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I made this replica Viking Chest (circa 800 AD) for my Swedish mother. She saw it at a festival last summer....Looks easy enough, I thought. The $400.00 price tag for a box I thought was a little steep. I took a few pictures, did a little research.
My basement was taking on water after we purchased our house 8 years ago and I ripped out a wall and kept the paneling. Solid pine painted an ugly green with a wide routed detail. This was the perfect project for that 70 year old pine. It had nail holes galore, and seems like a dart board was in the room for a while as well (I made that the top). It seemed fitting not to try to cover up the blemishes and work around the knots, as I left the a half missing knot front and center on the lid.
The first picture is what the paneling looked like before I did any work to it.
I then stripped the paint enough to run through the planner to clean it up, but I was having planner troubles if you recall. So I decided to build the chest as is and see what it looked like. I was going for the "really old Viking chest dug out of the ground 1200 years later" look.
I liked it, but gave her 2 story boards of different finishes with and w/o paint. She liked the w/o paint.
I found a black smith in Minn. that worked on a 800AD chest found in Sweden called the Mastermyr Chest. He was on an international team of woodworkers and blacksmiths to study and replicate the tools, hardware, etc in the chest. He hand forged these authentic period hinges and hook/eye to finish off the chest.
Simple little box not so. I found this to be very challenging. The angles of the sides and jointery meant that everything had to align perfectly or it wouldn't turn out. Practically every tool I used was tipped or tilted. Lining up the through mortises on the angles sides was not piece of cake either.
After denting the edges with vice grips, rounding down the lid corners and lots and lots of sanding, 4 coats of Arm-R-Seal, this is the finished product.
My basement was taking on water after we purchased our house 8 years ago and I ripped out a wall and kept the paneling. Solid pine painted an ugly green with a wide routed detail. This was the perfect project for that 70 year old pine. It had nail holes galore, and seems like a dart board was in the room for a while as well (I made that the top). It seemed fitting not to try to cover up the blemishes and work around the knots, as I left the a half missing knot front and center on the lid.
The first picture is what the paneling looked like before I did any work to it.
I then stripped the paint enough to run through the planner to clean it up, but I was having planner troubles if you recall. So I decided to build the chest as is and see what it looked like. I was going for the "really old Viking chest dug out of the ground 1200 years later" look.
I liked it, but gave her 2 story boards of different finishes with and w/o paint. She liked the w/o paint.
I found a black smith in Minn. that worked on a 800AD chest found in Sweden called the Mastermyr Chest. He was on an international team of woodworkers and blacksmiths to study and replicate the tools, hardware, etc in the chest. He hand forged these authentic period hinges and hook/eye to finish off the chest.
Simple little box not so. I found this to be very challenging. The angles of the sides and jointery meant that everything had to align perfectly or it wouldn't turn out. Practically every tool I used was tipped or tilted. Lining up the through mortises on the angles sides was not piece of cake either.
After denting the edges with vice grips, rounding down the lid corners and lots and lots of sanding, 4 coats of Arm-R-Seal, this is the finished product.
Attached Files
Loring in Katy, TX USA
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