Midwestern cedar chests

A number of cedar chests are created in Southern Minnesota, which is the land of the Little House in the Big Woods, and a place where many hardwoods have grown for generations.

Cherry, walnut, hickory and oak sources are something of a source of pride to the Amish community, since they know they are some of the highest quality stands of these great hardwoods. The majority of their lumber is harvested by farmers who maintain wooded areas on their land as a windbreak to preserve soil quality.

Time honored methods of building fine furniture do take a lot more time to assemble. But a well-constructed cedar chest that will last forever has to have this kind of construction, rather than being simply joined together by tool and machine.

To join cedar chests together, screws and wood glue are used to join the parts (rather than nails). Nails can work out of a cedar chest over time due to changes in humidity.

The panels on cedar chests are crafted with an eye towards durability. The panels are fully recessed into the styles next to them, and are allowed to 'float' or have room to expand over time. This prevents natural changes from temperature and humidity from placing excessive stress on the cedar chest.

The great care that comes from handcrafting completes the design. When things are made by the hands and eyes of a real person, they can feel and see things a machine cannot. And when those eyes are those of an Amish craftsman who takes the time to build in the way he learned from his father so many years ago, the process of making an heirloom has begun before the cedar chest is even started.

And so it goes, from father to son, the right way to make a piece of furniture or a cedar chest that can stand the test of time. Building to last is not something you can find in machine made furniture, because it requires this gentle yet firm touch. It is something that can only be taught, not written about. The apprenticeships of the Amish craftsmen who build cedar chests are part of the process of standing up over time, because the process itself has already stood up over time.