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Building a Hope Chest

Hope Chest – creating the panels

Hope Chest – creating the panels

I started choosing the wood for the panels of the chest today. They are 3/4 “ thick so that I have enough thickness for the raising and enough to fit in the grooves. My earlier post alluded to the selection of wood but in practical terms here are some of

Hope chest and the closing class

Hope chest and the closing class

When I think of all the friends around the globe working wood, I wonder how trees keep up with supply. George is here from the USA with his friend John and they tell me of storm-dropped trees 4’ in diameter pretty much for the taking. People owning Woodmizer resaw bandsaws

From Hope Chest to Discovery Workshop - A day in the workshop

From Hope Chest to Discovery Workshop - A day in the workshop

The class went well all day and from the start the enthusiasm was highly infectious even to the point of being contagious. My class starts always begin with sharpness. Without this, hand tool woodworking is impossible.WIthout hand tools in working woodwork, artisanship cannot exist. Here we are beginning something.

Hope chest - planing and ploughing

Hope chest - planing and ploughing

"The rails be trimmed fair and fettled to size with smoothness 'neath my wood sole" Well, friends, it's a fair test though not truly scientific. I tested a series of equally lengthed planes including #4s, #4 1/2s. #5s and #5 1/2s to true

Hope chest - prepping the cross rails

Hope chest - prepping the cross rails

My hope chest has several rails to interconnect at the corners. Tough wood being made from solid oak, but I'm planing them by hand quite easily using hand planing methods I've used for 45 years and the same methods used by woodworkers for centuries. Old fashioned?

Hope chest - shaping oak legs

Hope chest - shaping oak legs

Square legs have their place in furniture pieces, yet shaped ones define styles. It's a challenge to come up with new ones and keep them as yours. Imagine a style if you will. We have lots to choose from and too many to list. Today I shaped the

Hope chest - grooving the legs

Hope chest - grooving the legs

Veritas Plow Planes Running a groove like this takes under five minutes to make and there is no danger to me or to the work at all. Think about it for a moment. You are making one chest. Two legs have 2 grooves, the other 2 have one. 6 grooves,