planes that have been useful for the bow drawer fronts has been a Stanley #93, used as scrub for the inside curve, and a LA Jack with toothing blade ...



I have not found enough interest to buy Chris Schwarz' new book. I am more interested in contemporary styles.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

Re: others rejecting figured woods: Derek I know what you mean! Furniture manufacturers do not like figured woods. I was friends with the president of American Drew Furniture Co. in N. Carolina where I taught shop for several years back in the 60's. They would give me the CURLY maple that arrived with their other batches of wood. I had so much I made a workbench out of some of it.

I don't mean it was so tightly curled that I wasted it. But,it was too curly for them to bother running it through their thickness planers and molders. Obviously it would chip out and cause wasted effort on their part.

I hope blackwood will hold up for those drawer pulls. I have a little bit,but it's all about 3/8" thick. Pretty old stuff,too. It was given to me many years ago by a friend who got it from a cutlery factory which went out of business some time ago.

You can't plane the stuff without it tearing. I can only work it by running it through a sander,or rasping it into shape after bandsawing its form out.

Though this wood is really a rosewood,it is very dark,and I'm sure that after getting a little oil from hands or whatever on it,it would turn quite black. So,what's wrong with ebony?

Blackwood is also quite oily.

Love those smart hinges! But,I'd be concerned if anyone ever opened the lid quickly or carelessly,like kids might. The Brussos obviously are stronger,if more bulky. But,I don't mind CLASSY bulk! I assume you don't have any little rug rats or crumb crunchers?

Oh,as tall as that case is,though,it'd be a long time before they could reach it! Still depends upon the kids,however. I repaired a VERY mangled pair of 18th. C. eye glasses for my patron. They had sliding temple pieces and were made of brass. I mean,they were really roughly folded and badly squashed. She said her step grand son had done it. I was thinking he was 4 years old,until I found out he was 15! Just a hateful thing for him to do. I did get the glasses back together. Tricky job,though.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi George

I think that Brusso are beautifully made. I've used their hinges before - solid, well machined.

The Smart Hinge, on the other hand, is elegant. They basically state in their advert that most of the quadrant design is unnecessary for strength. These hinges are being sold by Andrew Crawford, who is argumentatively one of the top box makers around at present. I did a workshop with him a few years back.

This is what their site says:

1 – smartHinge is not a quadrant hinge
– but nevertheless stops the lid securely at 93˚. At the heart of this innovative hinge is a beautifully conceived but simple hidden stop incorporated into the knuckle. And because there’s no separate stay to accommodate there’s no fussy, angled excavation under the hinge flaps, and no problems screwing in the back screw around the stay when you come to fit …
2 – smartHinge isn’t L-shaped
– doing away with this redundant legacy feature [only ever necessary on cheap hinges made from sheet material but doggedly perpetuated by certain ‘quality’ hinge manufacturers] means that no expensive template/setting up is needed and fitting is hugely facilitated.
3 – smartHinge has a perfectly round knuckle
– almost all other similar siderail hinges achieve the stop by having a square, or partially square knuckle. This requires an extra machining operation to allow the knuckle to rotate and spoils the look of the back of your box.
4 – smartHinge is extremely easy to install
– the smartHinge’s three key features – no quadrant stay, no ‘L’ shape and a traditional round knuckle – make the smartHinge extremely simple to fit. And because they are precision made and absolutely consistent the result is 100% accurate, every time. One pass for each leaf using an 8mm [or 5/16” for US] cutter on a table mounted router, drill and screw in place and … job done! No messing around with unwieldy hand held routers or expensive templates, no second passes with tape on the fence to widen the cut – and remember: NO awkward digging out under the hinges to take a stay!
5 – smartHinge comes with high quality brass countersunk screws
– 8 x 5/8″ no.3 brass countersunk wood screws plus spares, [and hopefully steel screws for pre-threading eventually – when I can find some!]. The quality of screws supplied with many ‘high quality’ hinges is obviously a common problem and regularly moaned about in WW forums …
6 – smartHinge comes with full online fitting fitting instructions, and a YouTube video
– most box hinges come with NO instructions at all, a lamentable lack of support for what is an extremely stressful, and crucial, part of making a box.
7 – smartHinge is designed from scratch
– this is not just a marginal upgrade based on an existing hinge. Every element, from stock thickness to the leaf dimensions, from the size, spacing, format and positioning of the screw holes to the exact stop angle has been carefully considered to ensure that the smartHinge is the very best box hinge you can buy.
8 – smartHinge is not mass produced
– all British made in the West Midlands, precision machined from solid brass the smartHinge is carefully made to exacting tolerances achieving a level of consistency not possible using normal mass-production techniques. Every stage of the manufacture is regularly monitored to ensure that the smartHinge is the most accurate and beautifully made hinge there is.
9 – smartHinge is good looking!
– you could be forgiven for thinking that all this emphasis on the ease of fitting and function would in some way involve a compromise in the way it looks. But definitely not – the simple, elegant good looks of the smartHinge will fit in with almost any style of box.
10 – smartHinge is extremely easy to fit retrospectively
– we’ve all done it, avoided the hinge issue until it’s too late! The result? – you have a perfectly good box for which you can’t find suitable hinges. Well, the smartHinge is the best hinge there is to solve this all-too-common problem. As long as your box has a wall thickness of 10 mm or more, the smartHinge will do the job for you. Simply, easily, elegantly.



Thoughts?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Eisenhauer]

The Smart Hinge looks more sleek, elegant, unobtrusive to my eye - but the Brusso appears to offer more "beef" to support the open/close action over the long haul. I would have to give the Smart one a try if it were my project.

[Jim Koepke]

Those are nice hinges.

Around here the problem is most folks do not want to pay that kind of price for a fancy box let alone the hinges.

I guess I need to find a higher class of customer.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

How would a quadrant hinge install into that lid? I assume the lid is thin, but would it make available enough room for the quadrant's required mortise?

If so, personally I prefer the look of the quadrant hinge, I think they're far better looking than side hinges. They're also quite sturdy, I have three boxes around the house with quadrant hinges and I really do not worry about them.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Just read the whole thread. for the hinges I'd say you can't really go wrong with any of them but it seems that you're looking for someone to push you over the edge in favor if the smart hinge, so perhaps install a smart hinge into a simple mock up (could be two pine boards) and test it for strength, if it's good, you'll sleep better.

for the handle I'd have to say I don't really care for black or bronze in this case. isn't this for a WOMEN? I mean the woods are beautiful but the most feminine things about this chest is the white oak drawer sides and the tapered shape. jarrah + black\bronze is kinda more manly in my eyes. so maybe some pink Ivory? or bronze with Porcelain, Crystal\Glass might be special... or just something more femininely shaped.

Just looking at LV's overwhelming selection - diamond are a girls best friend! http://www.leevalley.com/US/Hardware...521,44008&ap=1 and it has some black in it too

Edit: if your not yet tiered of hearing it - wonderful work! !