Steamer Trunk

I've just completed building the Steamer Trunk plan, availalble from Rockler Woodworking and Hardware

The first picture shows the individual milled pieces, ready for mortising, tenoning and assembly. It took the better part of a weekend to cut all 63 pieces to size!

It's composed of rift-sawn red oak (which started life as 12' pieces of 4/4 x ~6") and 1/4" red oak plywood. I got the wood from Fine Lumber and Plywood in Austin, Texas. One of the owners stayed half an hour late to help me select the wood and load it into my car. Guess where I'm going for wood from now on!

The two pictures below show it built but without finish or hardware - I was unable to complete it in time before we moved to Germany.

Now it's almost 3 years later and I'm back from Germany and Scotland. I built the rolling shop table and then the Morris chair and I figured it was time to complete the steamer trunk. The final steps involved mounting the walnut strips to simulate the leather straps. Then Mike Wilson applied a spray lacquer finish at his shop. Then I glued in aromatic cedar pieces in the main part of the box and in the spaces between the supports in the lid. No traditional hardware yet as we can't agree on a finish or style. This is likely the final state...