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Making a box of Hope!


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Making a box of Hope!
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2010-05-26, 21:14

So one of my little kids is about to not be so little. She's "coming of age" way to fast. So for this year's birthday I thought (with the help of my wife) that I'd build her a hope chest. My friend had a pattern and most of the tools needed. We are using 3/4" AA Oak Plywood for this project and so far I think it's going to turn out great!

So today we headed out to Lowe's and got one sheet of plywood, three 1"x4"x8' and 4 pieces of moulding for the trim work. We also got a piano hinge to hold the lid on because we couldn't find the hinge they had intended we use on the plans. I also got the lid holders. Of course they needed to be strong because an almost 3/4"x19"x46" board.

So today all we did was get the 4'x8' plywood sheet cut into the parts it needed to be cut into. We are planning to nail and glue the big portion of the box together so we can work on the trim parts afterwards. Here's some pictures from the results of todays work. These were taken after the fact because I totally forgot to have pictures taken early on while we were working. Heck, I'd have at least done camera phone pics if I had thought of it.






So, I'll keep the progress posted here, just in case there are any other woodworkers out the who might like to see how this turns out.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2010-05-30, 23:00

So I got another day into the project and by the end of it I have a box.

In this pic you see us putting the 3/4" x 3/4" trim boards to cover up the fact that it's really plywood under there. In the last pic you can see the bottom attached and also see the corner pieces in place. The boards you see on the table saw are the side pieces before we built the box. In the following pics you see the box getting assembled.



The last part of the lower half was to make the feet. That wasn't easy really. Sure it's all done by the power tools, but cutting the curves was much harder than I was expecting. Good thing I have my buddy here helping me out. He gave me a tip of putting cuts along the soon to be cut out sections. I still didn't get the line cut right though. Thankfully he has a sander that was able to get the curves smoothed out pretty good.

So here are the feet with the marks before cutting and also the "trial" cut board to get it done right. We ended up doing good in the end. The feet can be seen in the last picture. The curves still needed to be routed but we did route the top edge of them.




Tomorrow I'll be finishing it up hopefully. I'm not sure though, we've only got a handful of things to finish like the trim on the top of the box edge and the lid too. I'll post some more updates as they come!

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2010-06-09, 23:58

Well, I wish I'd posted more here as we have been coming along but I never did. Sorry about that for anyone who cared.

So now the box is just about done. The hardware is getting here tomorrow at some point and assembly will be made then. I had to order heavy duty lid supports due to the weight. The box is stained with one more coat of poly to go on after these pictures were taken. What do you think?




Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2010-06-10, 00:12

Looking good!

Keep on postin', turtle. Just because we're not replying doesn't mean were not reading.
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-06-10, 00:24

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad View Post
Looking good!

Keep on postin', turtle. Just because we're not replying doesn't mean were not reading.
Yup, I've been following this one too.

I think it looks great.
  quote
Capella
Dark Cat of the Sith
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Rochester, NY
Send a message via AIM to Capella  
2010-06-10, 07:25

how pretty! I really love the coloring on the box. It's so cool that you can make something like that.
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Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2010-06-10, 07:49

I'm particularly fond of the big empty case of Budweiser in the 5th photo from May 30th.

Keep up the good work!
  quote
Chinney
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2010-06-10, 08:35

Nice project Turtle. I've done a bit of wordworking in my life, and very much enjoyed it when I did. I wish I had your level of skill...and access to those tools.

I will be building a new deck out in the back come this fall (taking a week off from work to do it), but building decks is qualitatively different from fine carpentry. Still fun though.

The most wonderful thing that will ever be in the chest is the love that you've already put in. All the best to your daughter.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2010-06-10, 10:19

Thanks guys. I wasn't trying to get a response though I do welcome them. I could see by thread views it's been watched. Either way, thank you for your comments. I'll let you know what my daughter thinks of it after we give it to her.

It's been a fun project, to say the least. My friend has more skill with the wood than I do, but I was at least able to hold my own with this project.

Due to timing and my job most of the staining and poly coats were done by him without me. I helped with the first stain coat though.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2010-06-10, 11:16

Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle2472 View Post
I helped with the first stain coat though.
...and the case of Bud. ...Right?
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2010-06-10, 21:20

Well, as odd as this might sound to a few of you, I don't drink. I do get ice cold Root Beer at his place though. IBC as a matter of fact.

So the plan to have the box finished tonight failed. I'm going to have to head over tomorrow after my friend gets off work to complete the job. The good part is that everything is there waiting.

I haven't been able to see the poly completed yet though. I'm really hoping that the second coat makes it just pop. The stain took really well to the wood. A little darker in the grain and it's perfect if you asked me.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2010-06-12, 23:20

It is finished and delivered. My daughter loves it and thinks it is perfect. She doesn't see any of the flaws I see in it. I'm sure it's because she didn't make it and isn't as critical of it as I am. The hardest part I've had was to not share all the flaws in the effort of not justifying them to her. She doesn't see them.

There is one more thing to do though. We have a wood heart that we are going to engrave and add to the front of it. We didn't do this before giving it to her because we weren't sure what to put on it and wanted her input. We thought about her name and even a verse or cliche. The idea that my work will hopefully make it to the age of antique meant we wanted to give flexibility.

She has chosen what she wants to be on the heart so now I just have to make it. Here are the pics as they stand though. I'm very pleased.




Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
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