A chest made in the form of a Sam Maloof style chest.

[rons]

I did go to one of those one day sessions at his house in southern California. Got talked into it by a guy in a woodworkers group.
He had Parkinson's and wanted me to go with him in case something happened to his health.

Made from rough cut Honduras Mahogany and Maple.
One of the 8/4 boards (12') had white painted letters "Mobile".
I thought that might mean the stuff came in port at Mobile, Alabama.

All drawer knobs hand turned from Ebony.
All drawers ride on a thin strip of Formica.
All dovetails hand cut with a Glasgo Jig 1:6 and Japanese razor pull-saw.



Height - 5'
Depth - 1.5'
Width - 3'









Where I keep my drawers ...

 

[Trboatworks]

Very nice work.

 

[stephen thomas]

That's gorgeous!

All dovetails hand cut with a Glasgo Jig 1:6 and Japanese razor pull-saw.

Gonna have to google that - not familiar to me.

smt

 

[rons]

That's gorgeous!



Gonna have to google that - not familiar to me.

smt

There was/is a Glasgo Jig 1:8 designed for hardwood. The tails and pins will have a smaller angle.
I got the 1:6 for the larger angle look. They label the 1:6 for softwood.
If I had metal working machines back then it might have been easy to make a jig.

I have seen dovetails cut by using a finger as a guide. They come out pretty good.
With this jig the cuts come out almost perfect. A good sharp Japanese razor tooth pull saw (narrow blade) guarantees that.

And the phenolic guide strips last a long time. In the tool pic the plastic bag has a spare set. It only cost $4.95 for the strips.
Probably the best wood working tool I own. It even looks good as a art piece on a pedestal.


Notice the variation from light to dark on the right and left sides of the chest. That is because the two light colored pieces were
not wide enough or the two dark pieces were not wide enough. The only way to make the sides meet dimension was to mix them up.
The job of planing and jointing made that happen. Getting the light and dark stuff was from going through the stacks at the lumber yard.
Once planed the variations show. And maybe I didn't want to go back and get more wood.

I thought about the rule that light colors become darker and darker colors become less dark.
Since the room is not bathed in sunlight the desired blending effect has not happened. So, not that gorgeous.

 

[stephen thomas]

Since the room is not bathed in sunlight the desired blending effect has not happened

You are probably the only one in the room for whom that is not a character aspect rather than an "issue".
It will blend in time regardless.
I still think the composition is a spectacular effect.

I may be showing my ignorance - do you have pix with the drawers fully closed? (Or are they - I built a sewing cabinet for my wife once with exposed joinery, for which the stack of tray drawers sort of float in space. But they do set back of the perimeter of the case itself.)
smt

 

[jim rozen]

I thought honduras mahogany was no longer available? That's the stuff Atwater Kent radios were made of.

Tremendous workmanship.

 

[rons]

do you have pix with the drawers fully closed?

I made two of these to match the tall boy. Dovetails are also cut in the back for every drawer.

 

[stephen thomas]

Love it!
very nice match on the doors with that smoke effect from some of the dark grain.
& I can hold my head up: Compare to you "I am not an obssessive!"

Jim - Honduras mahogany is still available though getting scarcer. To check my impressions i looked up Irion lumber which is essentially local to us, and was astonished that they don't advertise carrying it anymore. That was the sole product they started out with/built the business on. Wide, thick, long, clear mahogany boards. But it is still available elsewhere, and is not really priced much outside other premium size/figure grade lumber. Seems every bubba with a narrow band saw mill prices "slabs" for more than mahogany on a bd ft basis. It also seems that high grade hardwood lumber has always done a good job over the decades out-pacing inflation.

smt

 

[rons]

They are not doors. They are the two floating panels on the back.
I don't remember if I split a board for the book-match effect.

The end of one of the 8/4 boards. I think it means "Mobile Alabama". The "E" is gone due to my cutting.
Below that piece is some 4/4. In the 90's I could drive to Northern Hardwoods on Matthew St.
They showed me how to stack the planks and let me go through stacks that
were 4' tall, 4' wide, and 8' - 12' long.

Trying to find straight grain in stacks of plain sawn lumber.

 

[richard newman]

Nice work Ron! Are these recent or from some time ago?

Back in the 60's I saw a cradle cabinet by Maloof at a show at the craft museum in NYC. It was one of the things that inspired me to become a furniture maker. I was lucky to meet Sam way later, he was a very friendly and modest guy.

 

[rons]

Some time ago.
I remember that piece is in his book.

 

[stephen thomas]

They showed me how to stack the planks and let me go through stacks that
were 4' tall, 4' wide, and 8' - 12' long.

Irion used to stock planks 12 - 16' long. Multiple piles 4' high. In 6/4 & up there were usually wide boards over 24" and probably some over 36".

Then there was Richard Newman's stash.
Though IIRC you didn't keep much thick stuff?
I mostly only bought 6/4 & 8/4 since it could always be resawn.

smt

 

[rons]

A detail I added to the design. Drawers pulled in & out over a time would show a groove on
the rail below the drawer. Added thin strips of Formica and no problem. Slides easy too.

 

[Kaibab]

I made two of these to match the tall boy. Dovetails are also cut in the back for every drawer.

View attachment 397426 View attachment 397417 View attachment 397418 View attachment 397419

How deep are the drawer fronts inset?

 

[scsmith42]

Very nicely done!

 

[rons]

How deep are the drawer fronts inset?

The inset is 5/8". Nice for showing off household dust.

 

[Kaibab]

The inset is 5/8". Nice for showing off household dust.

Thanks for the reply. Working on a similar project and details are hard to find. One additional questions: it appears that there were holes on the sides that are filled with wooden dowels. Did you use screws and hide them with dowels or do the dowels just go all the way through the side edge of the top? Womdering if the screws would provide a little more strength long term. Thanks again for sharing what you learned while making this project. It’s all very well done.

 

[rons]

Thanks for the reply. Working on a similar project and details are hard to find. One additional questions: it appears that there were holes on the sides that are filled with wooden dowels. Did you use screws and hide them with dowels or do the dowels just go all the way through the side edge of the top? Womdering if the screws would provide a little more strength long term. Thanks again for sharing what you learned while making this project. It’s all very well done.

Those holes are filled with Black Ebony cross-grain plugs.

I learned is that a jig for aligning the plug with the hole is a lot better than by hand.
Once the plug goes in off-center the hole is no round and the error shows when finishing.

The bevel on the chisel has to be as sharp as possible. Cutting the Ebony (African Blackwood)
plug at 90 degrees is not always going to match grain direction in plug. A super sharp chisel at
45 degrees to grain direction and taking a slicing movement is what worked.

I use a Veritas rolling guide for my chisels when redoing the edge from scratch.
I do not use that two bevel angle approach. Just one angle on the chisel.

I would like to ask anybody listening if there is a good Japanese chisel set they like?

I used this tool set. It has seen more use with other pieces of furniture.
For more than 30 years it still is in good shape.

 

[majohnson]

Good chisels are handy in woodworking. Read in Japan about master woodworker using hand planes would make one pass with a hand plane and then resharpen the blade because it was not as sharp as it could be.

 

[stephen thomas]

Read in Japan about master woodworker using hand planes would make one pass with a hand plane and then resharpen the blade because it was not as sharp as it could be.

That's because they have to make-do with what we in the US would simply refer to as " Asian import" steel.

smt