Back in the Machine(ist Chest) Shop

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Here is the view out the basement window these past few days:

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I cut a rabbet on the new front-panel on the OPR table. Then, upon test-fitting, I saw that the bottom of the chest-carcass has a "bow". So I manually trimmed up the rabbet to more or less conform to that bow:

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Upon further trims, I'm pretty happy, EXCEPT I cut the rabbet on the wrong face, so for all time the wrong face is exposed. I sort of liked the opposite face better in terms of grain directions, OOPS. Oh well, there are enough waves and lines that I guess I could argue for either way....

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So now when opened the 'good' side will be 'up'.

[nuhobby]

Finally, time to take a break!

I cut some walnut plugs to serve as functional "stops" as well as decorative contrast:

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Here is the fully latched-up case. I re-used the original hardware-store tag on the top, probably from the 1920's. I also re-used the metal mirror inside the top lid:

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Here is the case open for business . Lots of aches and pains and mistakes as usual, but it'll do. It's part of my ongoing rebuild series for my nephews -- which outnumber me greatly!

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[nuhobby]

Some old and new bits....

I'm pretty sure the construction style was an old Pilliod design from Ohio. The brass tag on the top is a Supplee-Biddle label from Philadelphia.

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[nuhobby]

The Lathe may be ready to try in another week or two.... I've been getting parts gradually for it.

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[2centsworth]

What method did you use to remove all the rust ? I have tried several but haven't settled on one favorite yet. Evaporust / Naval Jelly / vinegar / baking soda & lemon juice. I was impressed with the Evaporust and Naval Jelly. What is your favorite ?

[nuhobby]

When I can pull it off, I like Evaporust -- that is, if I can arrange an immersion without buying an excessive amount of liquid. After that, I usually just use older methods like mineral spirits and some abrasives or steel wools. Also, on this project, for the lathe Ways, I tried to always have a flat tool such as a sharpening stone. These Ways aren't dead flat, but I'm not yet sure if the old lathe warrants an anal Scraping yet....

[nuhobby]

I keep switching my attention to different things. Usually it happens I'm not finished with one project yet, when another really good deal tempts me. Such happened last year so I stowed a cheap Gerstner 11-drawer 'score' off in my "To Do" pile for these last 6 months. I finally hauled that one out for some teardown.

This one was not only filthy, but a prior woodworker did some things to it. The amount of dark stain on the bottom half was uncanny. I'm speculating a combination of wood-stain, mothball chemistry, and moisture really did a charcoal effect on it. Also the back-panel plywood and veneer were totally bowed out and shot. I dulled down 3 of my handplanes taking off the finish, and even then some pieces were darker than I'd like. A piece of the dark veneer is sitting closest to the chest in the picture below.

I remembered I take a lot of ribbing for having my shop in a carpeted semi-finished basement. I was thinking of using some Deck Cleaner on some of the darker pieces, but I thought about that carpet and just decided to try some Resolve carpet-cleaner on the wood as well. This seems to be a step in the right direction...

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On the other front, I have got in a few more bits for the lathe and I'm getting closer to firing it up. Got some cord and switch-box bits from Ace H/W yesterday, where I let the expert in the electrical row tell me about his life history ever since fighting in the armed forces in the mid-1960s. I got a kick out of that, and he's jealous of me finding a metal lathe....

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[BuckeyeDennis]

Wow, that lathe is really starting to come back to life! I have no doubt that the Gerstner chest will as well, having followed your other projects.

I recently lucked into a Gerstner chest myself, but it has the "leatherette" covering. Have you ever dealt with that stuff?

[nuhobby]

BuckeyeDennis,
Thanks! I have been tempted by some leatherette Gerstners but haven't sprung for one yet. Actually Gerstner themselves have a pretty good web Forum for their chests. They do say that if you remove the leatherette, the structure wood isn't typically as beautiful as on their quartersawn oak models. They do still sell replacement leatherette and hide-glue (even having a video to show how to do it). Some guys on that forum have done pretty nice jobs of polishing the original covering, too.

[nuhobby]

I've done re-veneering on assembled chest panels before, but the back was too far gone to save. So, I'm making some of my own finish plywood. I just used yellow glue for this job. I just removed my 'press' to let the parts dry out some more; this hopefully lowers a bit of grain-raising that I saw:

Veneer sandwich all weighted down:
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First light:
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