Lawrence’s Blanket Chest

My grandson wanted a locking toy box to keep his little sister out of his treasures. After viewing several photos of potential designs he settled on a mission style blanket chest he found on the internet but wanted drawers. I decided to do raised panels rather than the flat panel design so there would be some detail to carry over to the drawer faces. The joinery was done with a Festool Domino on all the panel glue ups. Battens were added to the lid to insure it stays flat and the hinges are Rockler’s new torsion hinges which are a dream to install and work great. The face, ends, and back are classic panel construction. The legs are 6 quarter so provide a nice masculine feel the to overall chest. The drawer joinery is through dovetails and the drawer boxes have quarter inch Baltic birch bottoms. The two drawers on the back of the chest have gravity toggles that latch into mortises when the drawer is pushed into the cabinet. The latches are released with a special key that is inserted into a release hole inside the main compartment of the chest and the drawer pops open with the assistance of springs behind it.