Finish on a hope chest. - Woodworking Talk

Ramonjr · 05-15-2009, 05:05 PM

"I am building a hope chest out of Scandinavian soft pine. It looks good so far. I have decided to put some trim on the chest and have bought and cut western cedar. My question is, should I polyurethane the chest with one coat before I put the trim on? Or do I put the trim on then polyurethane the entire chest? Should I polyurethane the cedar at all considering that I am using the rougher side as the face side but the pine is smooth?
I noticed that the cedar matches the knots in the pine. Keep in mind that I made the sides, top, and bottom by cutting 3/4" strips and gluing them together. You can definitely see the transitions."

Gerry KIERNAN · 05-16-2009, 11:11 AM

As you are going to use rough cedar as the trim, against smooth pine, I would be inclined to polyurethane the chest first, to the finish that you want, and then apply the cedar trim. The cedar trim should probably be left original, as I don't think the polyurethane would work well on a rough surface. If you wanted to increase the contrast you could consider finishing the cedar with natural cedar oil or another type of stain. This would be best done before applying the cedar to the chest.

Gerry

jerry · 05-16-2009, 11:48 AM

There is no reason to put polyurethane varnish on a chest that will get very little(if any) hard use. I would suggest you simply apply shellac to both woods. How do the makers get cedar oil-squeeze cedar- sounds like natural "danish oil".
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Al B Cuttn Wud · 06-28-2009, 11:16 AM

Hi, I'm getting ready to start building a chest and was curious to see if you had finished your chest. If so, would enjoy seeing some pics of the finished project. Thanks.

Ramonjr · 06-29-2009, 02:36 AM

I'm finishing it up this week and I will be more than happy to post some pics. Or if you have an email adress I can send them to you.

Ramonjr

Al B Cuttn Wud · 06-29-2009, 11:06 AM

Thanks, I would enjoy seeing your project. My email address is:

allenandjo@verizon.net

Sabres78 · 06-29-2009, 03:21 PM

Al's not the only one! Post some pics! Post some pics!

Ramonjr · 06-30-2009, 08:51 PM

I just finished my first hope chest and am very pleased with the outcome. I wanted to inlay the lid but couldn't get into to my friends shop to do it so I just went with attaching the pine lid on top of a cedar frame. I used the Kreg jig to attach the box and lid frame. I also finished the chest with three coats of Arm R General Finish. That is some good stuff. It is a big chest 23"x24"x47" h*w*l. If anyone would like some other pics of certain areas just let me know. Does anyone have a ballpark figure on how much I could sell this for?

Thanks to all for your help!

Feedback welcome.

Ramonjr

Sabres78 · 07-01-2009, 08:04 AM

Very nice work Ramon, it looks great. Lots of glue up for that project. Did you end up finishing the pine first and then attaching the cedar? I also am wondering about the box construction. I'm asking because I've been looking up chest plans and they all have different construction methods. It looks like you used pocket screws with a simple butt joint to attach the sides, yes? And what about the bottom, same butt joint and pocket screws as the sides? Thanks for posting the pics!

Ramonjr · 07-02-2009, 12:10 PM

Thanks for the compliments.
I did butt the joints but with the Kreg jig and some glue, they are very sturdy I think. I attached the walls to the bottom by placing them on top of the bottom piece as to allow the lid to rest on the walls. And I also finished the box first with three coats of semi-gloss ArmR finish. Then I attached the trim and applied one coat of finish to keep the cedar aroma but give it a lite sheen. I did all of this without any plans and this is my first chest ever.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.