Now for chests that are to be pieces of furniture. Of course the better-looking ones need wide, expensive lumber, but serviceable chests may be built with end and front pieces made with the same technique as the sides and doors for cupboards, using masonite or plywood for the panels.

The best legs will be cut from surfaced 2"x 4", or, if you can get it, 3"x 3", fastened to the chest with long nails driven directly into them through the bottom. One procedure in building the chest is to first make a sort of chassis, consisting of the bottom, nailed to the legs, with the chest itself built on this. If the 2"x 4" leg is cut as shown in one of the sketches opposite it will be even stronger than if it is merely nailed in through the bottom of the chest. This will need some careful sawing, but all carpenter work should be careful.

People are bound to sit on chests, so they had better be built strongly enough not to collapse. For this reason it is best that the panel construction be confined to the sides, with a piece of heavy plywood for the lid. Most likely you will use butt hinges of brass, with fairly long screws, and as the hinge-plate cannot be more than wide, it should be as long as possible. For strong hinging, of course, it is always possible to nail in a 3/4" strip along the inside back, so that you can use a larger hinge-plate. (See sketch on next page.)

Lids, usually, are overhung about front and sides, though this does not conform with the modern manner, in which the lid must be cut exactly to fit. Locks, hasps, or flat brass hooks, with brass eyes screwed into the edge of the lid will hold it down.

A page of designs for chests.

The only objection to heavy plywood for the lid is the exposure of its edge, showing the several plies of wood of which it is made. To conceal the edge, the only resort is to a rather careful bit of work, again using the miter box. The plywood is cut 1" smaller, front and ends, than the desired size, and a 1"x 13/4" strip mitered around the front and ends. An alternative method is to cut a 45 degree angle into the two front corners, and fit a carefully cut 1"x 3/4" stick between the two miters, nailing into the edge of the plywood with 13/4" finishing nails. It is well to make a slight bevel or rounding of the edges of the lid, so that it will not splinter on the edges. The bevel is worked down with sandpaper. If you find it difficult to get a milled stick 1"x 3/4", the simplest trick is to rip 1" off the edge of 54" board or strip, using the finished edge of the stick for the exposed edge. Another device (but not so good) for concealing the raw edges of the plywood lid is to miter a half-round on the front and ends. Still another is to miter around a 3/4"x2" strip, nailed on flatwise, flush with the top, but hanging down 1/4" over the front and sides of the chest.

It is customary, and for obvious reasons, to nail the front of a chest on the ends, otherwise the front will reveal the endwood of the end boards.

Handles, for both decorative and practical purposes, may be put on the ends, or, if the chest is a modern piece, two small square cleats, as suggested for the units a little earlier.

It is surprisingly easy to give your chest a highly decorative Chinese accent, either by giving it a set-in frame base or by using, instead of legs, lengths of 3" diameter milled round stick, as shown on the page of chest sketches. This is cut the exact depth of the chest, planed a little on the top surface for a secure nailing, and smoothly sandpapered on the ends. These 3" diameter round sticks are the same as used by rug dealers for rolling rugs for shipment, and 2" wood curtain pole makes a smaller support.

The Chinese effect is greatly heightened by a characteristic color scheme, as red lacquer with two circular Chinese devices in gold; or ivory, with the same decorative device in red lacquer or gold. The circular ends of the supports to be given a color contrasting with the body of the chest, as gold under the red lacquer, or gold or red under the ivory. Black, with gold decorations is also very handsome and quite Chinese.

Decorations for paneled or plain-surfaced chest fronts are many. An attractive scheme for certain types of interior is the painted peasant style, with motives which may be developed from peasant china, or had by a little library research.

Very decorative chests may have the panels built to be filled exactly by Japanese prints, which should be waxed or shellacked, with the edges protected by a small cover-molding, mitered around the panel (see Chapter XI (Getting Ambitious)). If cover moldings are used over prints, wall-paper, fabric, or any panel decoration thus added, the moldings should be lacquered or gilded before being put in place. There's no end to the variety of things you may use for panel decorations, including even enlargements on the order of the "photo murals" that are so popular these days.

One chest was cleverly decorated with playing cards, photo-enlarged to fit the panels, then brightly colored and varnished. And you can do wonders with any kind of maps as decorations for the panels of a chest.

For the children's toy chest, the chest may be made up to look like a pirate treasure chest, with the massive iron bands, hinges, and corners done in black paint, or, if it is a paneled chest you can utilize the colorful pages from some children's picture book.