# Tea chest



## Anima (26 Jan 2013)

Hi,

I'm interested in making a tea chest for various...well teas, and was hoping somebody may have some tips. sorry bad joke.
I've done a quick google and not turned up anything on making them. Commercially available ones just seem to be plain boxes.

My questions are:
Should it be a particular type of wood?
Does it need to be lined? (Wikipedia suggests foil)
Any suggestions on how to make it airtight?

Cheers


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## AndyT (27 Jan 2013)

I think you probably mean a tea caddy, not a chest. 

Tea chests were rough plywood boxes for tea in bulk:







but a caddy was a well-made box, to reflect tha value of the contents. They were often lockable, with two lead-lined compartments for tea and a glass bowl in the middle for blending:






There are some constructional details for a caddy in Bernard Jones' Practical Woodworker (not dated, but I think from the 1920s) - I'll scan them for you if you like. They show that you would make a rectangular box and then make separate smaller boxes and insert them. I think you would not want to use lead foil nowadays, but the wood would need to have no smell to it - sycamore or maple would be ideal.

Another idea would be to find some nice squarish glass storage jars and use three of them - Ikea sell some that might be suitable.


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## marcros (27 Jan 2013)

there is this spice box too, which would be an idea:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/103 ... erry-inlay


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## AndyT (27 Jan 2013)

Here's the Bernard Jones design:


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## Anima (27 Jan 2013)

Cheers Andy and Marcros.

A tea chest is exactly what I was after. I like the idea of glass jars, I will
investigate and come up with some drawings. I also like the shape of the one you scanned in. I've got a some well seasoned sycamore ready to go which is fortunate although it may not be enough...

Marcros that link I brilliant. I now have to build a spice box. 

Cheers


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