I admire this chest made by Sidney Barsley of the English Cotswold A&C tradtion: View Image so I’ll make a reproduction. A number of other Knotters have already helped me decipher the likely construction details (this is the only photo I can find) so I’ve been picking out some suitable timber. From a horde acquired from a friend who had to give up his workshop, I have a number of 3 inch thick kinda Q/S English oak planks. They were so long I had to cut a couple of feet off the ends to get them in the store. These offcuts will form the Q/S parts for the ends of the chest. View Image The panels for the sides will be made from some old university library shelves that were replaced some years ago. A friend rescued the old ones from the bontyfire. The 3″ thick chunks needed the bark/sapwood taken off then slicing into approximately 1″ thick planks; but the slicing angle needed to rotate with rotatation of the trees rings – the “kinda Q/S” means that the grain is at right angles to the 3″ thick edge at one side of the chunk but turns gradually so the opposite edge is near flatsawn. Various gyrations of the bandsaw table eventually got me 6 goodly short Q/S planks and three curved planks, all of 3.5″ X 1″ X 24″, which will make up the end frames. Several less wide pieces left over may contribute to the lid-frame. The third curved piece will be sawn into two curved ends for the frame&panel lid. All show plenty of medullary ray flecks. Meanwhile the 7/8″ thick library shelves of various lengths and plank-widths (8″X36″ – 4″X27″) were put through the TS then the planer/thicknesser to take off the varnish and ensure small amounts of cup, bow and twist were taken out. I now have about 20 squared up and thicknessed boards 3/4″ thick. View Image View Image The edges were cleaned and given a small central dip with handplanes so they can be glued up into panels for all four of the chest’s sides. There will be a bit of waste as various raggy plank ends must be cut off and the glued up panels then sized to fit the chest dimensions (which are not entirely determined yet). Ignore that broken planing stop, which is due to over-vigorous swooshing with that Mujingfang tryplane! As these library-shelf planks are somewhat random in their colour and grain, it took a lot of juxtaposing of various planks to get good transitions from one plank to another. Here is one made of three planks, matched and marked with a carpenter’s triangle prior to gluing and clamping in the Plano press. View Image Next stage, after gluing up the four main panels, is to see what I end up with and determine the final dimensions of the chest. Although I have approximate dimensions in mind, the maximum size will be limited by the parts mentioned above. Then the end frames will be made, which involves using proud dovetails to connect the curved top-rail to the two stile top ends and through-tennoning the bottom rail into the stile bottom ends, as well as creating the groove for the panel to sit in………… Lataxe
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Replies
there is a couple of pictures in "gimson and the barnsleys" by comino.
there was a more complex one made by ernest, his brotherand does give a measure of 63 x 138 x 53 cm which is in "ernest gimson and the cotswold group of craftsman" by carruthers.
unfortunate I think that both of these books are out of print
ron
Ron,
Thank you for those factets. I do have the Comino book with it's somewhat obscure wee B&W photo of the chest (and another of the ends lying about the workshop). There are few clues about it's detailed construction unfortunately.
I think my chest will be very similar to the dimensions you quote albeit it will not be 138cm long, more like 90 -100cm (3ft and a bit). This will allow it to fit in the space it's intended for but also means the reclaimed oak shelves I have will be sufficiently long for the front and back panels.
Lataxe
there is a lovely pic of the inside of a curved top of a gimson chest in "good citizen's furniture" which may give a clue as to the others were done
ron
Ron,
Another good pointer, you have offered me. I rooted out the "Good Citizens" book and found the pic of the inside chest lid on page 92 of my 1999 printing. Is that the one you mean? Here is the only pic of it I can find on the web, which shows the edge-profile of the planked top.
View Image
Although this is a different chest, with a series of flat planks laid on top to follow the curve of an underpinning curved framework, I think it may be transposable to the chest I'm making. I could always smooth the outside of the lid into a curve too.
I'm also thinking of fielding the front and back panels of the chest into either a rectangle-on-rectangle or Cotswold lozenge panel. Here is a pic of an item with both field-types superimposed albeit they are square rather than rectangular.
View Image
Ray Pine has o'Pined that this might be too much A&C frou-frou on what is meant to be a plain and agricultural item (all those chamfers). What do you think?
Lataxe
how do I add a picture to this post. I do have a picture of an enrest barsley chest similiar to what you want to do but is done in a field and panel, sides and top
ron
View Image
circa 1895-1900 63 x 138.5 x 53 cm
this came from " a cataloque of works by ernest gimson, ernest and sidney barnsley and peter waals in the collections of the leicestershire museums. 1978, their publication no.14
ron
Lataxe,
The photo that inspired you has a simple rugged beauty. These qualities come from the design, the material and time itself. It is hard to know if your finished chest will deliver that warm impact right out of the gate. Your chest will no doubt be a work of art, but it won't have sat in a barn for 50 years as a working chest.
I think that if you follow the original design then you want any fielding to be simple and rugged. If you follow the design in the "Good Citizen" chest, then the fielding can be more elaborate.
In the end, it is going to be your chest. What ever artistic flair you wish to invoke is just fine. A little evolution never hurt the world. Your piece will be a "one of" that may end up in a book someday.
Looking forward to your journey on this and of course the unveiling.
Don
Barnsley chest
Lataxe, did you finish the chest? I've greatly admired it ever since seeing some pix a loooong time ago in FWW. Since then I've moved a few times and only recently have a workshop again, and this chest is something that I will make. I've been thinking of using fine grained yellow cedar... love the stuff. I'd love to see some pictures of your finished project.
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