This was a reasonably large chest I made from pine and steel. The design for the sun was loosely based of a sun shaped mirror that has been in our family for several years. The overall shape of the chest was based off a pirate chest I had seen online somewhere I can't remember now.

Firstly I made the box. This was easy enough as I just edge jointed pine boards to generate boards of the require width, and then dowel jointed them together to make the box. This resulted in a very sturdy box that was also quite fast to make. Next I made the lid. I got the curvature for the lid by securing a 5mm dowel onto a board, and then bending that dowel, and clamping it at the top width of the box. I then traced the curvature of the bent dowel, and this gave me the pattern of my lid.

The lid itself was made by joining multiple 21mm x 42mm cross section pine strips together. By trial and error I hand planed bevels onto the strips until they would fit together smoothly and form the require curvature.

Once the lid and box were complete I begun the metal working. I had to hammer the steel by hand to the require curvature of the lid and then weld it in place. as mentioned in a previous project, I did this cold as I do not have a forge. The steel frame was then secured to the lid by auto body filler, which also helped to even out the gaps in creating such an odd curve. The frame for the box was a lot easier as there was no bending to do. I simply took measurements off the box itself, allowed for the thickness of the steel, and then cut and welded the pieces together.The box frame was secured to the timber by screws for extra strength. 

The decorative elements were made near the end. The sun shape was cut out of sheet metal, and then hammered at the centre to dish it out. Then brass was cut out to fit over the centre bulge and the two pieces were riveted together. Everything was hammered by hand to add texture.  The curved metal strips on the lid had to be made by hand in two steps. First I hammered the C shape into the metal, keeping it flat as possible, and then begun hammering the curve in, constantly checking against the curvature of the lid. As before, this had to be done by hand. Finally I grinded and sanded everything clean, drilled holes for attachment and mounted all the decorative elements. The timber finish was a stain-varnish blend applied in many thin coats to build up colour. Not show in these picture, there was a patina applied to the steel. I did this with a mixture of paint and cleaning solutions