Wine Vat Oak Hope Chest (...or what I did on my summer vacation) - pics

[mater]

Beautiful chest. Very nice work.

[lrogers]

That is super! I really like the way you did the front/doors with the curves.

[ironhat]

Now *that's* an heirloom. I hope that you inscribed your name and date on the back or bottom somewhere so that someday, future generations will say that, "Grandmother's father made this for her as a Hope Chest back in 2007 - imagine"!

[Pappy]

With the quality and beauty of the projects featured on this forum, rarely does a piece truely make my jaw drop. THIS ONE DID!

Every aspect of the piece, from the sweeping lines of the curves, to the beauty of the Quartersawn Oak, to the darker wood for the pegs, is outstanding.

[Knottscott]

Wow, Pappy...you made me blush. Thanks for the kind words everyone. The chest was my design but certainly had influence from several other sources. I did sign the bottom and briefly described the origin of the wood, plus I glued a 2007 penny to the bottom.

For inquiring minds, there are a couple of errors that I'll fess up to. 1. The piece is larger than I would have liked...I can't recall ever misjudging the size by such a wide margin. I focused mainly on the box size...added a bit to be sure, then the arched legs and the overhang added even more to the overall, so it's pretty darn big. 2. The thumbnail roundover profile was intended to be added to the bottom edge of the lid, but I simply screwed up and put it on the wrong side. Sometimes screw ups turn out for the better, but I don't think that's the case this time, though it's "ok". 3. This has got to be the poorest finish coat I've ever done. I think the main issue is that I was experimenting with mixtures of BLO/Waterlox/poly and mineral spirits without testing first. The BLO was 3-4 years old and just wasn't drying. The Waterlox was a year old, and I now understand that it doesn't age well either. I'm ready to go back to poly and MS hand wiped!

As seen in the pic below, I'll get the chance to practice building hope chests two more times.

Thanks again.

[Duff]

Ohhh..... That is SHARP! ! !