Hope Chest
Artist: Tim Pastore (panels weaved by Lucas)
Material: Chery and Maple
Finish: Satin oil based finish
Item Number: 3-3
This piece was featured in the April 2010 issue of the Fine Woodworking
Magazine (see article: Four
Ways
to
Make a Panel Pop).
This hope chest is a wedding gift for a family friend. Tim and his
sisters grew up
spending summers with Maine with her and her 2 brothers.
Their moms were teachers so they spent many weeks together during
the summer. 13 years ago she lost her older brother to a car accident.
He was just about to graduate from high school and it was a massive
blow to the family. Tragically, this past fall, she lost her younger
brother to another car accident. Tim wanted to make her a wedding gift
that would focus on the future, a future full of hope.
The design is his own with inspirations from many
different sources.
Hope
chest – The hope chest frame is made of cherry. The joinery is mortice
and tenon. The panels are made from woven maple strips and the panel
grove also has some tongue and groove aromatic cedar on the inside. The
inside of the hope chest has some horizontal runners at three levels
for the interior boxes. These boxes can be stacked to one side, two can
be placed on one level, or they can be removed to be used outside of
the hope chest. The top is three pieces of cherry hinged with some
beautiful brass hinges.

Interior boxes – The interior box
frames are made of curly maple with box joint corners. The top is a
cherry veneer woven panel with a brass pin as a hinge. Inside the boxes
are two removable trays. The trays have removable dividers and a suede
microfiber bottom. The tops are opened by lifting a cherry handle on
the front of the box.
Everything is finished with a satin oil based
finish.
This project means a lot to our family – the
wedding gift, the Fine Woodworking article, the time
Tim spent with Lucas weaving the panels, finishing a challenging
project – it
will be a favorite of ours for a long time.
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