it came out of hiding

One woodworking skill I have down perfectly is starting more projects than I finish. I can do that easier than falling off a log. While sorting some stuff in the shop today I dug out this “dressing box” project. If you’ve read this blog a while you might remember it. When I started it I was moving right along - then it got put aside so I could finish stuff that would actually turn into income. Then I piled stuff on top of it. At which point I ignored it as hard as I could. I certainly knew it was lurking there in the shop - but I got a few nudges in the past week or so that brought it out of hiding.

today it moved a bit further

To review the story behind it - there’s 2 examples of this form that we know of - from the anonymous shop tradition in northern Essex County Massachusetts that’s well-known for its cupboards, chests of drawers and chests with drawers. Just last week I spent a day with some staff members at Old Sturbridge Village reviewing their oak furniture - and there was one of the chests with drawers that we didn’t know they had. A nice surprise.

Essex Co chest w drawer, Old Sturbridge Village

Then Fine Woodworking magazine arrived in the mail - and my version of one of the cupboards from this shop graces the cover - my photo too! I emptied the shop and shot that through the doorway.

So I guess it was providential that I dig that thing out & work on it some. I intended (and still intend) to make two of them - this was the one to figure it out on, then the next would be a “real” copy of the originals. Once I got to a certain point, I knew what to fix/change on version # 2. And I didn’t lose interest in this version, it really was just a matter of not having the free time. To speed things up, I decided to make some substitutions to finish up this box. One example is the base molding you see wrapped around in the photo up top. Wrong profile, wrong species for that matter. It was some Spanish cedar I had leftover from a chest of drawers I made years ago. Painted it black and slapped it on. It’s a simple coved molding - the next one will have an oak molding - also painted black - with a more detailed profile.