Captain's Keepsake Chest

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I made this Captain's Keepsake Chest out of Pine for my granddaughter as an heirloom.

Joinery is a combination of dowels and mortise and tenon. 

It has a sliding tray in it that moves from left to right or can simply be lifted out.

I made flapstays for both sides that lock when fully opened. They unlock by pressing slightly towards the rear and lifting by hand to disengage. 

I bought Lee Valley cup pulls for the handles.



I made alignment lid locating pins so when the lid comes down it will perfectly align to bottom.



I made a full length one piece wooden piano hinge. It is actually part of the chest's back wall. 



The hinge dowel is a full length one piece.



The top is tambour strips. All done by hand. Each is dowel pinned to the next with 3 pins each. 



Another view with the pull handles.



The drawer is box finger joints on all corners. 



Thanks for looking!

Feel free to comment, ask questions and "thumbs up 👍" if you like it!

Cheers!
MrRick

27 Comments

well done rick. i love the look of that wooden hinge, really sets the chest apart from the ordinary. so no shou sugi ban ? hey every little girl loves burnt wood 🤣

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Thanks Pottz. Yeah the hinge was alot of planning and work but turned out great. And yes Sugi Ban is additive so I was trying to withdrawl on this one! LOL. 😄
Great work MrRick, beautiful chest that I'm sure your granddaughter will cherish.
Question: How did you drill that fantastic wooden hinge for the full length dowel pin? I've been attempting to figure that out until I now have a headache. 
Thanks.
Great chest.   Also curious on drilling the hinge!

Ron

That is a great looking chest Rick! 
i think he works out a lot 😏

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Real nice chest, Rick. Cool design

Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day

Chunky,  practical, and a great hinge. Possibly needs a 'secret' combination lock! 
Thanks Oldtool, 987Ron.... the hinge was not drilled. All done on my tablesaw. Without being long winded, I basically used a box finger joint approach to make the barrels, used my dado blade and ripped a precise calculated depth on edge, radiused the bottom along slot length, plugged the open end of slot length and radiused again. Then I made an insert tool that I made to shove in the one piece dowel. 
Thanks SplinterGroup, Pottz, Jim!

Hey Pottz..... not bad chest ... right?! LOL!
rick i didn't say you could use pic's of me, that was sent in confidence 😂

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Oh man! You're too funny Pottz!
Wonderful gift with a lot of great details. What are the overall dimensions?  
BB1.... I can't remember off hand and she has the chest now. I'll get some measurements from my daughter and let you know. 
Nice job! Thanks for sharing the details on the hinge.
Steve Rasmussen
Nice job! Thanks for sharing the details on the hinge.

You're welcome Steve. I drew it all out in SketchUp. Designed it. Figured out approach, etc. There's no way it can be drilled at this length. Even an electrician's fish bit that's used to drill holes through floor joists wouldn't work. So I figured this all out and it was alot of work but turned out very well. 

Cheers!
Rick
Really nice work! Well done on that hinge. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

No worries on specific measures- just was curious in general.  Looks like a lot of room to store treasures. 🙂
Thanks Ryan! The hinge worked out well. I'm pleased with it. 
Hi BB1.... from Front to back it's 24" ; from left to right it's 32" ; and from bottom to top of lid's curve (as measured from the side) it's 21" hide. 
Lots of room inside. She's stuffing it pretty well. It has no lock. I did this on purpose. She could actually hide in it. So for safety reasons I avoided this.