Expert: Eileen Cronk - 6/10/2010

Question
Hello again Eileen,

I have finally been able to bring my old seaman's chest upstairs in good light to have a thorough look at it prior to beginning the stripping etc, as we discussed in our last mails. I have discovered that as well as a 'till with lid' across the depth of it, there are two drawers under the till which I have never noticed prior. They are quite small, nicely dovetailed, and have small ring-shaped handles to open them, and situated in a box-type structure entirely filled in all around the drawers.

One slides open easily, but the other is stuck and I do not want to use force on it so am hoping you can give advice on the best way to do this. At first I thought it may be locked, but there is no keyhole.

Is it usual for sea chests to have these small drawers? Most I have seen do not. The dimensions of the chest are 20 in high, 22 ins wide, and 40 ins long. Would this conform to the norm for sea chests?

The chest itself had previously been either stained or painted black - I think the former more likely - so may happily find that the many layers of white paint have not penetrated the grain.

Thank you once again in anticipation of your expert answer. here in Oz we have winter now, and I will make the restoration my winter project. Am hoping that my inexpert description is clear enough for you to understand!

Warm regards,
Dee.

Answer
Hi again Dee
This chest sounds fasinating.
I suspect there was no regulation size for a seamans chest except that it could not "be over a certain size" due to storage constraints on a boat. But the sizes likely varied from there down.
You can appreciate that living in central Ontario I have not seem many seamans chest but I have seen many many carpenters chests here in Ontario.
I am always amazed at the quality of the workmanship that went into building them.
Most have the dovetail construction and the til as you describe but I have never seen one with interior drawers. One could imagine that your chest was made for an officer and not just a seaman.
Don't worry about the drawer not opening. It will.
If your summer is now over and winter starting and the chest is upstairs the wood will dry and allow the drawer to open. Just give it a while.
You can still proceed with paint removal. I was glad to hear the chest has an underlying finish as it will have kept the paint from penetrating as you say.
If you run into problems just write.
Our very short Canadian summer has finally started. But its always raining it seems.
Regards
Eileen