Blanket Chests

 Heirloom Quality Blanket Chests to Last a Lifetime

2005 - "A box for Anna." 

One of our good family friends approached me to make a blanket chest for his daughter for her 16th birthday.  Anna is the oldest of six kids born to our good friends. What an honor! The box is made entirely of white ash hand milled and matched from rough stock. The six front and back panels are all book-matched and set loose in the frames. All the frames are cut from the same planks to match.  The interior is ¼" cedar closet lining. 

The finish schedule is one coat of oil based Minwax Puritan pine followed by two light coats of ultra blonde shellac as a sealer. The final finish was two coats of spray applied water based Olympic brand gloss polyurethane. The finish was wet sanded with 400 g paper and mineral oil then rubbed out with synthetic steel wool and wax to achieve a soft satin finish.

The top is book matched ¾" material re-sawn from 8/4 rough stock.

"J" Stands for Jesus!

This blanket box was for our niece Jennifer. It was crafted out of solid maple, hardwood plywoods, and cedar. It features a router carved “J" in the center panel. It is also my first attempt at bracket feet.   At the time I built this piece our middle child was 5 years old.  She came up to me one Sunday afternoon and asked me what I was doing.  I replied that I was making a graduation present for Jennifer.

In her most triumphant voice she exclaimed, " Daddy, I know that the "J" stands for... It stands for 'Jesus'"  I thought for a minute and said, "It sure does, honey".  She replied back, "Oh yeah, and Jennifer too."

The finish is glazed white acrylic with two clear coats.

Wedding Present for my Best Friends Daughter (2022)

 Ash wood construction.  Book matched front panels.  Front center panel is carved with an "A" for the Bride's first initial.  Top is a mitered breadboard edge with floating pegs in the middle and back.  Bottom panel is aromatic cedar.  Lining is aromatic cedar closet lining. 

Finish is two coats Target Coatings Water dispersed golden red shellac.  This provides nice definition of the colors of the front book matched panels.  

This ash material was nicely yellow in base color with amber and reddish brown streaks and peaks in the matched panels, so the garnet red color of shellac made the color pop.  The top coat was four (4) coats Target Coatings water based lacquer at 40% (satin) sheen spray applied. 

Base feet are hand cut bracket feet with #20 biscuits for the spline. 

Refinish an old Lane Cedar Chest July 2023

My buddy’s mom asked if I could refinish this old Lane blanket chest.  The original finish was mahogany veneer that had been primed painted at the Lane factory in that “antiqued” mahogany look popular in the 1950’s.  Pretty ugly by today’s standards.  The finish was avocado green lacquer with the grain filled with some sort of brown/grey glaze then top coated with more NC lacquer.  The trim pieces on the front had long since been lost except for one warped piece.  Profile was simple cove pattern.  The interior dividers between the faux doors and drawers are simple ¼” thick 1” wide strips.  I remade those with some sapele that I had on hand.  

Stripped using Citristrip, wiped with lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol.  Citristrip is REALLY gooey, so make sure to wipe it off then wipe it off some more, so it will dry.  The mahogany veneer was in pretty good condition, but PAPER thin. After the piece dried from stripping, I LIGHTLY hand sanded with 400g paper.  Light wash of brown mahogany #6008 trans tints in denatured alcohol to even out all the different grain patterns and color variations.

Top coat schedule is 1 coat Zinsser seal coat shellac, 3 coats satin Target Coatings Emtech 6000 satin sprayed.

The center faux handles are brass, so I shined them up on a super soft gunsmith carding wheel.  The small knobs are pot metal plated with brass.  The knobs had rusted, and the plating had flaked off.  I sanded the knobs down to white metal, and heated them to blue/black with a plumbing torch.  While hot I brushed them with a brass brush to transfer brass back to the knobs.  4 Light coats of rattle can lacquer, and all the hardware looks brand new.

Because the veneer is paper thin, I had to leave the wear marks and veneer imperfections as they were.  Any attempt to repair looked worse than leaving everything alone.  Overall pleased with the quick overhaul.  Attached are some before, during and after shots.