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Tommy Mac on rough cuts made a box very similar to this last Sat.
He used wrought iron strap hinges and didn't have the lock.
He used cut nails and made a point of saying you didn't have to drill a pilot hole since the cut nail had a cut edge that cut the wood grain instead of splitting it.
Also the nails he used had really nice wrought iron looking tops that really set the box off.

The one other difference was he used a rabbit joint instead of just the butt joint.

I like the idea and would be tempted to use a rabbit joint but instead of cut nails I'm thinking dowels.

For a lock I would be tempted to used a wrought iron padlock clasp.

The last thing he did was since he built his of white pine he used Bri wax to finish it. Nice thing about the dark bri wax it gave the box that instant patina of an old box. I'm so so on the finish.

reible wrote:So it has been a few days and I've been looking more at this as a project.

If I used the hardware listed it seems like $131.75 plus shipping.

For the wood I found some nice looking "rustic"(that is the label they had on it??) hickory that would surely look nice and give it that "old" look even when new. As a guess with minimum expected waste that would be $160.

I don't know if I like the idea of spending $300 for one of these.......

Well, back to the study of the project.

Ed

Wood prices can be pretty scary now... $300 is seldom pocket change.
Around here the wood of choice for such items was often Tulip poplar (Yellow poplar). Fairly strong, fairly light and works nice and lends itself well to being worked with hand tools. It is also fairly reasonable. Its grain is often clear which helps with working it but it tends to be kind of bland. Its grain can be stained to look a lot like cherry pretty easy. Since those chest were often carried or carted to the job weight was a serious consideration.
An even more popular wood choice of course was "what ever you had available".
I want to get an early start this spring on sawing some lumber. I have enough on hand to keep me busy until what I cut now can dry. I have an unused small pre-civil war house on the farm that I will likely take down this summer and I should be able to salvage a fair batch of good poplar out of it. I have a lot of cottonwood at the mini-farm in the next county that I can cut and use green for some barn repairs and horse stalls.
In my younger days I salvaged wood from several buildings not far away. Some of it was pretty nice but all of the nails were a nightmare for anything but rough use.


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I missed that. I'm really not a Tommy fan, so, I miss most of his stuff but I would have liked to have seen this one.

White pine or other lesser woods reduce the cost as would other hardware but the box becomes a little less as well, at least in my opinion.

Still thinking on this.

Ed

Ed in Tampa wrote:Tommy Mac on rough cuts made a box very similar to this last Sat.
He used wrought iron strap hinges and didn't have the lock.
He used cut nails and made a point of saying you didn't have to drill a pilot hole since the cut nail had a cut edge that cut the wood grain instead of splitting it.
Also the nails he used had really nice wrought iron looking tops that really set the box off.

The one other difference was he used a rabbit joint instead of just the butt joint.

I like the idea and would be tempted to use a rabbit joint but instead of cut nails I'm thinking dowels.

For a lock I would be tempted to used a wrought iron padlock clasp.

The last thing he did was since he built his of white pine he used Bri wax to finish it. Nice thing about the dark bri wax it gave the box that instant patina of an old box. I'm so so on the finish.

reible wrote:I missed that. I'm really not a Tommy fan, so, I miss most of his stuff but I would have liked to have seen this one.

White pine or other lesser woods reduce the cost as would other hardware but the box becomes a little less as well, at least in my opinion.

Still thinking on this.

Ed

I'm not a big Tommy fan either. Nothing really against him, he just wears me out listening to him. My wife doesn't like listening to him either but more so. If I do have him on she will usually just leave the room. She will sit and watch all of the other guys.
I have the DVR sat to automatically record the few others we get but not him.
With all of the crap channels we get with the basic Direct TV "entertainment" package it looks like they could include a woodworking or at least a hobby channel. I mostly get good stuff from PBS.

I understand what you are saying about the wood choices for the chest. It's a great project and no small amount of work. You really hate to short-cut the wood. It is also a project that will likely be where it is seen daily when done and maybe often by house guest.
I am always keeping an eye out for good wood at bargain prices. I find a few pieces at yard / garage sales but find good prices on a bit bigger batches at farm auctions. Sadly it seems that those events happen right at the times that I don''t have any "spendable" money. Several years ago I hit a consignment sale at a local antique tractor show and bought over 200 bd. ft. of bandsaw cut, kiln dried black walnut for $70. I still have it sitting in a barn waiting for a deserving project. I have used a piece or two of it on little stuff.
My son and I are going to a consignment auction this weekend but this has been a "very" expensive winter and my wallet is so thin you can read through it...
About 8 or 9 years ago I was burning slab-wood from a local Amish sawmill for heat and I was able to salvage some pretty nice hardwood pieces out of that. I was paying $15 for a "bundle" of it about 10' to 18' long X about 5' wide and 5' tall. He had a huge lot full of those bundles and some were several years old. Most of it was only good for burning but some pieces were quite nice.


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reible wrote:I missed that. I'm really not a Tommy fan, so, I miss most of his stuff but I would have liked to have seen this one.

White pine or other lesser woods reduce the cost as would other hardware but the box becomes a little less as well, at least in my opinion.

Still thinking on this.

Ed

Ed
I agree 100% lesser woods do reduce the cost as does hardware but you end up with lesser also.

I always get a reality check with woodsmith plans. More than twenty years ago they had a plan for a really nice rocking horse. They offered a part kit for less than $50 bucks that included the leather for the saddle and reins, yarn for the mane and tail, and really nice eyes. The horse was constructed from spruce and I figured hey this will be an under $100 project.

WRONG!

I ordered the exact Spruce they specified and it cost me nearly $150 bucks.
When I got the Rocking Horse finished the total cost was nearly $250 and many many hours work.

Result I did it Woodsmith's way and the horse was happily ridden by 8 grandchildren and three great grandchildren and Stripe (that his name) is still going strong. I have been offered over $500 for him.

Did the same thing with one of their Cradle plans again the final cost was $300 but again the cradle has been used for 8 grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Now after 25 years the Cherry has taken the beautiful patina that Cherry shows when it ages and I have had more than a few offers to sell it or build others.