Well, I was going to post this last night after we got to our son and daughter in law's new house that they just moved into, but I had to help my son put together the new sofa/bed that Tami and I were going to sleep on. We got done after midnight so I figured that it would have to wait until this morning.

In Part 2 of this project of making a Cedar Lined Walnut Blanket Chest for Nori, my first grand daughter that will be born this coming November, John Moody, Ron Dudelston and I were all at John Moody's house to hang out for a few days and we were building this chest together in John Moody's shop.

In the first post on this project we got all the lumber milled down and got the panels glued up. So in this post we got all the panels sanded down and cut to final dimensions, cut and dry fit the dovetail joints, cut and fit the plywood bottom, glued up the chest, rough sanded the chest, routed the top, attached the top, and milled the cedar boards that will line the inside of the chest.

It took a lot more sanding than we planned on the panels as we got some bowing in the glue ups which cost us extra time over our short weekend together. But we finally got everything down to the right thicknesses and got the dovetails cut. Here are John and Ron as we were working on the dry fit.

Those dovetails turned out great! John has the Dovetail Jig from Peachtree Woodworking and it was really easy to do.

After getting the birch plywood bottom notched and fitted into the dadoes and making sure that it wall perfectly square, it was time to get it glued up. Taping the inside corners with the Blue Painter's Tape sure was a time/work saver to deal with the squeeze out during the clamping. I can't tell you how many times John told Ron and I during this build "Don't ask me how I know this, but we need to do/not do ___________ or it will mess up the chest." Since he has made quite a few blanket chests his experience and wisdom was great to have.

After letting the glue dry overnight, we got up early on Monday morning to get as much done as possible before Ron and I had to head back up north to Indiana. Ron got all the dovetail joints sanded down flush and they all look great! After getting the rough sanding done, we did the measurements and cut and routed the decorative edge on the top and then mounted the top using 3 of the Rockler chest hinges.

We had hoped to get more of the chest done, but ran out of time to get the bottom trim and lining the inside with the cedar and do the final sanding. So Ron will do the final sanding and I will head up there later this week and we finish the trim and cedar lining at in his shop. After that I will be taking it to my kid's house and putting a few coats of a wipe on oil/varnish finish before Tami and I head back home to California.

I had a great time working with John and Ron on this project. We were all worn out as it was a lot of work to get done over a weekend, but it turned out great. Before we blew off all the dust and carried it out to Ron's van, the last thing was to get John and Ron's signatures on the bottom in permanent ink so Nori will know how much love was put into this chest.
Once I get the final finish on I will post some more photos.

Here is photo of all of us at the Moody's before Ron, Dorothy, Tami and I headed back to Indiana.

Allen, I think you need to send Tammy to Lowe's for a few more clamps!!

 

 

Nice Job!

 

 

Really nice chest. That's going to be a great heirloom.

Very nice! All your "hard" work was well worth it. Having each one sign it is a nice touch.

 

Wonderful looking walnut, awesome looking chest, handsome guys, great looking family shot at the bottom of the post, and Allen's bare feet are priceless! Way to represent California Allen!! Looks like a great time was had, I can't wait to see the end results of the chest, what type of finish is going on the chest guys?

 

Edited September 6, 201510 yr by Administrator

Love the BESSEY t-shirt!

 

Looking forward to seeing it finished. Could you give some details on the cedar lining when you get done with it please.

James, the cedar has been ripped and planed into 1/4" thick pieces. The chest is just under 15 inches deep so I've ripped the pieces just over 5 inches and cut an 1/8" X 1/8" rabbet on them so that they'll lock together. Then cut them to length and pin nail them in after we've sprayed a couple of coats of shellac on the inside. Pretty easy really. Allen is coming over tomorrow so we'll post some pictures.

 

I know Dannette, you would think with all those Bessey Clamps I could get a Bessey T-Shirt.

Says the guy with 2 Laguna tees. :-)

I think John deserves a Bessey t-shirt considering how many of the Bessey clamps he has hanging on his shop wall. You can never have too many woodworking/tool t-shirts. Ron, you are just jealous because you only have 1 Laguna t-shirt. Shame on you! :-)

 

 

Real nice guys.Ron, did it feel like being back in the plant? From the looks of the photos it appears there were two supervisors, and one worker!

 

 

Yeah Larry, the oldest one in the bunch was sweating away. No respect for the elderly.

Don't let him fool you Larry!  While was still eating and talking we brought all the lumber into the shop. He is pretty good on a belt sander though!

John, I knew there had to be more than the photos were showing, but if you look through the photos from parts 1&2 it looks like Ron's doing most of the work!

 

Some, not all. I got the stuff with ants all over it.

 

He's right he did pick up a couple of boards with ants on them. I will say he did a lot of work. I couldn't hold out on my leg long and Allen documented a lot of the process. Allen did a lot of gluing and sanding on the drum sander. I did mostly supervising.

John did a lot of work folks. He's being very modest.

 

The gang, I love this topic.