Darren Oates, Richmond, NSW

Jewellery chest
Sheoak, Victorian ash
550 w x 250 h x 250mm d

This jewellery chest was my coopering project while studying at Sturt last year. I really wanted to do something that was going to be a real challenge that would force me to use construction techniques that I have never used before.
I elected to make a jewellery chest with a coopered lid that had concave and convex curves. I chose to use sheoak as the grain is incredibly rich and the timber colour has deepened over the months since its completion. I obtained the sheoak from Boutique Timbers at the Sydney Working with Wood Show.
Titebond II was the only glue used throughout the construction.
The front and back are laminated sheoak to obtain the curves and are dovetailed to the sides with the tiniest little pins, again a bit of a challenge to dovetail a curved element to a straight one. The lid contains around 30 strips of sheoak hand planed at various angles to form the desired curve and the glue up proved to be very interesting. The drawers are constructed using full dovetails in the back and half blind dovetails in the front with a false front made of laminated sheoak, and are centre hung. The drawer sides are quarter sawn Victorian ash.
The box is finished with Scandinavian oil and carnauba wax. The box is lined with white leather.
This box is currently in Bungendore Wood Works Gallery.

Photos: Darren Oates