Do-it-yourself chest made of wood

The chest is one of the oldest inventions of man. It is believed that the first chests appeared at the end of the Stone Age. They were used to store clothes, utensils, household items. The material for making chests varied depending on the place of residence of people, their cultural traditions, lifestyle, available resources, wealth and position in society. Most often, chests were made of wooden boards, but vine, metal, leather, fabric, felt, etc. were also used. Even the closet familiar to us is a descendant of a chest placed on its side. Now the chest is experiencing its rebirth. It is increasingly found in the collections of fashionable furniture designers and, with a competent approach, fits perfectly into interior solutions of different styles and directions.

At the same time, it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money on his purchase, you can make it yourself from wood, having skillful hands and an elementary set of tools. A wooden chest made by yourself and decorated in antique style is a unique thing that will be an excellent decoration of your own home or a wonderful gift for people who appreciate the originality and nobleness of natural wood products.

Wooden chests can be made from different types of raw materials:

  1. Plywood. Plywood sheets are sold in any hardware store, are inexpensive, you can choose any thickness. It is easy to work with plywood, it perfectly retains its shape. But products from plywood alone look cheap and boring.
  2. Furniture panels from an array of different types of wood. Dear and noble material. They are very strong and allow you to create durable and reliable in operation designs. However, they require some knowledge of the carpentry, it is more difficult to find in stores, and they are also very difficult.
  3. Furniture board. Cheaper compared to shields. It’s easier to work with the boards, even a beginner can handle them, it’s easier to cut them onto details of the right size. Buying them in stores is not as easy as plywood.
  4. Furniture board + plywood. By combining these materials in one product, you can achieve excellent results and get a reliable strong chest with a beautiful and noble appearance.

Making a chest with your own hands, following the instructions given, is very simple, you need minimal knowledge about working with wood and the ability to draw simple drawings, as well as the tools and materials indicated below.

Instruments:

  • manual milling cutter with copy milling cutter;
  • jigsaw;
  • miter saw (if available, you can without it);
  • grinder (not grinder);
  • drill or screwdriver;
  • wood drill;
  • clamps, it is more convenient to use F-shaped;
  • file;
  • hammer;
  • roulette;
  • pencil.

Materials:

  • dry edged planed board, size 25x100 mm, 20 meters;
  • plywood 4 mm thick, 1 sheet 1.5x1.5 meters;
  • wooden choppers;
  • furniture nails;
  • ordinary nails;
  • wood screws;
  • screw loops 2 pieces;
  • padlock hinge;
  • the padlock;
  • stain;
  • brushes;
  • PVA glue joiner's or construction.

First of all, you need to decide on the size. If the chest is made for yourself, then the dimensions are determined based on the place where it is planned to be placed and what will be stored in it. For example, it is too bulky, it will look bad in a small room and interfere with movement around the room, and a small one may be inconvenient for storage.

We make the drawing on the computer in any design program: Compass, AutoCad, Solidworks, etc. and print the parts in full size. If there is no experience in such programs, then we draw on paper, also in real size. Or take the drawing posted here.

The most convenient chest with a flat lid, it allows you to put on top various objects (lamps, vases), put books, or just sit with a pillow. A convex lid limits its use and is more difficult to integrate into the interior. Therefore, here we have considered the option of manufacturing a flat and reliable cover that can easily withstand the weight of an adult.

Getting to the manufacture of the chest. According to the printed drawing, we saw out a template from plywood with a jigsaw because there will be many repeating parts of the same type and size. At the edges, leave 1-2 mm from the border of the plotted, then to bring the file to the ideal size.

After finalizing the template, we saw with a jigsaw or a miter saw (more convenient) the boards of the desired length.

ATTENTION! Only dry furniture boards need to be used! If made from ordinary, non-dried lumber, they can later crack, and the design as a whole is skewed.

It should turn out 18 pcs. 700 mm and 10 pcs. 450 mm each. We apply plywood templates to the boards, press with clamps and a jigsaw, we cut the boards around the template, with an indent of a few millimeters. We take a milling cutter with a copy milling cutter and circle it according to the template, achieving the perfect matching of sizes. The bearing of the copy cutter should touch the template, but not touch the workpiece, otherwise it will not cut out exactly. Repeat the steps for all available boards. Further:

  1. We process all surfaces with a grinder to get rid of burrs and irregularities.
  2. From the plywood, we cut out the inner trim for the chest: bottom, walls, bottom of the lid.
  3. We collect each tier separately.
  4. According to the tenon-groove principle, in each tier we drill holes for choppers with a drill or screwdriver so that it passes through both boards at the junction.
  5. Lubricate the hole with glue and hammer the chopiki.
  6. Repeat for all joints.
  7. We lay the tiers one on top of the other, everything except the lid.
  8. Nail in the chest and on the lower part of the lid the plywood of the required size with furniture studs.
  9. We mark the places of attachment of the loops to connect the lid to the box.
  10. We drill at an angle of 15 degrees with a drill or a screwdriver.
  11. We disassemble the screw loops and screw one part into the box and the other into the lid.
  12. Putting the loops together.

The chest is ready!

One of the most popular antique decor options is the design of a pirate-style chest. It will fit perfectly into the interiors in the LOFT style, or will be a great addition to the marine style children's room.

REFERENCE!Pirates most often plundered ships passing by. Sometimes they were lucky and wealth went directly to the chests of the owners, but often, the treasures they found turned out to be in bulk, and they had to be stored somewhere to transport or bury in secret places, and the pirates had to make chests directly on board from the remains of the defeated ships. Authentic pirate chests are brutal and strict without unnecessary decorations. Their main characteristics are simplicity of forms and reliability.

To make the chest look like an old pirate made by the ship master, we take a stain on the alcohol or water basis of the color we like, for example, “Oak”. Using a paint brush, we process the entire surface inside and outside in 1-3 layers. The more layers, the richer and deeper the color of the tree will be. We are waiting for complete drying. Varnish as desired.

A mandatory element is a lock, it can be internal or padlock. A padlock with hinges looks more interesting. You can take simple options that are sold in any hardware store or choose forged items, they are more expensive, but look spectacular at the same time. If the loop is a classic metallic, not at all antique color, it is easy to paint it with an aerosol spray can in black, shades of copper, brass or antique silver. The choice of paints for such tasks is huge. We attach the loop for the lock to the lid and the box with nails or fasten it with screws, hang the lock.

In addition, you can use other decorative elements: lining made of leather or metal, wide and narrow metal ribbons, carved details from wood. Decoupage with geographical maps, pistols, sabers, hooks, and a scattering of pirate doubloons looks stylish and fashionable. Decor options are limited only by your imagination.

Now it’s easy to please yourself or your loved ones with an excellent original product made of natural wood, existing in a single copy that will decorate any room and will be useful for many years.

Watch the video: Build a storage chest from reclaimed wood (March 2024).

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