Extra-strength Cedar Chest

This is a classic cedar chest, complete with dovetailed sides. The piece was designed to be a family heirloom, i.e. functional for centuries.
We designed four major construction improvements over the standard cedar chest:
1. Bottom constructed of 1/8" sawn cedar veneer laminated top and bottom to 1/2" baltic birch plywood. This allows bottom to be glued into the sides for extra support.
2. Padouk battens for the lid to prevent long term twisting of the top (always a problem with cedar. The battens are glued in the middle and allowed to float at the sides.
3. Padouk extrusion on the front to take the wear and tear from lifting.
4. Padouk handles. There is a padouk batten on the inside of the chest. The supports for the handles are connected to the inside batten by a 1" dowel. The handles themselves are connected to the supports with 1/4" stainless steel dowels that ride on stainless steel sleeves. At no point does lifting the chest involve the rubbing of either wood on wood or steel upon wood. By connecting the padouk handle supports directly to the padouk inside battens, any stress encountered during lifting the chest is borne by the strong padouk, rather than the weak cedar.