I am an amateur woodworker and have been receiving Fine Woodworking for at least 30 years.  I am always interested in the projects that have been submitted and that have been displayed in your magazine.  I get great ideas and have tried to copy some of the pieces that have caught my attention.  I have been making furniture for the past 40 years and have built many of the pieces in our home.

Last November my wife told me that all she wanted for Christmas was a keepsake/jewelry box with four drawers.  I couldn’t find a design that pleased me so I designed my own and I believe it turned out really well.  When my daughters and daughter-in-law saw what I had made for my wife they wanted me to build one for each of them.  I am a perfectionist and it took me two months to make one.  Making six more would be impossible.  However, I love my family and am retired and so last February I made an assessment of the walnut and cherry wood that I had had for many years that was left over from previous projects and found I had almost enough to build six more.  I have spent almost the entire last nine months in my shop and I am happy to say that I just recently completed all of them.  I believe they are beautiful keepsakes for my children and I’m sure they will be thrilled at Christmas time.

Don Busath, a professional retired photographer, and I, took many pictures which I have sent to see if my project could be displayed in your magazine.

The chest is 17 inches long, 15 inches deep, and 16 inches high.  The top and base are out or resawn 3/8    inch solid walnut or cherry and the back and sides are ¾ inch veneered hardwood walnut and cherry  plywood.  I had a lot of left over smaller pieces of Carpathian elm veneer from two previous tables I made and I veneered the front of the drawers with the veneer.  I inlaid the fronts of the drawers and the sides of the chests with 1/16 inch maple strips in the walnut chests and 1/16 inch ebonized maple in the cherry chests.  All of the internal framing and drawer glides are made from hard maple.  The sides and back of the walnut drawers are made from hard maple.  The drawer sides and back of the cherry chests are solid cherry wood.  The top is also inlaid with 1/16 inch maple and in the middle I inlaid an oval flower standard marquetry inlay from Constantine’s. I believe the bracket feet add a lot to the design of the chests.  As stated, I had a lot of scrap hardwood in the shop and I utilized almost all of it.

Perhaps the most difficult task for me was to make the inside of the drawers.  The top two drawers are the same with the front part designed for earring and ring storage and the back part divided into five equal parts.  I covered one inch heavy foam upholstery pad (with two grooves about an inch apart across the front), with velvet.  The third drawer is divided into nine equal sections and the fourth is divided into four large sections.  All of the dividers are lap-jointed ¼ inch alder with velvet glued to each individual piece.  The floor (above the drawer floor) of the drawers is 1/8 inch masonite covered with velvet.  I lined each piece with a different color of velvet and stained each piece a little differently.  The finish is lacquer.

I know this is a lengthy description but hope that it is worthy of something suitable for your magazine.

Regards,

 Wallace Bryner

 

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