JK's 'Silver Chest' DUN

[Woodbloke]

The next big job that ought to keep me off the streets for a few months is an iconic 'Silver Chest' first made my Jim Krenov in 1961. He revisited this design several times and no two are the same; all are different:



This project is reputed to be a bit 'tricky' and one person on InstaG mentioned that he had never seen it repeated, though there is a detail shot of one in Maple on Pinterest. The difficult part is making the drawers and I really spent a long time trying to figure out how the cunning old bugger made them. However, once I made a trial drawer in some disgusting, nasty shed pine, I could see exactly what he did and it does actually work perfick:







Having purchased a 12mm sheet of Wickes rather good ply, I cut off two chunks for the top and bottom of the carcase and squared a corner on each true and dead accurate on the shooting board with my trusty LN51. The exact dimensions were then transferred using a steel rule, 4H pencil and one of those handy 'B' squares from WH to act as a square reference against the edge:



The waste was trimmed off, so it was then the turn of the router and a 90deg jig to true one of the edges which was then repeated for the final side using a mirror image jig and you can see (arrowed) the cut is spot on the line and will be dead square:





Using a bit of Ian's (Cabinetman) beech, both square corners/sides were lined up and clamped to the timber with three clamps (one not shown). The previously machined piece was uppermost and a top bearing cutter fitted in the router. A quick whizz round on the final two sides on the lower bit and viola:



....two accurate, dead square identical bits of ply. This is basic, very straight forward router stuff and makes a tricky job by hand absurdly simple and quick. Time spent in setting up is time well spent - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

First observation is it’s not too dissimilar to the drawer on your bench underneath it!
He’s unusual in his design ethos isn’t he, now why have gaps between the drawer and the carcase? Which then also is highlighted? by the stepped back pieces on the carcase sides. And he does like having his tops separate from the stand/base, on this one there doesn’t appear to be much stopping the top moving sideways off the stand, presuming that the front to back under carcase rail is part of the top?
The rebates on the top make me wonder if he was thinking of another box on top?
Doesn’t look too difficult really, and I’m sure nothing you can’t deal with Rob

 

[AndyT]

Well, this will be another interesting build, whether you like Krenov's work or not. (Personally I find I can admire it without ever wanting to own any, (which applies to many styles of furniture) but that's enough about me, this is Rob's build!)

I blew the dust off my copy of "A Cabinetmaker's Notebook" and found the section about this chest, which answered some of my puzzlement at what you are showing us. Such as the importance of having two exactly similar pieces of ply; the reason for having a pair of pulls on each drawer, and why the front-to-back rails on top of the box have those rebates in their edges. I'm sure those will all become clear over the next weeks/months along with many other subtleties.

Will you be making the stand, or have you run out of floor space by now?

 

[AndyT]

Is the substrate the Wickes plywood you mentioned in an earlier post?

 

[Woodbloke]

Is the substrate the Wickes plywood you mentioned in an earlier post?

Indeed Andy and very good it is too. I've only come across one small void so far - Rob

 

[Pete Maddex]

I remember that scratch stock, its very nice.


Pete

 

[Woodbloke]

Current state of play. Stand dun but not detailed, sanded or glued. Carcass dun, drawers dun and fitted:





Back panel dun and fitted. Drawers were a bit 'difficult' to fit snugly, loads of faffing n'fettling yet to do - Rob

 

[AndyT]

If Rob's finding this build "a bit difficult" I for one am content to carry on just watching with interest and admiration


... and be quite pleased at not owning any silverware!

 

[Lurker]

As always, it’s looking good, Rob.

 

[Woodbloke]

If Rob's finding this build "a bit difficult" I for one am content to carry on just watching with interest and admiration


... and be quite pleased at not owning any silverware!

As always, it’s looking good, Rob.

Thanks chaps. It's a bit ruff n'ready as shown in the pic but you can get a general impression of what it'll eventually look like. I've decided that at 35mm, the curve pulls are too long so I'll nibble them down a bit to say 30 or even 25mm and see what they look like; too long as shown though - Rob

 

[Woodbloke]

Drawers now have had their stops screwed in place and the fronts have been planed co-planar (planing off the bottom half of the top drawer):



...and the pulls have been cut down to 28m which I think looks a little better - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

Well there’s certainly not a lot between the drawers!

 

[Woodbloke]

Well there’s certainly not a lot between the drawers!

The faces were made co-planer Ian; there was a a slight 'step' 'twixt one end and the other which was easy enough to remove by taking a few shavings off the top drawer face. I may take a few more shavings off the top drawer edge to increase the shadow gap between the two. This is what:



...it looks like now. The stand hasn't been cleaned up, detail sanded or even glued but you can get a rough indication of what it'll eventually look like. Drawer bases in qs CofL haven't been cut yet so that's this mornings job - Rob

Edit - the 'upside down' curve on the legs is very subtle and can be seen best on the rear leg

 

[Woodbloke]

Dune n'dusted this morning. Finished with a coat of Rubio Monocoat and a good slathering of Odie's Oil, polished off with a clean white towel. A few glamour shots to wrap this one up:





Fixing the carcass to the stand:



The hardest bit were the drawers and the fitting thereof:



Back panel:





Detailing between the stand and the carcass - Rob

 

[duke]

Stunning, a lot of amazing detail Woodbloke.

 

[AndyT]

Wonderful quality of work, that design doesn't leave anywhere to hide mistakes, but you don't need it to.
Worlds away from ordinary furniture making.

 

[Pete Maddex]

Fabulous stunning tremendous you must be really pleased with it.

Pete

 

[MattS]

Those draw pulls really are impressive when you see them pulled out - top work as ever.

 

[Woodbloke]

Wonderful quality of work, that design doesn't leave anywhere to hide mistakes, but you don't need it to.
Worlds away from ordinary furniture making.

There were a couple of nasty goofs Andy, one was template routing the leg curve and the router definitely didn't like going uphill in Paduk resulting in some horrendous tear out which was thankfully easily patched so that now you'd be very hard pressed to find the repair. The other lunatic thing I did was to make the router slip in machining the back panel rebate so there was a lot of patching to do, but again, once the panel was glued in place the repair was all but invisible. Paduk is great stuff but very unforgiving.

Those draw pulls really are impressive when you see them pulled out - top work as ever.

The drawers required a lot of thought before I even touched a bit of wood and were easily the most challenging part of this project - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

Well. What can I say. You really know what you are doing sir.

 

[AndyP]

Is there any room left in your house Rob?

 

[Woodbloke]

Is there any room left in your house Rob?

A few nooks n'crannies Andy

 

[Cabinetman]

Part way through the build I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but seeing it finished it’s a super bit of work, and those pulls really set it off well.

 

[Dr.Al]

Impressive work as always Rob. I'm generally not a fan of Krenov stuff (although I'm always impressed by the skill involved in making it0 but that looks really nice.

I was surprised to see the knife line on the dovetails; I'd remembered you saying that you prefer to remove it.

Edit...

Reference: https://thewoodhaven2.co.uk/threads/four-dovetailed-boxes.7780/#post-129290 :

I always remove the shoulder knife line, but it's a personal thing; some does and some don't.

 

[AndyT]

I went looking in books again to see if Krenov left the dovetail lines in, but I got distracted by this quotation:

"The whole piece is more difficult than it looks and I can only do it when I am rested and feel strong and optimistic."

Rob, I think you might want to print that out and frame it on a nearby wall!

 

[PAC1]

Well done Rob excellent (as usual).
How are you finding Odies oil? I have not got beyond the price, so not tried it.

 

[Woodbloke]

Impressive work as always Rob. I'm generally not a fan of Krenov stuff (although I'm always impressed by the skill involved in making it0 but that looks really nice.

I was surprised to see the knife line on the dovetails; I'd remembered you saying that you prefer to remove it.

Edit...

Reference: https://thewoodhaven2.co.uk/threads/four-dovetailed-boxes.7780/#post-129290 :

Thanks Dr. Al. Generally I do like to remove knife lines but to do so on this project was pretty difficult as there wasn't really a practical way to clean up the dovetails with any sort of plane. Would you believe that I had to use a bastard file and then a finer cut file followed by sanding through the grits? In addition, taking too much off may well have interfered with the drawer pulls and the shaping/carving of the drawer runner, so I cleaned off the barest minimum.

I went looking in books again to see if Krenov left the dovetail lines in, but I got distracted by this quotation:

"The whole piece is more difficult than it looks and I can only do it when I am rested and feel strong and optimistic."

Rob, I think you might want to print that out and frame it on a nearby wall!

I read that too Andy before I started work and there was much sucking of the teeth beforehand. It's such an iconic JK piece though (IMO) that I decided to have a punt and see where it led; fortunately it didn't turn out to shabbily! The drawers though and their fitting was a 'challenge'!

How are you finding Odies oil? I have not got beyond the price, so not tried it.

Odie's Oil is good stuff but it's a workout to apply it over a larger surface as it's a thick and gloopy gel that needs to be worked into the surface. That said, once buffed after 45-60mins with a clean white towel, the surface is as shown on the project above. The advantage is that there's no waiting for 6-7 hours for say, Osmo to dry and then re-applying a second coat. Once with the Odie's is enough although I used Rubio as a base coat but it wasn't really necessary - Rob

Edit- should have mentioned that a pot of Odie's goes an incredibly long way. I've just used up the little taster pot on this project and the previous one, a little circular drinks/side table in Doussie

 

[Routermonster]

Just seen this, Rob ... in a word - magnificent!

 

[Woodbloke]

Just seen this, Rob ... in a word - magnificent!

Thanks. I still keep on having a look at the drawers to see if they're having a 'hissy fit' and starting to seize up on me, but so far they're behaving themselves. One day in the 'shop a couple of weeks ago when the weather became a little more humid (!) than currently they became distinctly tighter which was slightly worrying, but so far, so good - Rob

 

[Fred48]

Beautiful job. Years ago did you write an article for F&C where you wrote about a holder for securely gripping a Japanese chisel whilst grinding it on the Tormek machine? Fred

 

[Woodbloke]

Thanks. I still keep on having a look at the drawers to see if they're having a 'hissy fit' and starting to seize up on me, but so far they're behaving themselves. One day in the 'shop a couple of weeks ago when the weather became a little more humid (!) than currently they became distinctly tighter which was slightly worrying, but so far, so good - Rob

The advent of the humid weather over the last couple of weeks has indeed made the drawers go into meltdown (not quite) and they've started to bind. Now rectified in ten minutes with a swipe or three of 240/320g papers and a re-polish. All now hunky doodley.

Beautiful job. Years ago did you write an article for F&C where you wrote about a holder for securely gripping a Japanese chisel whilst grinding it on the Tormek machine? Fred

Good grief! That's going back a good few years, probably two decades. Yep, the very same and I vaguely remember the jig as at the time there wasn't one available to hold a Japanese chisel, although there is now. They can also be ground on a coarse diamond wheel as well 'cos I asked Tormek and recieved an affirmative answer - Rob

 

[Fred48]

The advent of the humid weather over the last couple of weeks has indeed made the drawers go into meltdown (not quite) and they've started to bind. Now rectified in ten minutes with a swipe or three of 240/320g papers and a re-polish. All now hunky doodley.


Good grief! That's going back a good few years, probably two decades. Yep, the very same and I vaguely remember the jig as at the time there wasn't one available to hold a Japanese chisel, although there is now. They can also be ground on a coarse diamond wheel as well 'cos I asked Tormek and recieved an affirmative answer - Rob

Hi Rob

An excellent solution it was to. I'll root out an old photo and post it later.
Cheers Fred

 

[Phil]

Rob, really impressive work, you must be chuffed!

If you are maybe feeling bored, have a look at this one.

 

[Woodbloke]

Rob, really impressive work, you must be chuffed!

If you are maybe feeling bored, have a look at this one.

Thanks...I lurve a secret compartment or twelve! Unfortunately, JK never did any as most of his stuff was designed on the back of a fag packet and that's something that's virtually impossible to do with a secret compartment(s)- Rob