joined chests

Last year, and now this year too, I made a few joined & carved chests. These are one of my favorite forms; mostly because there is plenty of area to carve. (these  photos are from two examples made last year. I intend to post the first two of this year soon.) Almost a standard item in seventeenth-century England and New England, these were used for storage of textiles, as well as other household goods. They survive in countless variations, all made along a basic format. They are frame-and-panel work, fastened with mortise-and-tenon joinery. The primary timber is almost always oak, sometimes with secondary woods like white pine that I use for chest lids, floors, etc. This example is based on many surviving ones from Ipswich, Massachusetss, and Devon, England. These Devon-style chests are noted for their varied repetoire of carved patterns.

 The inside features a till, the lidded compartment around which the chest is assembled. These consist of three boards; the bottom, lid & side. The sides and bottom are captured in grooves in the inside surfaces of the rear and front of the chest; the lid is shaved down to a round pin at each end, and fits into a hole bored in the front and back sections of the chest. Installing a till can make assembly more exciting than it needs to be.