Chapin HighChest Carving the Cartouche - Step 19

One last construction detail remains before I start sanding and finishing. Carving the cartouche.
I have not carved one before and this one is not too complicated. However, it is very delicate.

I have some picture of the cartouche from Winterthur and Yale.  The Winterthur cartouche is an original but the one from Yale was reproduced in the 1960's.  I can understand why because they are very fragile carvings.

Below are several pictures of the front of the carving.  I enlarged the pictures to the actual size which is about 12 x 6 inches and the carving is 1/2 inch thick.  I was able to measure and study it when I was at Yale in June.

I traced the picture on a piece of 1/2 straight grained cherry with carbon paper.

Now I need to cut it out with the band saw and scroll saw.  I used the band saw for the outside and the scroll saw for the inside.

If you watch the video all you will see of me cutting out the inside with the scroll saw is the camera jumping up and down.  I got this old scroll saw from a high school shop.

Here it is after I have cut it out.  I left 1/64 around the lines so I had some clean up to do with the spindle sander and files.

I attached it to my carving board with double backed tape, but there was not enough surface to make it stick well, so I ended up using the small clamps.

Below you can see that I have started to carve from the top and to the first circle.  One problem I had was not having a 3d model to look at while carving.  I don't remember all the details from the visit to Yale.  I decided to carve 3/8 of an inch on the face and then undercut the back to make the carving look thinner than it is and leave sharp edges on the inside.

If you look closely below I have  carved the inside curve of the top of the large circle but the remaining portion underneath is still there, I have not undercut the circle yet.  Later you will see what it looks like after it is undercut.

Below I am carving the cove in the inside of one of the leaves.  Because most of the shapes on the cartouche are near circles, the carver has to be very aware of the grain changes.  Each quarter of a circle the grain changes direction and where they meet is always a problem.

Again you can see the line marked on the bottom where I am going to stop carving on the front and then undercut from the back later. I am using a 1/2 #5 here and I used #5's and #3's on most of the carving.

Below I am carving the inside of the next curve, again I have to watch how the grain changes as I go around the circle.  Carving left and right handed is a must for this carving.

It is coming along here, the picture is a little fuzzy, but the carving is smooth, the small curve in the middle was difficult because it seemed that the grain was always changing.

 I am using a #5 fishtail  here which worked well for most of the carving.

I am studying a smaller picture of the cartouche so I can see detail that is lost in the larger blow up.  I lighting is better on this photo where the shadows and highlights show the curves.

Here is a picture of the back of the cartouche I have undercut all of the curves from the back to make the sharp edges on the front.

Below  is the finished cartouche, it is a little hard to see but the edges are nice and sharp. After all the carving the piece has very little weight to it and is fragile.  Hope I don't break it before I get it mounted.

Got around to mounting it today.

This completes the construction, I need to finish mounting the hardware, then take it off.  Next is sanding and finishing.

Here is today's video:

Chapin HighChest Carving the Shells - Step 18

Since the drawers are made, it is time to carve the shells that are on the front of the two center drawers.
These are not overly challenging but need to be carved carefully. Because of the half circle the grain is changing all the time as you move around to circle.

I took pictures and measured the size of the shells on the original chest when I was at Yale Furniture Study.
BTW anyone can go to the Yale Furniture Study, all you need is an appointment.  If you want to study period furniture it is the place to go. Contact me if you want information on how to set up an appointment.

Full disclosure, I carved a practise one first.  I did a shell like this one 6 years ago but it is always good to do a warm up.

Using the information that I have I laid out the shell on the drawer front.  I used a compass, dividers and circle template for the layout. I fastened the drawer front to a board using double back tape.

First step in carving was to hollow out the recesses. I used a 1 inch #5 gouge on the large recess.

Checking the depth with a cardboard template.  It should be a consistent 1/4 inch deep all the way around.

The second recess is judged by the depth of the small circle for the knob, it should be about a 1/4 inch deep. Then I rounded over the mound. 

I use the nail as a guide to retrace the lines for the rays.

I am using a v chisel to start the grooves between the rays.  Trying to keep them very straight 

Working back and forth to follow the grain on each side of the groove I am using  #5 gouges of various sizes to round over and deepen the rays.

You have to be very careful when you get to the middle because the grain is straight across and will chip out very easily.

Finished carving all the rays and rounded over the center circle. If you chip out a small piece while carving you can use super glue to put the piece back in.

Cleaned up the bumps with a file and sand paper.

All done with the two shells.  They look good on the chest.

Next step is to carve the cartouche.

Here is today's video:

Chapin HighChest Making the Drawers - Step 17

I have finally decided it is time to start on the 11 drawers that I have to make for the chest.  Two of them need to be carved with a shell.

This is a half-size drawing of the chest, the top center and lower center drawer are the ones that have to be carved.

I wanted the grain to match as good as possible so I tried to get all of the drawers out of one board.
I selected the best board I had for the process. This board is over 10 feet long and 17 inches wide but I couldn't get all of the drawer fronts from this board.  So I opted to get the top drawer fronts from this board.

And the lower drawer fronts from this board. The color and grain should match pretty well since all of the boards came from the same tree.

I milled the stock to 7/8 inches thick and put a 3/16 lip on top and sides of the fronts with a dado set on the table saw.  Then with a router I put a 1/4 inch roundover on the drawer faces.
Below I have fitted the drawer faces to the lower chest.

Now for the upper chest. The grain looks good on all of them.

Now that I have all of the drawer fronts fitted to the openings, I need to mill a lot of pine for the sides and back.  The sides will be 3/8 thick and the backs 1/2.  These are the dimensions of the original chest.

I resawed 4/4 pine for the sides and 5/4 stock for the backs of the drawers.

Makes quite a pile of lumber for all 11 drawers and about a zillion dovetails to cut.

Below is a picture of one of the drawers on the original chest.  I am going to follow this pattern for mine.

Laying out the tails on the sides of the drawers. I keep the top pin, bottom half tail and pin sizes the same on all the drawers but I very the size of the tails to evenly fit on each drawer size.

Saw on the line with my dovetail saw. There is a line made with a marking gage on the depth so I know where to stop which is 1/2 inch.

Then I chop out the waste with a bench chisel. These are half round chisels from Ashley Iles.  My favorite for chopping small dovetails.

Now I match the tails to the sides of the drawer front  and mark them out  with a fine pencil.

Sawing out the pins is a little more difficult, since there is a lip on the drawer and they are half blind you can not saw through the board.   You have to tilt the saw at a steep angle and saw down into the drawer front.  This is normal and can be seen on all hand made dovetails in the 18th century. 

I always saw on the waste side of the line and leave the line on the board.

After chopping out the waste like the tails boards, I can fit the sides to the front. If I do it careful they should fit right in.

Good snug fit.

Now to assemble the drawer. Too tall to assemble on the bench, I am tapping them together with a deadblow hammer.

All of the drawer sides and backs are made.  Now I have to mill a lot of pine to about 1/2 inch for the drawer bottoms.  I need to put a groove on the inside of the drawers so I can slip in the bottoms in and glue them up.  Final fitting will be done after they are glued up.

You may notice that I finally got around to gluing the lattice to the goose neck molding in this picture. 

So now I am going to  work on the bottoms and then the carving on to 2 drawer fronts.

Here is today's video:

Chapin HighChest Turning the Finials & Plinth - Step 16

I used the correct word in the title Plinth but I like pedestal better. I use the words interchangeable.
Anyway the piece I am talking about is in the center of this picture.  This is a picture of the chest at Winterthur.  There are a number of different designs on the various Chapin chests in other museums.
I am trying to reproduce the Winterthur version of the chest as close as possible.  The center piece is made in two parts.  The base and capital are two pieces.  I need to glue up stock to turn both pieces on the lathe.

 

While I am turning things I thought I would make the finials as well.  

I glued up two pieces of 8/4 cherry stock for the pedestal and capital.  The maximum I could make would be 4 inches round.   But the actual size is about 3 1/2.

I made a copy of the finial from the full size drawing that I have.  It is 1 3/4 inches at it's largest and about 6 inches long.  I don't need to glue up stock to turn this piece.  Since I am waiting for the glue to dry on the other pieces, I am going to start with the finials.

After a little warm up on turning I turned the first one below.  I had made two prior during the warm up that I won't show, that's why it is called the warm up.

Now the trick is to make another like this one. I used the first one as a model and turned the stock as best I could.  I am not a good turner so I go slow and try to be careful not to get a catch.

I finally got the slope right and now I am turning the little ball on the top.  Then I put the bead on the center.  A little sanding while it is on the lathe and I think I have two good finials.

I turned the glued up block to 3 1/2 inches round to get ready to add the flutes or round overs.  I have used this box before for putting flutes in quarter columns.  I had to modify it slightly by adding 3/4 of an inch to the top so the router bit would clear the bottom.  I can lock the drive end of my lathe and then l can fix the turning in the lathe bed so it won't turn, this allows me to use the router to cut the flutes.

I counted the number of flutes on the original to be 12 and at 3/8 of an inch spacing it came out even around the circumference of the stock.  I marked the starting point and 3/8 inch spaces on the bottom of the turning.

Then using the router with a point and round over bit, I was able to make passes with the router after locking in the turning.

This what it looked like after about 5 passes. The flutes are a little pointy but I can round them over later.

I routed both sides of the cylinder, so I have 2 of the pedestals that I need. I split them apart where the craft paper is in the center. I cleaned up the flutes with a little sand paper.

 I cut it to length, and check to see how it fit on the top of the case.

I turned two capitals for the top of the pedestal the same way, then split them apart and sawed off the portion that I needed.

I placed the capital on the column in the center and drilled two small blocks of wood to hold the finials.  Here we see the pieces in place on the top of the chest.  None are these pieces are fastened in place.  I am going to wait until I am finished with the drawers before finishing the top.

I am done with this phase of the top, I am going to carve the cartouche last. Now I am going to get started on the drawers.

Here is today's video: