Hope Chest from Wine Vat White Oak

Last fall the fine folks from Pioneer Millworks awarded me with 100 bdft of "wine vat white oak" from the Widmer Wineries in the Finger Lakes region of NY State for submitting the winning entry in a design contest that promotes using salvaged wood. (That entry is actually in my avatar)

Some of it has been transformed into a hope chest for my daughter's HS graduation gift. There was alot of character in this wood between the wine stains, wear marks, and other discoloration from use. I was thrilled to see that much of it was quartersawn. The inside edge of every original board was stained burgundy from use as vats.... I considered featuring that stain, but I wasn't sure my 18 YO daughter would appreciate it like you wood afficianados do, plus it was difficult to control the consistency of the color, so I settled for using it inside. In the spirit of wood reclaimation, the bottom is cedar salvaged from a neighbor's timely curbside reject. Even the piano hinge was a garage sale find I've had kicking around for a few years, and the support lids were on hand from a previously aborted project.

The original plan was to build a keepsake box to store inside the chest. Hopefully that'll come eventually...
















Below is the pile of boards as received, and the happy graduate with her sisters. (guess I should have built 3 while I was at it! )

great job on the reclamation

that was worthy of a award as well scott.. now how does your neighbor have cedar to throw away like the curved rails and the pegged look as well great job.. love the gtr sawn and some day i will have something to post out of some gtr sawn i just got last wknd..approx 800bf

larry merlau said:

that was worthy of a award as well scott.. now how does your neighbor have cedar to throw away like the curved rails and the pegged look as well great job.. love the gtr sawn and some day i will have something to post out of some gtr sawn i just got last wknd..approx 800bf

Click to expand...

Thanks Larry. Honest to God, the neighbor across the street tossed an old cedar chest to the curb within a day or two of my planned trip to go buy some. Even a blind squirrel stumbles onto a nut now and then!

The pegs are made of some black walnut that was given to us by a family friend who retired from wwing last year. The glue was new!

Hope you have enough of the oak to finish your project.

Scott,
I'm not a wine snob by any means, but Widmer is one of my favorite wineries. I even took the tour a few years back. Great looking project!

Nice work Scott , It looks beautiful
I am a big fan of reclaimed wood myself.

Wow Scott, that came out looking very nice. I like the sweeping lines. It is your design or something you found along the way? The wood is gorgeous, too.

Very well done, man.

Thanks gang. I've always enjoyed salvaging wood...it appeals to my "cheap" side, but I also like saving old wood from a fireplace or landfill. It's fun to build something for a family member and show them which parts were from Grandma's "old table" that they ate on when they were kids. Wood from a 100 year old table may have started out as a 200 year old tree that goes way back. It also has a history right from the get-go and usually some added character to the wood. The more common modern woods are planted for harvest and use a fairly narrow selection within a species by comparison. They're planted for their rapid growth and consistency, which gives most it alot less variety and a more predictable look....perfect for mass produced furniture!

Yes Vaughn ... the design is mine, though nothing too original going on....heavily influenced by the Mission style.

They say its one thing to impress the fans, but quite another to impress the players. In your case Scott you have really impressed me. From you excellent use of materials, your waste-not/ want-not attitude, to your excellent craftsmanship, you truly have impressed me.

I can tell from your post that you put a lot of thought into your project, who the end result was going to be for, and what her personality and tastes were. I cannot think of any woodworker more deserving of the award and recognition you got from that winery.

By the way, the only thing I disagree with you on is regarding yourself as "cheap". You are hardly that, your an excellent woodworker who uses what they have to make something better. You are what most woodworkers should strive to become. Any woodworker could make something beautiful out of a piece of highly figured 16 quarter birds eye maple board 20 feet long, its making something gorgeous from an old wine making vat that takes skill, imagination, creativity and hard work.

As I said, you have impressed this woodworker. Congratulations on a dozen different fronts and thanks for belonging to Family Woodworking. You inspire us all.

Scott, Can't find the right superlative so I'll just say.....

You've posted many nice projects but this is my favorite. You've taken a very simple storage chest idea and turned it into a very very nice piece. All your design choices work well with each other.

Nicely done.

nice job scott!