Seth’s Pirate Chest

Viewer Project - By Seth Wells (http://WeWoodwork.com) from Irmo, SC
Added on April 13, 2015

For at least an entire week leading up to my son’s 6th birthday, I was up until midnight, or later, working to finish this pirate chest for him. I realized that I put incredible restrictions on myself by trying to hide a project from my kids. My son wants to be involved in everything I do in the shop (which I love), but if I’m hiding it from him I can only work on it once he is in bed. Of course, that means that the rest of the kids in the neighborhood are also asleep, so definitely no loud saws can be used.

Anyway, it was a labor of love that he will hopefully treasure for many years to come. I looked at a bunch of pictures of pirate chests, but didn’t find any plans that I liked. So, this chest was completely designed by me. I was a little bummed that I ran out of time before I was able to put in the false bottom “secret compartment,” but maybe that can be a post-mod.

It’s made out of pine with red oak trim (stained with dark walnut). Construction is simple glue and screw, but the trim hides all of that. I used masonry nails on the trim to give it that old-style look. Hardware was not exactly what I had envisioned, but it’s what I could find. I did find a really cool old-timey skeleton key lock off of Amazon, though, and he LOVES that!

I am pretty new to the woodworking hobby, so this project gave me TONS of learning opportunities. It also gave me reason to buy a few more tools and that’s always a good thing!!

Oh yeah, before I gave it to him I sketched out a really simple treasure map. I hid the chest in the backyard and just gave him the map and the keys in an envelope. It was a lot of fun helping him find the treasure. Then…the look on his face made it worth all of the effort!! Priceless!

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