Long Farm and Furniture

Walnut and Curly Maple Hope Chest Build

This is the build of a modified shaker style hope chest built for a family member. The dark wood is walnut. The light wood is curly maple. The lid has strips of maple and purpleheart. It is held flat with breadboard ends.

This build presented several new challenges. I used a rail and stile bit to profile the rails and stiles for the panels, but the arc in the top rail was challenging. Calculating the arcs was easy with CAD, but getting them sanded down to where they were smooth with the right profile took a lot of time.

The hope chest lid was also the first time I used breadboard ends. Breadboard ends allow for the expansion and contraction of the main panel without warping. This was important as I live in a dry area, but this was going to a more humid area. I used floating tenon material that I made from walnut.

The thin stripes in the lid were easier as I had done similar with other projects. I think they turned out well. The curly maple is hard to see in the build pictures, but easier to see in the finished project pictures.
Modified shaker hope chest CAD rendering Walnut board with arches to be used as stiles Long and short walnut board with arches to be used as stiles Mock up of shaker style maple panel and walnut legs Mock up of shaker style maple panel and walnut legs with epoxy knot fill Mock up of shaker style walnut rails and stiles Shaker style panel with maple panels and walnut rails and stiles Glue up of walnut and maple shaker style panel with Bessey Revo clamps on workbench Festool Domino floating tenons used to attach walnut leg Gluing legs to walnut and maple shaker style panel with Bessey Revo clamps on workbench Sanding walnut and maple panel with Supermax 16-32 drum sander Floating tenon material cut from walnut Custom floating tenons made from walnut Marking for breadboard end on walnut and maple panel Floating tenons installed in breadboard end of walnut, maple, and purpleheart panel Floating tenon cuts for breadboard end in maple and walnut panel on workbench Floating tenon fit for walnut and maple breadboard end Walnut and maple top with breadboard ends Finished walnut panel with maple and purpleheart Finished shaker style panel with legs maple and walnut Finished shaker style panel with maple panels and walnut rails and stiles Assembling walnut and maple hope chest. Installing Rockler Lid-Stay Bronze Torsion Hinges on walnut and maple top

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