The other morning I was looking at a Cedar chest my father had made me that was in my daughter's room. It is over twenty years old and the cedar lining on the inside still smells fresh. The ceder on the inside is about 1/8" thick. Most people don't realize cedar chests are usually only lined with a thin layer of the cedar wood because of the cost of the boards. Also, when building a cedar chest or closest you don't coat the wood with any preservatives like a urethane. The wood needs to breathe, this is how you get the pungent smell of the cedar.

My dad made the outer part of the chest of pine boards from our camp we had in Deer field Massachusetts. when I was a kid. He cut down the pine trees himself and had them made into boards at the local saw mill. I can remember, at our camp, him cutting the trees down and the great crashing sound they made when they landed on the forest floor. The road to our camp was a long dirt road with allot of potholes and boulders sticking out here and there. He had to have a cherry-picker come to pick up the logs to bring them to the sawmill. For those of you that don't know what a cherry picker is, it is a big truck that has sort of a grappling arm on it to pull the trees out and stack them on the trailer. Finally when the logs arrived at the saw mill I got to watch them cut the lumber lengthwise. What a thrill for a 10 year old boy. The smell of the different kinds of fresh cut trees is something I remember each fall when you can here chainsaws running. Finally, my dad, brought the fresh cut lumber home. We have a barn at my moms house where he planed the pine boards, sanded them down, and made a fine piece of pine furniture.

I would like to pass it on to one of the kids when they get older and have them pass it on to one of theirs. I will tell the story to them about how their grandfather, by hand made that cedar chest. Every family should have a piece of heirloom furniture, something that is haded down from generation to generation. I think it will be all the more touching and special that my great grand children will know their great, great, grand father made this cut the trees down, pulled them out of the woods, had them rough cut at a sawmill, planed them himself and built this chest with allot of hard work, determination, and love.

I know if the cedar ever loses its smell all you have to do is sand it down and it will come right back. The outside of the pine board part of the chest is scarred and nicked from years of use. It has been moved from house to house, upstairs, downstairs. It is fairly large so not only did it get banged around from moving it, it also put a couple holes in some walls. I know I can sand it down and refinish the pine very easily to make it look new. But, I think I will leave it the way it is.

It reminds me of my father, a little nicked and scarred from years of use, Been banged around a bit, but the best father a son could ever have had.