Carpentry - joints

[Andrea L Redden]

Part the third: similar chests from the British Isles referred to in Osebergfundet book 2

Most of these aren’t described apart from being assigned an approximate date. You’d be best contacting the institution where they’re held for additional information if you’re inclined. A complete list of those referred to are: Salisbury Cathedral 13thC and five chests in England of the same shape (only one illustrated).

13thC chest in Salisbury Cathedral

SalChest13C.JPG (28.27 KiB) Viewed 1878 times

16thC English chest

EngChs16C.JPG (35.42 KiB) Viewed 1882 times

Andrea

[Andrea L Redden]

Part the forth: similar chests from Scandinavia referred to in Osebergfundet book 2

Most of these aren’t described apart from being assigned an approximate date. You’d be best contacting the institution where they’re held for additional information if you’re inclined. A complete list of those referred to are: Voxtorp 12thC Sweden, Rydaholm 12thC Sweden, Ryssby 12thC Sweden, Vadstena Monastery 12thC Denmark? and Ullensaker Church 12thC Denmark?.

12thC chest from Voxtorp

VoxChs12C.jpg (32.61 KiB) Viewed 1878 times

Chest from Vadstena Monastery

VadChs.JPG (40.05 KiB) Viewed 1879 times

13thC chest from Flensborg

FlenChs13C.JPG (44.65 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

Now if tonight I can persuade my computer; a) not to crash and, b) to recognise the scanner attached to it (unlike last night), I’ll scan the Mästermyr chest photos & plans and the other stuff. No guarantees though.

Andrea

[Andrea L Redden]

Part the fifth, section A: the Mastermyr chest – description & plans

THE MASTERMYR FIND a Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland by Greta Arwidsson and Gosta Berg, Larson Publishing, Lompoc, 1999, ISBN: 0-9650755-1-6

“Chest of oak with lock and hinges of iron.

The chest is rectangular with a lid curved in cross section and a flat bottom. The bottom is joined to the ends by mortice and tenon joints. The chest is held together by wooden pegs at the ends and sides. The ends and sides are trapezoid and therefore slope inwards at a slight angle. The ends, which are made of a slightly thicker scantling than the sides and bottom, have a rectangular mortice about 4 cm from the lower edge for the tenons of the bottom plank. The lower portion of each end thus forms a raised base.

The ends, sides, bottom and lid each seem to have been made from a single piece of wood. The underside of the lid is hollowed out, leaving an oval trough-like depression. On either side of the depression the underside of the lid is flat, where the original thickness of the plank has been preserved; this provides a good fit against the upper edges of the end planks.

The sides are pegged to the ends and the bottom, and the bottom is joined by mortice and tenon to the ends; a rectangular tenon at each end of the bottom plank fits into a mortice in the ends. The details of the construction can best be seen in the illustration.

.....

Sides 86.0-88.5x20.5x1.8cm and 87.5-89.5x20.9x1.8 cm; ends 22.4-26.2x1.8-2.5x24.2cm and 21.5-26.3x23.8x1.8-2.7 cm; lid 88.5x24.0x3.2 cm.”

Scale plan of the chest from the Mastermyr find.

MasChsPlana.jpg (88.74 KiB) Viewed 3576 times

Drawing of the chest from the Mastermyr find.

MasChsDr1a.jpg (135.34 KiB) Viewed 1862 times

Drawing of the chest from the Mastermyr find with detail of the lock.

MasChsDr2a.jpg (72.68 KiB) Viewed 1856 times

Andrea

[Dave Mooney]

Wow, that's some data dump! Well done Andrea.

Bren, Dove tails are tricky enough to do anyway. My chest is based on the one named above as Oseberg chest 178 and is only dowelled. It's carrying all the forging gear and continues to hold up. The trick is in the way the sides slope and join. The load is not on the dowels anywhere. The base is slotted into routed (actually chiselled as I didn't own a router then) channels running the length of the box and across the end boards. I do plan to band my one on the corners at some point.
Have a look at it when you're down next.

Dave.

[Andrea L Redden]

Part the fifth, section B: the Mastermyr chest – photos

THE MASTERMYR FIND a Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland by Greta Arwidsson and Gosta Berg, Larson Publishing, Lompoc, 1999, ISBN: 0-9650755-1-6

Photos of the front and rear of the chest from the Mastermyr find.

MasChsFRa.jpg (138.61 KiB) Viewed 1854 times

Photo of the interior of the chest from the Mastermyr find from the front.

MasChsIna.jpg (129.19 KiB) Viewed 1858 times

Andrea

[Andrea L Redden]

Part the sixth, section A: the 9thC cemetery at Lejre

’Lejre – skibssaetninger, vikingegrave, Grydehoj’ Steen Wulff Andersen, ?Aarboger fer Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie? (handwritten, partially illegible), 1993

The main text isn’t in English so I couldn’t read it.

Box from grave 321.

LejBox321a.jpg (89.12 KiB) Viewed 1837 times

Chest from grave 1160. One end had been broken away for re-use as a coffin.

LejCof1160a.jpg (142.52 KiB) Viewed 1836 times

That’s all I could find. I'll post photos of the ones James & I made later. Off to dinner with James now. The grandparents picked the ferrets up from school and we have the evening to ourselves.

Andrea

[brendan]

Well, I am hardly going to suggest you give up your evening off to publish pictures!

These are great - I had wondered about the curved top and how to do it. Cutting from a single piece of wood makes sense (Even if that is going to be expensive with modern materials)
I am a lot clearer on the Mortice and Tenon now - thanks, it had confused me.

It is also interesting that they are all raised off the floor. But then, looking at modern furniture it is as well.

Brendan

[Dave Mooney]

'Rowing chests' were off the 'deck' so as to keep the contents dry if a wave came over the gunnel. This works for camping as it keeps the stuff off the grass. Also presents a shallower box at a height good for seating.

Dave.

[Andrea L Redden]

It is also interesting that they are all raised off the floor. But then, looking at modern furniture it is as well.

'Rowing chests' were off the 'deck' so as to keep the contents dry if a wave came over the gunnel. This works for camping as it keeps the stuff off the grass.

...and the dirt floors of the houses. No poured cement with waterproofing layer or timber raised on stumps. I imagine a legless chest left flat on a dirt floor would have its base rotted out in no time.

Andrea

[Dave Mooney]

True enough. We have at least one chest in Craggaunowen that has had the lower part of the stays replaced. They must have rotted from the ground up. I think the repair job was used as an excuse to raise the level of the box also.