Building a blanket chest without a detailed plan or drawing…

Welcome to our design and project construction processes. As an example we are going to use the Blanket Chest and go through our construction process. To start let’s look at the already created Blanket Chest.

Project Components:

Looking at the photo of this blanket chest we first want to break down the construction components. 1) the blanket chest top, 2) the blanket chest raised panel body and assembly joinery, 3) the blanket chest molded base and 4) the blanket chest top molding.

Construction Details:

From each of these components we want to create the construction detail napkin sketches. So what is a construction detail napkin sketch? It is a quick drawing showing the construction details of the important specific area(s) of the project. Below are the napkin sketches that create the detailed construction elements for the Blanket Chest on the TV show…These are also used to create and understand the mechanics of sizing the parts in the material list to your new project.

Please Note:

These detail sketches are built around the joinery that YOU know how to make, if you only know about the butt joint then the project will be built around the butt joint. In my opinion, the butt joint is the easiest to make but the hardest to assemble. It is very difficult to match all the exposed surfaces of the butt joint.

The importance of the rabbet joint:

With the rabbet joint as an example, it is easy to match the ajoining surfaces because you just need to be sure the matching pieces fit tightly into the rabbet. Anytime you need to add a molding or a base piece use the rabbet joint to position the placement.

Joinery Tip:

If you only know that one joint maybe you should try to add a few more wood joints to your list of how to build joinery before trying to build some of the bigger furniture. Some of the suggested wood joints that you should try to master are the following: a) the box joint, b) the rabbet dado joint, c) the miter joint, d) the rabbet joint, e) the dado and groove joint and f) the linear dovetail joint. Also remember that knowing how to make the joinery is just one component of knowing the wood joint. You also need to understand how to make the parts list built around the mechanics of the chosen wood joints.

Making Boxes Symmetrical:

Next we want to look at the symmetric elements of the project. This project has the front view, (which is the main view) top view and the right side view. You can quickly sketch each of these views used to help you through the look of the blanket chest.

We have the three overall measurements of the blanket chest: the width, the length and the height. The symmetric element of this project is based upon the overall length of the blanket chest. This is the main dimension is used to determine each of the other measurements. These measurements are based upon a percentage of the length.

We use a simple formula to keep our box construction projects symmetrical, the length, which is 100%, the height is 45% of the length and the width is 50% of the length. So this means you can create a blanket chest of any size as long as you follow the percentages concept shown above.

Here is an example: Length of my Blanket Chest is 36 inches so the width of the blanket chest is 18 inches and the height of the chest is 16.2 inches.

Using Pro-Door to Create the Parts List:

Simple way to determine the size of the blanket chest panels. The PRO-Door software can be used to produce the panels of the blanket chest easily. This software will create the materials list that you can use to make the raised panel sides.

To get your copy of our Pro-Door Software click on the Buy Now Button below.

A recap look at the assembly joinery:

Using the rabbet/dado joint to join these pieces together means you need to trim 3/8″ off the side styles. This is done to compensate for the added 3/4″ thickness of the styles for the front and back panels.

Plus Please Note:

The series of critical measurement when producing the rabbet dado joint: 1) Is the height of cutter that creates the depth of the joinery going into the front and back styles. 2) The thickness of the panel pieces must be twice the thickness of the spacer fence, we are using the 3/8″ spacer fence. In this case the thickness of the panel border pieces need to be 3/4″. That’s it the blanket Chest built without the measured drawing…

Here is an assignment:

Go to your local furniture shop with your digital camera and find a piece of furniture that you would like to build. Use your camera to take the photos of the construction details. Once you have these details create you own project plans using napkin drawings based upon your series of photos.

Remember to first ask the owners if they would mind you taking a few photos of the certain furniture. Explain that the photos are to be used as reference photos.