Buying wood and building racks

I am preparing wood for my next chest, which is my version of a Shaker-style hope chest. This one has similar features to the one in the blog, but dovetailed corners from top to bottom (to reinforce what everyone learned in the Shaker Candle Box in the Working Wood 1&2 book and DVDs) and a dovetailed skirting board.

The other chest is one I have designed as a tool chest and one that I use each day for my major daily tools. I use pine for both of these chests in the making of them for the book because weight, cost and training are all practical issues surrounding training, but I also have them in hardwoods that look quite lovely.

For those wanting to use a natural and organic milk paint finish I recommend pursuing this. With the right technique, a new pine box can look 150 years old within an hour.

I spent half the morning in the timber yard at Mochdre this morning (lumber yard USA) and at first I was disappointed at the price but then I found some baltic redwood that was as clear as any I had seen so I loaded up and returned to the workshop at Penrhyn Castle.

Tomorrow this will be different

John and I are reorganising for a full class on Thursday and part of the reorganising is finding a place for all of my rough cut oak. We began forming one rack so that the wood stands on end with one edge straight cut and the other edge still with the wane on it. The edge faces the front so I can use a tilt-and-see method to see what I have in stock. This system works well. My other rack keeps my smaller milled stock in place and I can readily see what I am looking for.