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Just to put what I had so far on the Cherry Blanket chest in one post. The Picture below is the sytle I am building this chest like. The sides and ends of this chest will have the boards vertical instead of horizontal. In order to keep them as flat as possible and not have so much sanding to to at the end I have been putting them together in sections. First I laid them out on the table after they were cut and run across the jointer and and through the planer to get close to finish size. This let me look at the grain and try to match it so it looks like a seamless piece as much as possible. Then I biscuit jointed each of the sections. I put two boards together at a time, but first I ran them through the table saw with the glue edge blade to get a good square edge. The photo above shows the gaps before run through the table saw. Now they are glued into to two board sections. Then the two board sections were flattened in the planer and then two of the two board sections were glued. So now I only had to smooth out this joint but from here on it is done with the belt sander since they are too wide to run through the planer. There are nine pieces to make up the sides panels so I had to glue three in one of the sections. So then I put the sections together to check and see before the final two pieces got put together. So it was cut biscuit joints here and put them into the 50" Bessey Clamps. And let me just tell you I really like the Bessey Clamps for gluing these type of panels. They are expensive, but do a great job. So both the front and back panels glued and standing on my work bench in the 50" clamps. And here they are with the two end pieces standing in front of them. So I will start working on the skirt for the bottom and the trim around the top and I got in my stain samples so I will take some extra boards I cut out and get me color matches done. This has taken a good bit more time putting these panels together but I am liking the end results. Well I will post some more on it later. Let me know what you think.

Well for several weeks I have posted some pictures of this chest and I am happy to report to you that it is finished. Just a recap. Started with a visit to the Wood Stash and hand picked some of the best looking Cherry Boards from the stack. Cut them to size, ran them across the jointer and then through the planner. I then took the cherry boards and edge glued them together to make the panels for the front, back and both ends of the chest. Then I put two of these panels together to make a four board panel. Then I put the two four board panels together to make one large panel. Actually one of the panels had five boards.. Using my 50" Bessey clamps to hold the two panels together. So I had two long panels for the front and back and two short panels for the ends. Then I started working on a sample for the trim or molding to go around the top and bottom. After a few adjustments to the bits, I settled on the way I wanted to make the trim and started routing the pieces. First a couple of passes with the curved bit in the router and the with the round top bit and then a 1/2" round over bit. So I sanded the trim and then started on the feet for the chest. They are double boards so the chest actually sits on one board and the trim sits on the other board. There are blocks behind the feet to attach them to the plywood bottom. So everything is now trimmed up, miters cut and ready to put together. Now it is time to move it to the spray booth and put the water based dye on. I purchased an Antique Cherry dye and I really love the look it gave the chest. I sprayed it on and then took a damp paper towel and smoothed out the finish. If you get a bit much in a spot it is okay, you still have time to smooth it out. I put two coats on and then sprayed on five coats of General Finishes Enduro Var. It was them rubbed out with 0000 steel wool and Johnson's paste wax.. So there you have the Cherry Blanket Chest from start to finish.

I got the Cherry Blanket Chest shipped out last week and I have been worried about it getting damaged in shipping. Today I received an email from the person I was working with and she told me it arrived in perfect condition. She sent me a picture of the chest in it's new home. I am so excited that it made it and it looks like I got the stain about right for the Sleigh Bed it is sitting at the foot of. Now I can breath a little. Shipped it on Old Dominion and they did an excellent job getting it there.

Starting up.... Ripped from a wider plank of 5/4" Maple...bandsaw ripped to a 1-3/4" width....needed jointed.. Wasn't quite right...wanted to tip a bit.... Used a no.14 jack plane...this bigger plane, a Ohio Tool Co. No. 0-7 worked decently on a few longer rails Charles Neil had stained the panel...needed to remove the coloured parts... No. 4 smooth plane seemed to work....soon had a pile of parts.. Set most of this aside. This morning, at a yard sale, found a couple pipe clamps for a ten-spot.. About 5' long or so....came in handy, since I "only" have 5 in the shop.... Jointed a couple edges. This one might be for the back of the chest....older pipe clamps needed a pair of visegrips to keep them from sliding away... More jointer work... This time around, I used a Stanley No.7c. Somehow got things into the clamps.. And set this thing aside til tomorrow.....Figure out the foot profile, and used the bandsaw a bit... Then set the length of the rails and a center rail.. Bottom rails will be a tad wider that the top. I'll cut the panels into two raised panels. We'll see IF the back panel gets divided... Picked up some new chisels yesterday.. Local Aldi's store had these on sale...$6.99 + tax..... Waiting on the panels to cure out....Still working out what the ends will look like. Stay tuned...

After about 3 months of off and on work I finally completed the blanket chest I've been working on. This is definitely my most challenging project to dare and it required to try many new techniques. Some of the firsts included breadboard ends, hand-cut half-blind dovetails, and a dovetailed case. This took me quite awhile and I made several mistakes but it feels good to get it done!!

View File Workbench Magazine Mar-Apr 1966 Early American Blanket Chest This is a scanned document of the now defunct Workbench Magazine of this era. Permission was granted by the new Workbench Publication for The Patriot Woodworker community to copy and use the old Workbench Magazine at our pleasure, and for free distribution and re-use. A personal note from me, I love this design, this is quintessential Early American true to it's design and practical use. This chest will make a wonderful project, and and wonderful hand tool project as well! Submitter John Morris Submitted 10/30/2016 Category Furnishings  

I got a picture last night from the customer that got the Cherry Blanket Chest I made. It seems she is really happy with it and thinks she may want to stay in it for a while. That smile makes building the chest worth every bit of it. Nothing like a happy customer.

I am working the Elves overtime. So close to finishing all the projects but these are to be picked up tonight and tomorrow and this is where I am right now. I have a Cherry Blanket Chest that will be cedar lined and delivered on Christmas Eve is almost assembled, but still has to be stained and finished. The top is clamped up and ready to be assembled. So this will be a push tonight and in the morning. We also have a Green Egg Table to be picked up on Christmas Eve morning. It is assembled all but screwing the top boards down and spraying on the finish. And this TV stand it ready all but putting the screws in to hold the supports to the top and the top to the bottom shelf. It will get picked up tonight when I get home. So if we get all of these finished then we will have a bit of rest. Hope all of you are finishing all of your projects and have a Merry Christmas!!

Well, this is going to be the final installment on this TPW Team Project to build a Cedar Lined Walnut Blanket Chest for my Grand Daughter Nori Piper Worsham due in mid November 2014. Being that I live in Southern California and my son and daughter in law live in Indianapolis, Indiana, building the chest and then getting it out there would require that I either drive it out in the back of my pick up truck, or I pay to ship it out. Neither option was really very good so I called both John Moody and Ron Dudelston because we were all going to be together at John Moody's house along with our wives for 4 days and 3 nights and asked if they would be interested in building this chest together. So John and Ron agreed and in Parts 1 & 2 we got the chest completed and rough sanded at John's house with the exception of the base trim, cleats for the lid, trim for the lid, cedar lining and final finish and Ron and I along with our wives headed back up north to Indiana with the chest in the back of their van. In Part 3 I drove up to Ron's house about an hour north of Indianapolis and we finished the assembly of the chest with Ron making the cleats and trim for the lid as well as doing the cedar lining inside the chest while I made up the base trim and helped Ron do the installation of the top and bottom trim. After that was all done, we carried it out and put the chest in the back seat of my rental car and I headed back to my kids' house in Indianapolis to do the final sanding and putting on the finish. So here is the chest as it was completed at Ron's shop on ThursdayJuly 24th 2014 before we carried it out to my car. In this photo Ron had wiped on some mineral spirits to show off the grain a bit. The open top did not have any mineral spirits on it so it this is what the whole chest looked liked once the mineral spirits evaperated. Once I got the chest back to my kids' house in Indy, Tami and I carried it in and set it in the garage. My kids had just moved into this house the previous Monday so there are boxes all over the house and empty boxes in the garage. Since my son has no tools other than a set Husky Tools from Home Depot that I got him when he was 18, I had to go to Home Depot and pick up a few things to get it done. So $300 later I came home with a small shop vac, random orbital sander, 12v drill/driver and bits, 2 folding saw horses to set the chest on and various finishing supplies, sandpaper and a spray can of shellac. As for the type of finish that I was going use I was limited to doing a wipe on finish. So I stopped by the local Rockler store in Indy and bought a quart of the "Sam Maloof Finish" which is an equal mix of boiled linseed oil, tung oil and polyurethane. For the size of this project I could have purchased the 3 separate items and mixed it myself, but it was cheaper and easier to just buy a can of the Maloof off the shelf. After doing the final sanding from 220-400 grit and getting all the dust off, I sprayed shellac on the underside of the lid to seal it as opposed to putting on the Maloof finish as the oil will cause odors inside the chest. On the outside the chest and lid I wiped on multiple coats of the Maloof finish letting them soak in and then wiping off the excess and then letting it set for 24 hours before doing another coat. So here are the finished photos of the chest made for my Grand Daughter Nori. Being that it is in the garage and the lighting is horrible, the photos do not do justice to the actual finish. The grain is awesome and the dovetails look beautiful! The most important thing is that my daughter in law LOVES IT!! For now the chest will have to sit in the garage for a few weeks as they have to get some painting done and the bedroom set up where it will go. I have to give a BIG THANKS to John Moody and Ron Dudelston for all of their work on this project. I could not have done it with out them and it was pleasure working alongside my fellow woodworkers and friends. This chest will be an heirloom that will stay with my kids and get passed down in the family.