cedar chest

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1,939
Location
Oliver Springs, TN
I had a family friend approach me several months ago wanting to know if I could saw and then build a chest from some cedar on their property. She said they were about to start building and was having to take down a fairly large eastern red cedar. I went down to look at it and she explained that the land was family land and it's where her Mom had grown up. She was going to give the chest to her Mom.

Not having a clue about air drying lumber she asked if I could have it done in about a month after they cut the tree. I explained to her about how long it would take so she agreed on Christmas. Well I got it finished today.

I really don't like working with ERC. I've found that large trees can develop drying defects. You can have rotten centers and places that look fine when you cut it, but will honey comb when it drys. All the boards had some amount of defect appear, so I had to do a lot of epoxy filling.

Anyway, here's a pics with the first coat of finish applied.

20171112_090101.jpg
 
That is quite a chest! Never been a fan of ERC either. Reminds me of all those souvenir boxes you find in gift shops at national forest. Even so, you did very well with it. The live edge was a good idea.
 
My grandfather made all of his grand daughters a "Hope Chest" out of ERC, we get a lot of it in British Columbia.
I really like the chest you made, I'm sure they will be thrilled with it, the Live edge looks good to me!
 
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