Kyserike Kraftsman

This was a special project that was a gift for my Mom for her 70th birthday. I started the project on January 30th (See the chronological history of the project below). Her birthday was March 19th, which didn’t leave me much time for completing the project.

I built this chest from some black walnut stock that my Dad had rough cut over 25 years ago. Finished it with Danish Oil and wipe on poly as I do all my walnut projects. Below you will find the gory details of my first major build. I enjoyed this project and learned quite few new techniques in the process. I hope you enjoy the reading.

Interested in building one of these yourself for someone special? You can find the plans here:

Lingerie And Jewelry Chest Plan

I got about 10 hours sleep in the last three days, but the project is done, and just in time for Mom’s birthday celebration at my Sister’s house today.

The assembeld carcase

I finished assembling the carcase today.

I used a biscuit jointer to create the joints between the drawer bottoms and the sides and back panel. The walnut banding on the sides and the back panel was also joined with biscuits.

To assemble the sides, back, and drawer dividers I used 50 biscuits! That’s 100 biscuit slots that needed to be cut exactly!

I assembled it in three stages. First the left side, back panel and top and bottom dividers making sure that this assembly was perfectly square and true. I let that dry overnight and then added all the drawer dividers next and dry fitted the right side to help support the drawer dividers. Lastly I glued the right side of the carcase to complete the assembly.

On to the wings next !

I’ve been too busy trying to get this done in time for Mom’s birthday so I haven’t had a chance to do many updates to the web page. Things are progressing, but we are about to enter crunch time.

Most of the walnut has been cut to size and I’ve assembled and routered the decorative base. I’ve been experimenting with creating dovetail joints to use on the drawers. They are time consuming and tricky to get right but I think it will add a nice touch. I should begin the assembly of the carcase by the weekend …. Stay tuned.