Suggested tools: biscuit joiner, router, drill, table saw, saber saw, wood glue, framer’s square, large wood clamps, trim router, chisel.
1. Go to Lumber Yard
2. Buy Wood – pick up some 5/4″ x 12″ stock, about 36 board feet for the base and 12 board feet for the top. And another 12 board feet for the bottom. Pick them up in 12 or 6 foot lengths. Clear White Pine works very well and is available most anywhere. If you don’t have a board planer at home make sure to get finished wood otherwise you can get rough cut and plane them down yourself.
3. Buy 4 wheels for the base, I prefer the spherical rubber wheels. Buy some piano hinge for the top and some handles for the side.
4. Make your base – make sure your edges are planed, match your boards for the front, back and two sides, then use a biscuit joiner, biscuits and wood glue to join the boards, clamp. You’ll now have the 24″ high pieces to make your box frame. Locate the side panels about an inch and a half from end of the front and back panels, this will lessen the chances of the wood splitting and allow you to do some nice finishing details later. Pre-drill and countersink your holes, then screw and glue, clamp, wipe away excess glue. Construct your base the same way as the side panels, locate the base about an inch and a half above the bottom of the panels, this gives you a place to mount the wheels at each corner.
5. Add a 3 inch strip of wood across the back-top of the box with an inch overhang on both sides, pre-drill countersink, screw and glue. Measure from the front of this strip to the front of the box and add and inch and a half. That’s the depth measurement of your top. Add an inch to both sides of the box and that’s the width of your top. Match your boards, biscuit join them, round the front two corners with a saber saw, align it with the back strip already in place and place the piano hinge so that the round part of the hinge is visible when the lid is shut. Mark your drill holes once it is in place, this can be tricky and can require two people. Pre-drill, screw. Plug holes with wood plugs made from scraps, add glue, tap in place, chisel off smooth with surface.
6. Add your wheels
7. Router the exposed edges with a trim router, sand entire piece, medium, then fine. Use an acrylic polyurethane, sand lightly between coats, remove dust with tack rag, do final coat, let dry in dust-free environment.
8. Add your handles then show it off to friends and family.
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made from poplar underneath the joints on the lid, this way people can sit down and put their boots on then stand up and pull jackets and sweaters from the storage box.
I was sitting here writing an Essay, entitled:
Raunchy Sex at 6PM
I figured that might break the fascination with Armando’s issues.
Of course, if I had called it “Paunchy Sex at 6PM” I might have continued the ongoing fixation.
(just kidding 😉
I like people who know how to do something. Can I make one suggestion? Perhaps you could list the suggested tools at the top, before directions.
wood butcherer you!
Why do you hate wood?
and have lost all sense of time. My friends and family are not easily impressed. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to reconcile my hatred of glue and its toxins to choices I must make to construct this piece. Perhaps I don’t need it and can find a ready made that will work to hold my tools and such. Somewhere I can find a storage bench that doesn’t require glue? What other means of adhesion can you offer or are we all just required to use glue?