Gem of a jewelry chest

I wanted to build a higher end piece to show my skills off at Farmer’s markets and craft shows, and found a pretty good piece in a woodworking magazine. It is a jewelry chest with places for rings, hanging necklaces and drawers for other items. Made with walnut, with brass hardware, I think it looks pretty sharp!

Start with milling the pieces to size (jointing and planning to thickness, ripping to width and crosscutting to length). Match the grains as much as possible to make it “pop” and to have the doors and case sides match.

Use the tablesaw to cut dados and rabbets into the sides and doors for the joinery.

Cut grooves in the cases sides, top and bottom and door bottom and top for the panels.
On the left side of the case and the doors, lay out matching mortises to fit the hinges. Hand cut out the mortises and use a small router plane to clean up. Also route a 3/8” cove in the opposite side for a hand pull on the door

Confirm the fit of the hinges to door and case

Cut the shelves, case back and door panels to size, route 3/8” rabbet on the walnut front panel, then glue up the case and the doors

Next it was time to make the ring hanger. Started by cutting the pieces to size, then used the tablesaw to cut chamfers on the top and bottom pieces.

After dry fitting them to test, I glued the ring panel front, sides and supports in place.

For the top, I milled it to size, then used the router table to cut a 3/8” cove on the top

I also used the cove bit to create four “feet” for the cabinet. Cut in a 45 degree chamfer, and then the cove for angled feet. Glued them together on the bottom.

When that was all done, I glued the bottom and top pieces onto the cabinet.

With that done I built the two drawers which are part of the kit

After that, I sanded the item to 220 grit, and applied three coats of clear shellac to the cabinet, drawers and doors

Once everything was finished, I put in black felt on the doors and cabinet base.
To complete the door details, I put in two spacer blocks on the doors, and then attached two brass pieces to them. This will help keep any long necklaces in place, or could be used to hang other items
To hold the necklaces in the cabinet and door, I used a “gimlet” (which is a hand cranked drill bit) to drill into the wood and put in four brass hooks in each (total of eight hooks)

Used spray adhesive to hold the ring holder in place on its holder
From there it was using the same gimlets to attach the brass hinges, and we were done.