Pennsylvanina spice chest 9, the secrets within

I have decided to wait with the drawers till I get back home. There is no need to rush the job and make some crappy drawers that I know will annoy me for many years.

But I have completed the interior of the chest, with dividers and a couple of secret compartments.

I can't claim that I have invented those hiding places myself, as they seem to be fairly typical on those spice chests.
The crown moulding hides a secret compartment that is accessible from the back of the chest. You have to remove the lower drawers completely, and inside there is a sliding key that will let the back panel fall down revealing the secret drawer (which I haven't made yet).

The second divider, is loose and on the back there is a small drawer made up of some egg crate joinery. To prevent the divider from breaking, only the front has got the grain running vertically. The main part of the divider has horizontal grain.

My plane is to make a false bottom for the major center drawer too, but I'll have to see about that.

I guess all there is left to do out here is to wrap the piece in some bubble wrap and cardboard and hope for the best when it has to be loaded onto an airplane on its way home.

The inside of the spice chest.

Close up.

Divider with secret drawers.

Back slid down to reveal the secret compartment hidden by the crown moulding.

North Sea school box build 3, secret compartment.

The original design calls for a movable partition (at least that's what it is called in the book).
I have never really understood the idea of it, and never liked it much either.

I figured that it has been a while since I have made any secret compartments, and this project can easily accommodate one.

The design is similar to a secret compartment I saw in a blanket chest article some years ago. The idea is to make a small fixed interior till wit a secret compartment below it. To gain access, one will have to lift up the vertical part of the till.

I first laid out the positions of the parts of the till and the extra space below it. I then used a batten to help guide my Japanese saw when sawing out the sides of the grooves and dadoes.
The bulk of the waste was removed using a chisel, and my small homemade router next ensured a consistent depth.
To avoid the possibility to accidentally pulling out the front of the till, I made some deeper dadoes for the lower part of it. The front itself has got two small protrusions that will fit in there.

To determine the actual length of the till parts, I made a dry assembly of the box and took the measurements directly from it.

After processing those parts, I made another dry assembly to check if all worked as it should.
The system is OK, but I need to make a small chamfer at the ends of the till bottom and the secret compartment bottom.

When that is done I guess the next step is to sand the box lightly on the inside to remove some of the grime that almost inevitably comes from working in an engine room workshop, before gluing up the case.

Finding the correct length.

The layout of the secret compartment when closed.

The secret compartment opened.

The deeper dado and the protrusion on the front of the till.

Dry assembly closed.

Dry assembly opened.

Secrets of the sea chest

As promised in an earlier post, I will show the secrets of the sea chest.

Since the sea chest itself is rather small, 50 cm long, 35 cm wide at the base and a total height of around 30 cm, the drawers are farily small, and the secret drawers are even smaller.
But the most important thing is: They are there for the curious spectator to find.

These are the two regular drawers in place beneath the till.
To give you an idea of the size; each drawer is 9 cm high.

Here, the drawers have been removed granting access to the two locking keys that hold the vertical divider in place.

Now the locking keys have been opened and the vertical divider is pulled out.

The two secret drawers are accessible from behind the vertical divider.

The entire backing plate for the lower drawer is being pulled out. It rests in a narrow dado in the side wall and in the horizontal divider just above it. There is a small secret compartment at the back end of the backing plate.

The entire backing plate for the upper drawer is being pulled out. This one too rests in a dado in the side wall and in the horizontal divider. Like the lower unit, there is also a small compratment at the back end of the backing plate.

This view from above shows the arrangement of the drawers and the secret drawers and the secret compartments.
To the left is the lower set and to the right is the upper set.








The secrets in retro perspective.
I took a little time figuring out how I was going to do this. One of the hardest parts was to accept the fact, that the secret drawers didn't have very much pratical use based on their small sizes.
The actual making of the drawers and compartments took quite some time because I had to process some stock to a small size, and then I had to glue the splitting and wait etc.
I think that I will try to make some more secret comartments or drawers in the future. I would like to do some with a series of locks, both quaker locks and sliding keys. But all in all it has been quite fun to make them and I hope my family will enjoy finding them.

Secret compartments in the sea chest

Due to the unusual thinking ahead that I have been practising, it has been fairly easy to plan and execute the interior of the chest.
In addition to the till and the two drawers, I have planned some secret compartments as well.

On this picture, the till and the vertical and horizontal dividers are in place. On the side (which is pointing upwards on this picture), a narrow 7 mm dado can be seen. this will accomodate a back for the small drawers. Behind this, the secret drawers will be located.

The vertical divider will be sliding in the dado on the underside of the till, and in a corresponding dado in the bottom. It will be secured by a small sliding key in both ends.
To access the secret drawers, you will have to remove the normal drawers completely, slide back the locking keys and pull the horizontal divider out. Then the two secret drawers can be removed, sideways compared to the normal drawers.

The secret drawers are intended to measure approximately 1" in the width, so they will be rather small.

If everyhing goes according to the plan, there will be 2 more secret compartmens. But they will perhaps be revealed later on.

I am using a hacksaw blade for sawing out the sides of the sliding key. I use it on the pull stroke.
The angle of my sliding key is 25 degrees. I decided that it looks fair, but apart from that, I have no idea if this is a traditional angle or not.

Here is a picture of the finished keyway (left), on the right side the experimental sliding key can be seen.
Much contrary to my normal behaviour, I decided to make a test before starting on the real thing.
The test keyway was made very fast, and the sliding key for it even faster. The surprising result was an immaculate fit. Just like what you would hope to see in the finished work.  Now I just hope that I can make as good a fit on the divider.