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Linenfold Panel Chest

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Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby kirkpoore1 » 29 Apr 2020, 04:43

I started this chest a good five or more years ago. It was a joint project with two friends--we were all going to make tool chests. Well, I got the frame parts cut out and then it sat, in a cardboard box, under my tenoner, where the box filled up with shavings.

So as part of my work from home stuff, I have more time and am trying to catch up on stuff that's been laying around. So I got to work.

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(271.73 KiB)

All parts are ash, the kind being eaten up over here by the emerald ash borer.

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(268.47 KiB)

I added a few more mortises, cut the tenons on the tenoner, and started test fitting.

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(238.59 KiB)

Stiles added. The rail mortises were all hand-chopped because my mortiser is too big for smaller chisels (3/8" and down). I broke a perfectly set up 3/8" chisel on the first stroke on this chest, and from then on it was hand chopping.

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(260.95 KiB)

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(360.7 KiB)

Panel blanks cut and planed, and frame parts grooved on the shaper to hold the panels.

OK, more later. I'm tired!

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby kirkpoore1 » 29 Apr 2020, 23:05

Now for the panels. Each panel started out about 5-1/2" wide, 15" tall, and 3/4" thick. I planned a simple single layer linenfold which just needed a pair of vertical bevels on each panel that met in the middle, with the edges about 1/4" thick.

I moved my table saw fence to the left of the blade (it's a right tilt saw), added a taller auxiliary surface to the fence, and tilted the blade over about 7 degrees. Each panel was sawn on edge, so there was no guard. I used a holder and a push stick to keep my hands away from the blade and still keep the panel vertical. The cut worked, but there was plenty of burning. Next, I hand planed the beveled surfaces to remove the marks and get them down to final thickness.

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Before on the right, after in the middle and left.

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(274.34 KiB)

I had to get a little creative to hold the panels down.

Next it was time to use the new overarm router to remove the waste on the ends of the panels to reveal the linenfold shape. I made a pattern for panels out of quarter inch hardboard. My initial thought was just to screw it to the back of each panel. The panels were long enough that I figured I could hold onto the far end while cutting the other end. I ran a test piece, and found that I was Gravely Mistaken (tmDr Bunsen Honeydew, I think). The router really liked to grab the panel whenever the pattern wasn't right up against the pin, and I simply didn't have a good enough grip to minimize this. The pin was enough to keep it from destroying the panel, but I was only barely keep it kind of under control. Clearly, this mustang was not a horse to be trifled with.

I felt that screwing the the pattern to the panel was a safe way to go in this instance. What I really needed was more mass to keep the grabbing from going too far, and widely spaced handles to give me plenty of leverage while keeping my hands safely away. In addition, although the panels were the same length, they were also two slightly different widths, so I couldn't just make a drop-in panel frame. The solution I went with was build a holder with a handle, attach the pattern to the bottom, and screw all the way through the two of them to registered panel on the top. The holder is a 2x8, planed flat, with a dado cut across it to hold a scrap poplar 1x2 handle.
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(220.21 KiB)

Pattern on bottom of holder.


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(177.06 KiB)

Mounted panel.


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(218.65 KiB)

Partial cut.

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(233.71 KiB)

6 panels routed.

There were some lessons to be learned on this. The router was pretty "grabby" when the pattern wasn't in contact with the pin. I later learned that the pattern should always surround the pin so that if the bit grabs the piece only moves so far. Also, there are better hold-down methods, but this will work.

Anyway, I also did 4 more panels, and then moved to hand carving. More on that later.

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Mike G » 30 Apr 2020, 06:20

Well, I love a bit of linenfold. It's interesting watching it being done in a way that's impossible in my workshop. It actually sounds a horrible process so far, fighting with machines wanting to grab the wood out of your hands.
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Malc2098 » 30 Apr 2020, 11:34

Looks great so far!
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby kirkpoore1 » 30 Apr 2020, 15:34

Mike G wrote:Well, I love a bit of linenfold. It's interesting watching it being done in a way that's impossible in my workshop. It actually sounds a horrible process so far, fighting with machines wanting to grab the wood out of your hands.


You have to take into account the fact that I'm learning to use a fairly dangerous machine, and do it without learning from anybody else. So yes, the objects are panels, but they're only part of the objective.

Now, once I got going, each panel took maybe 15-20 minutes total--maybe 2 minutes to rip, crosscut, join, and thickness; one minute to bevel, 5 minutes to rout, and the rest of the time to hand plane off the saw marks.

Next up was hand carving the ends to get into the point and undercut the raised areas:
IMG_6972.JPG
(102.6 KiB)

This one needs a little more work--you can see some plane marks on linenfold, and the gouge marks on the ends could be smoothed out a little.

Next up was adding some decorative lines at the frame edges to dress things up a little. Tool of choice was a scratch stock.
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(189.12 KiB)


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(176.45 KiB)

A little chisel work joins up the lines from rails & stiles.

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(350.63 KiB)

Test fitting panels.

More later...

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby MattS » 30 Apr 2020, 16:39

That is looking very lovely indeed.

That router sounds scary! I am making something at the moment and considered a router table for part of the process but really dislike using it and decided against it. Never had an accident but didn't want to take any risk with the current hospital workload!
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Woodbloke » 30 Apr 2020, 17:28

MattS wrote:That is looking very lovely indeed.

That router sounds scary! I am making something at the moment and considered a router table for part of the process but really dislike using it and decided against it. Never had an accident but didn't want to take any risk with the current hospital workload!


I believe at one time Wealden used (and maybe still do) to sell a 'linen fold' cutter specifically to make the profile and all :eusa-whistle: that was then required was to carve the undercut at the ends. I suppose in the 'olden days' the profile would have been planed with rounds and hollows - Rob

Edit: they still do but it appears a complex routing/jig making process
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby kirkpoore1 » 04 May 2020, 05:01

OK, back at it. Test fitting all parts of one side:
IMG_E7004.JPG
(299.34 KiB)


Frame assembled:
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(299.02 KiB)


I took the easy route on the bottom. I added a couple of battens along the sides, laid in the bottom slats (shiplapped, giving room for expansion but not so much for stuff to fall through), and then screwed more battens under them to hold them in place.
IMG_7011.JPG
(172.25 KiB)


Finished inside:
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(147.23 KiB)


Assembled end:
IMG_7013.JPG
(186.36 KiB)


The handles posed a problem. The ends overhang the sides, and the only place to attach the handles was the top rail. That meant squishing the fingers against the lid. I therefore attached the handles to extension blocks before adding them to the top rail.
IMG_7020.JPG
(254.97 KiB)


This worked fine, but the blocks looked odd sticking out. So, since I'm keeping this one, I decided to add molding along the top edge as an experiment. I used a couple of shaper cutters to add a bead and a cove, then ripped it off the blank with the table saw to form this:
IMG_E7018.JPG
(70.56 KiB)


This, save for some slightly amateurish attachment methods, actually worked fairly well:
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(240.31 KiB)

I did plug that corner gap and sand it to make it look a little better.

The top wasn't actually attached yet, but it looked ok:
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(214.16 KiB)


IMG_7032.JPG
(285.48 KiB)


Next was adding the lid. I used three short strap hinges from Lee Valley, attached with screws to the underside of the top and clinched nails through the back. I also added a couple of battens to the lid to keep it flat.
IMG_7044.JPG
(191.41 KiB)


A coat of BLO as the first coat of finish, and this is how it stands now:
IMG_7049.JPG
(292.14 KiB)

IMG_7050.JPG
(232.16 KiB)


It was supposed to hold my #7 and several more planes, and it will easily do that. The problem is I could keep adding more stuff until I need forklift or at least a pallet jack to move it. So, I'll have to use it for something lighter.
IMG_7052.JPG
(167.14 KiB)


But, one more project out of the shop. Next up, a new workbench.

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Malc2098 » 04 May 2020, 09:43

Love it!
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Rod » 04 May 2020, 10:26

Nice work Kirk

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Andyp » 04 May 2020, 19:29

Shame about that handle fixing but looks good nonetheless.
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Mike G » 04 May 2020, 20:40

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby kirkpoore1 » 05 May 2020, 01:18

Mike, I've seen it in a number of pictures, though I admit that the ogee shape on mine is overly pronounced. Here's an example, from the Victoria & Albert's "English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork", by Charles Tracy (1988):
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(331.81 KiB)


IMG_7077.JPG
(200.35 KiB)


This screen is dated at about 1500. It also shows up in Cesinsky (1921), but that photo isn't very good. The main thing is that I think the more simple form in the lowest row was probably an early linenfold development and things got more complicated as time went on. I've seen some like this in paintings too, though couldn't find an example.

It does give one the freedom to choose the level of effort to match the time available. :)

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Last edited by kirkpoore1 on 05 May 2020, 12:17, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby MattS » 05 May 2020, 08:55

Nice work, will you make dividers / boxes to go within it and hold other tools?
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby kirkpoore1 » 05 May 2020, 12:19

MattS wrote:Nice work, will you make dividers / boxes to go within it and hold other tools?


If I make it into a tool chest, yes. If not, I may make a simple till for it.

My daughter has already called dibs on it--and I don't know if she just means after I'm dead. :)

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby kirkpoore1 » 08 May 2020, 20:19

Mike, I ran across another example of single-layer linenfold, so I figured I'd drop it in:

Image

This is a chest at Chateau de Martainville in France. They're calling it "parchemin" carving, but I usually think of that as more elborate in ways that can't be done with a hand plane.

The article is here: https://thomasguild.blogspot.com/2011/08/medieval-and-renaissance-chests-of.html

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Mike G » 09 May 2020, 07:14

kirkpoore1 wrote:Mike, I ran across another example of single-layer linenfold.....They're calling it "parchemin" carving,.........ways that can't be done with a hand plane........


That old one would certainly have been done with a hand plane or two. Very nice, too, but quite different from the English tradition of linenfold.
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Woodbloke » 09 May 2020, 11:49

Mike G wrote:...but quite different from the English tradition of linenfold.

I've always hankered after making a linenfold chest. Have you an example/linkie of the traditional English pattern Mike? - Rob
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Pinch » 10 May 2020, 06:21

Beautiful work Kirk. 8-)

Love it.

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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby Mike G » 10 May 2020, 09:50

Woodbloke wrote:
Mike G wrote:...but quite different from the English tradition of linenfold.

I've always hankered after making a linenfold chest. Have you an example/linkie of the traditional English pattern Mike? - Rob


I think the top link in my post from a few days ago is pretty typical, Rob.
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Re: Linenfold Panel Chest

Postby janicer » 21 May 2020, 11:35

That's great work!
You can see that man jack-of-all-trades.. :P
Great.
I really liked it, I love woodwork. :text-bravo:
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