# Walnut and Maple Blanket Chest



## SLAC_Engineer (Feb 23, 2012)

Here is a build that I finished this past August. This was my first time attempting a project of this complexity and detail. I made this chest as a wedding gift for my brother. I had about a month to build it and then I had to drive 1700 miles across country to deliver it. I wanted to do a build thread during the actual build but didn't have time to sit in front of a computer. So here I am now, going off memory. The chest was inspired by another woodworkers chest that I saw in another forum (or perhaps this forum, I don't remember).










I really liked the contrasting colors of the dark and light wood. My choice of wood was Walnut (for the frame) and maple (for the panels and draw-bore pins). My brothers house is small so I also wanted this chest to double as a bench. For this reason I designed the ends with arm rests. This is after the glue-up, before finishing.










Now back to the beginning. I started documenting mid project so there are no photos of the rough stock but here are some glue ups of the bottom and top panel. I tried to match the grain as best as possible but with sapwood it was difficult. I went through alot of boards to get the right combination. I also tried to keep all the sapwood on the inside of the chest. 










Here is the glue-up of the panels. In hindsight I probably should have just looked for wider boards. However, at the time of the lumber purchase I didn't quite have all the details of the design figured out. I used dominoes to align the panels during glue-up. This is a nice way to get the boards coplanar without having to deal with squirm from the glue when you clamp down.





































I had to make the panels twice! I didn't pay attention to where I put the dominos and when I went to route the profile on the panels I exposed at least one domino on each panel. Learn from your mistakes I guess. 










It's late so I will post more tomorrow and drag this out. Thanks for looking.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Very nice! That original was a chest I built for my mother. I really like your curvy figure and the arm rests. I like the contrasting wood too (obviously ) ). The routed lip on the front side rail for a finger grip is a very nice detail as well. Looking at your version in photo #1 gives me an idea on building another with the side arms. The clamp and chisels looks like a back rest and I like that look, so I may steal your version and add to it for my next chest. Thanks for sharing!


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

That is one beautiful chest. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your build.


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## terrysumner (Oct 5, 2008)

Man that is really nice!


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## threedecker (Jan 24, 2012)

Beautiful work. I really like the raised panels and the dowel construction! Gorgeous!


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## Mecum23 (May 31, 2012)

Love this project!! Do you have any more pics?

Sent from my iPhone using Wood Forum


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## tplociniak (Oct 22, 2012)

that chest looks great, looking forward to the rest of the pictures you have


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## Core2 (Jan 17, 2014)

Great build. How did you join the frames to the corner posts? Stiles are they? How thick are they?


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## DitchDoc (Jan 11, 2014)

Very Nice indeed.


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## Alaska_Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

Looks amazing and expensive. Great work!


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