Whale Tail:
White Ash and Black Walnut Tool Chest with Spalted Maple Side Panels.
A few pictures of my latest piece.
This is a massive, incredibly solid piece of furniture. Equally suited to holding tools or clothes. Weighing in at nearly 350 lbs. empty and standing almost four feet high, this piece has a presence unlike most. Constructed entirely from local hardwoods that have been "Treecycled", this piece is as environmentally friendly as it is captivating.
The frame is white ash, a tree now in decline due to the Emerald Ash Borer. The tree that this wood came from was standing dead in a forest in Wilton CT. It was personally felled and milled on site, then tranported to my shop where it air dried outside for two years prior to being brought into the shop to complete the drying process. The frame uses mortise and tenon joinery throughout, ensuring that this piece will last for generations.
Dimensions: 27" Deep x 76" Wide x 46" High
The drawer fronts are carefully selected Black Walnut from a local mill. Each row of fronts represents one board that has been sawed in half down its length to produce two matching pieces of wood. The pieces are then set opposing each other thereby creating end to end mirror images. This matching process provides a greater degree of visual interest as compared to drawer fronts made from completely unrelated pieces of wood. Knots and other "defects" are also included, making for a piece that is full of character compared to something that utilizes all straight grained "perfect" wood.
The top is also made from Ash, milled from the same tree. All of the edges are beveled on the underside, providing a feeling of lightness to what is otherwise a huge piece of furniture. The top is well secured, though at the same time, free to expand and contract as wood will through the seasons. Changing in depth as much as 1/4" over the course of one year, one can see why it is necessary not to constrain the wood.
The side panels are a composite of Spalted Sugar Maple and Black Walnut. A similar matching process as took place with the drawer fronts is also applied to the side panels. The middle part of the panel is matched Maple and the outer pieces are matching Walnut. All have been glued together to make a 1/2" thick panel that is 22" wide. The panels are set in grooves to allow them to expand and contract with the seasons.
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