Bear Clan Chest

Hi Guys, 

It seems I am attracted to the unusual, while there was a time when I built bookcases, the mystery side of woodworking has always pulled at me.  I made this before my grey hairs set in and my kids still loved to glue up my offcuts.

This chest was made up from a bunch of random materials to create something cool, or so I had hoped.

The challenge was to create a unique locking system within the chest.  The above chest is actually two parts, there is the outer shell that you see that houses the 8 dial locking system, and housed within that is a free-rolling cabinet of doors and drawers.  What made this piece cool was that the inner cabinet of doors and drawers actually rolled on wooden bearings to the left and right.  

When the inner cabinet is slid to the right, the dowel upright fit neatly in between the doors and drawers so that they are free to open.  When the cabinet is slid to the left, the opening side of the door and the drawers are now blocked from opening.

If that wasn't enough I added an 8 dial combination system where each dial had 12 positions around plus 10 positions the dial can be pulled out to where each outer ring, making it that each dial has 120 possible settings.  

You might think, man, that is ridiculous, but wait, there is more, lol.  Behind the back of each door and drawer is a secret compartment that is carefully hidden as well as secret systems to keep it locked to the unaware.

Being that I called this Bear Clan, so I was feeling a blood red interior of the drawers would be most interesting.  What do you guys think?

There was much to learn on this project like integrating a free rolling cabinet with a combination wooden lock, but perhaps unexpectedly a new awareness came through.  I learned that big pieces like this need to match the curtains and the furniture or the wife says it can't come home, lol.  From here on in I began making smaller, more manageable sized pieces.  Have I mentioned my love for boxes?

Enjoy folks!