Four. Egyptian Chest

     This freestanding, long-legged, chest was inspired by a photograph of a piece in an ancient Egyptian furniture museum collection.  Perhaps the original was a pharoah’s treasure chest, intended to contain valuables he would need in the afterlife.  Even though I’ve been told that I have a container fetish, I didn’t make this chest with any particular use in mind.
     In addition to making a functional piece of furniture, I wanted to give the chest a sculptural appearance.  Using tree trunk root bases, I imagined the legs and flared feet as suggestive of animal legs, hooves or feet.  

     The box and sliding drawer are made of thin Douglas fir boards.  The legs are fire-killed Douglas fir tree trunks.  The leg braces are naturally bent Lodgepole pine tree trunks.  The box and lid handles are sliced Douglas fir burls.  The lid hinges were hand forged by my good friend and blacksmith, Jon Scott.  The box has a removable bottom, wrapped in suede leather. 

     The joinery includes mate-cut butt joints and rabbets corners, reinforced with dowels and glue.  All of the components are hand planed, scraped, and sanded.  The finish topcoat is a combination of Scandinavian tung oil and satin polyurethane.