The Medieval Chest

Hello again dear readers, today I will quickly review how I began the chest project. During the Early and High Middle Ages, before many of the types of furniture we're now familiar with came into being, a chest was one of the most important pieces of furniture and storage that existed in the household. They were storage containers for possessions, often fitted with locks in order to keep valuables safe, and chests meant to sit in the home often had design features that made them useful in other ways. Large furniture chests with flat lids could serve as chairs or table surfaces in a pinch, and chests that sat on the floor usually had legs that raised them to a more convenient height and kept them from getting dirty. In contrast, travelling chests often had gabled or barrel-shaped lids for sturdiness and to shrug off rain or snow if they were transported in inclement weather. Because legs could break off during rough handling many traveling chests did not have them. People had all kinds of things that had to be stored away. A carpenters' sturdy tool chest would contain the artist's specialized wood tools, while noble families kept their luxurious clothes in fine coffers under lock and key. They would be plain or decorated with ironwork or carvings depending on the owner's budget and whether or not the piece was going to be displayed, and there were many different ways of putting a chest together.

This website summarizes some construction methods that evolved:
http://www.greydragon.org/library/chests.html

I found a reference photograph that I wanted to base my blueprints upon, and later found an example of iron strapping to loosely imitate. In terms of construction style I'm making a "hutch" style chest.

Here is the plan that I drew up, with a list of what I would need to cut:

Donald and I went to a lumber yard and I bought about 20 feet of plain-sawn red oak. Red oak is an American species of tree and its properties and appearance are different from the kind of European white oak that some medieval chests were made of. All the same, its a good substitute and a nice wood.