An Out Standing Chest

[Jeff L Headley]

I thought that I might answer any question on how I might go about building this triple chest from Charleston SC. It is an outstanding chest. Actually it is an out standing chest, out standing in our yard.
I have made a few changes from the originals we have seen. All case sides and rails and drawer fronts are 13/16" thickness. Bring in your wood and let it acclimate itself to your shop before the snow hits because it's going to get deep. And I didn't mean the snow. You will need to add a small strip of primary wood to the front of all the rails and bottoms. Why waste good wood when you don't have to. What might be the first question? Why am I doing this. Who knows! 

[John Cashman]

Is this all solid, or is there veneer? Are the three sections (four, if you count the base), separate sections, as you might build the top and bottom of a highboy?

Interesting piece. What can you say about originals of this style?

[gvforster]

Jeff,

Are the 3 sections just stacked in place- not fastened together?

Greg

[Jeff L Headley]

The one pictured is out of solid mahogany. A great way of using up small wide pieces. To short for anything else. I am working on two others, one all out of solid cherry and one out of solid curly maple (which you probably wouldn't see in SC) but with curly maple veneered drawer fronts. After a days of cutting dovetails in maple and cherry I am looking forward to the poplar secondary drawer fronts. These chest are seen in many port towns. I know of a few in Baltimore among others. They were the steamer trunk of their day. Just lock and load them up on a ship and head north for the summer. Then back again in the winter. Snowbirds. I wish I was a snowbird right now. We are supposed to get 30" of snow today and tomorrow with 50 mph winds. Yes it does snow in Virginia. Good weather to build furniture. The chest is three separate pieces. The feet are setting under a mold which is fastened under the case. The front piece of mold is glued and the side pieces are glued at the miter and maybe 3" back and then screw( in a sloppy hole) in the center and at the back. I did just "face" about an inch of primary wood to my secondary wood (yellow pine). The ones I am building now will have poplar secondary wood . Solid bottom of secondary wood faced with primary wood and dovetail up into the sides. Unlike the original I am dovetailing three rails at the top of each case. Three secondary wood rails with the front rail overlaid with primary wood. Not veneered but 1/4"or thicker

[Allan D. Brown]

The lamp stand you did last year was very entertaining, so I'll be looking forward to this -- just post plenty of photos! Would you mind discussing your stock prep methods? Also, if these were commonly hauled from place-to-place, why no locks? Seems there would be a tendency for the draw(er)s to slide open during shipment/handling.
Allan

[HSteier]

Jeff,
Is this the chest pictured in Humphrey's book on Thoma sElfe?

Howard Steier

[klkirkman]

Jelff,

A very interesting chest.

Please post more photos if possible, including separate parts .  Is there any provision to align the units when stacked ?


Karl

[Jeff L Headley]

Allen,  Lumber preparation is a key point. It is February in Virginia. Things are dry and cold. I would bring in all my lumber I think I will need for this piece. Or should I say I plan on bringing in all the lumber I need. The top, drawer bottoms, and the case back, can wait a few days. The case sides and bottoms certainly should be acclimated to our shop environment figuring everything will swell up this summer. It would be a good idea for the drawer sides to be inside now waiting to be sized. The drawer sides swelling this summer will be a concern. I mentioned earlier in a previous posting that we buy 6/4 poplar and have it resawed in half. This leaves us with generally 5/8" thick stock with little waste for sides, backs, and bottoms.  I don't like to waste lumber. Our lumber supplier says we aren't saving anything. I question that though.
I like drawers to fit as tight as possible as long as they won't be a concern when things swell. Wood swells seasonally, but a little less each year. I do like each pieces we build but after they are sold I don't plan on seeing them again except socially. The lack of locks come from the mahogany chest being a speculation piece. $15 to $30 per lock and an hour per for installation with no one paying the bill??? I try to build the best piece possible but   The lack of locks could have been disguised with escutcheons added and keyholes cutout. I have an another short cut I would like to discuss. Pictured are three top rails instead of a solid top similar to the bottom. The originals would certainly have had solid tops for the very same shipping reasons. I don't have that same concern.

Howard, This is a chest commonly seen in and around many port towns along. I have many examples from many southern towns

[dkeller_nc]

Jeff - What are the outside dimensions of this set of chests?  Seems that I've seen one in a video clip from the New Yankee Workshop at one point, and my memory suggests that it (the antique) was about 5 feet tall, and about 30" wide.  I'm curious because you noted that it was "a good way to use up small pieces of wood", and boy, do I have a lot of that setting around.

[Antiquity]

Jeff,

It looks like the left side is solid cherry and the right side is secondary wood faced with a strip of cherry?

Dennis Bork

[Jeff L Headley]

Karl, Each section will be held in place by three pieces of molding (except for the bottom which rests on the molding above the feet). One piece of molding on the front and another on each side. Again the front piece of molding will be held in place being glued to the top of the front rail. Then the side pieces will be glued at each joint and about three inches along the side and then nailed on with the holes being filled. Someone in the future can nail the front piece of molding down and someone else can discuss if it is original or not. Each section just lifts off counterpart. I will post pictures when I get there.

[Jeff L Headley]

The outside dimensions are:
Bottom section
39 11/16 W
19 13/16 D
22 5/8 H

Center section
38 1/16 W
19 D
17 H

Top section
36 7/16 W
18 3/16  D
11 H

[Jeff L Headley]

Dennis, Hope all is well and this finds you and your family in good spirits and best wishes. The sides are all solid. The strip added on the front of the bottom is so I don't waste any more primary wood than necessary. My pictures are not the best.

[Jeff L Headley]

Here are a few pictures which might spur on some more questions.

[Jeff L Headley]

Here is another picture which didn't get posted previously. It is of the rail joinery.