In my quest to keep things organized and put where I can see and get to them easily I turned to a area that is open cabinets above the two windows in my shop.  The lights have been upgraded so I can see well, now I am ready to organize / get rid of stuff / add more stuff, to this area.  In place are some boxes someone gave me to burn.  They were to big so I resized them and made them work for the time being.  So now I want better boxes, that lock so when I get on the ladder and bring them down stuff doesn't go everywhere. (Yes it has happened, you know it did)

 

A recent email from someone complained that everything we make is good but who has that kind of money to make stuff.  I told them even BC grade plywood can make nice things with some effort.  The reply made me chuckle, prove it.  Okay, challenge accepted.  For the front and back I am using 3/4 inch BC plywood, for the sides 1/4 plywood, for the bottom 1/2 OSB.  The tops will be made from shorts of pine I cobbled together and some plywood.  No hardwoods, will be creative with the finish on each one just to show how lesser grade wood finishes.  

 

First thing to do is rough cut my plywood pieces down to size and edge band them with some thin scrap from a short piece of 2x4 stud.  It's pine and cheap.

 

 

 

Finished these 1/4 pieces and let cure overnight.

 

 

With the edge banding done I sanded them flat, just needed a few passes with 120 grit to flush the entire edge good.  Now work can begin on the boxes.  Took me about an hour to cut all the pieces, used a rabbit joint for the front to sides. Looking for dovetails?  See  @steven newman   I glued this but because I have heavy things planned to go inside these I added some screws to the mix.  Considering the material being used probably a good idea, or overkill you call it.

 

 

Cut down some scrap 3/4 pine I had and made the tops.  Lap jointed these, took awhile to set the cuts up and do all 16 pieces and check for dry fit.  End of day now got the boxes glued up and the tops dry fitted.  I will cut the plywood inserts for them tomorrow and glue them up.

 

 

The bottoms?  Yes I did use the OSB as promised.  Also glued and screwed, can't be too careful.  

 

 

That is a wrap for this evening.

 

 

 

Can't wait to see the end results.  Thinking of doing something similar this summer.  Too many projects at the moment.  

So tonight's work was cutting the 1/4 plywood for the tops and gluing it and the frames together.    Did not need a lot of clamping I cheated and used a prefab piece of plywood overlaid inside the frame to keep them square.  Yeah I cheated.  These will be ready to final shape tomorrow I slightly oversized them.  A trick @steven newman has shown a few times.  Tomorrow I will brake out the hand plane and fine tune the fit.

 

 

This part is always optional, and one for great debate.  The insides have been sanded and I put a coat of poly on them.  Granted it is a shop box so who cares.  But I dislike the inside to be raw wood and get messy over time.   Really just a personal choice, and I am consistent.  Every drawer / box is finished regardless of shop project or for in the house.  I could have sanded the emblem off from the factory but left it to show I used OSB as it came.

 

 

 

To get an idea of what this will look like when done here is a box I used to hold some router tools.

 

 

 

 

And yes it is finished on the inside.

 

 

 

Now to answer the emailed question.  How do I fix voids that are typical to BC plywood or something other than Baltic birch?

 

Here is the problem.

 

 

So to fix I cut off a slice of the top veneer of another piece of plywood.  Going opposite of the grain to the other pieces just like the plywood is normally made.

Apply glue to all surfaces and let cure.  Now this is a end piece, if it is in the middle you can make a wedge and drive it in.  Just takes more patience.

 

 

And now all fixed and you cannot tell the difference.

 

 

 

Of course the real fix is to not use lesser grade plywood, or plywood at all.  Such as Baltic birch.  But budget or perhaps a need in the field can necessitate working with what we have and so this trick works.  Not original to me either, my Grandfather showed me this while fixing a piece of furniture when I was younger.  And I remember those lessons well.  Most of the time.

 

This evening I took the tops out of the clamps and checked for square.  Not much tuning up to be done so they got sanded down.  Labeled them all and test fit to each box which are also labeled.  They get some poly tomorrow.  The boxes got another coat of ploy as did the insert that goes on the shelf where these will be stored.  

 

 

 

Yes I edge banded OSB!

 

 

 

 

 Nice work Gunny they look good.

Where's the handles to grab them with one hand and pull them out?

 

Just a thought...

10 minutes ago, DRAGON1 said:

Where's the handles to grab them with one hand and pull them out?

 

Just a thought...

 

Have some old drawer handles that are chrome plated.  Cleaned them up and am using some hinges I had in stock.  As soon as the finish is done those go on and I am done.

Had Brent home and he wanted to help with the polyurethane.  Turned out OKAY, but some lessons learned on patience and attention to detail.  Hardly matters as this is a shop project but as I explained, aim for the pupil in the fishes eye.   But they are all coated with 3 coats of poly sanded between coats so he got a good idea how the process works and why we do it this way.  For the moment two are full as expected.  Once I finish up the sink project I expect to fill these two up and make a few more, still have a couple of open spots I can fill.  Boxes are stained different colors for memory help, as well as labels.  The boys picked 3 colors with the last one being clear coated.  Not a fan of the grey stain but hey this was all scrap lumber.  Zero dollar project, other than time.

 

Enjoyed the shop time with all 3 boys last few weeks as they are home from school.

 

Finished project.

 

Front and side view                                                                                                          side and back view

 

 

 

Insides, here we learned not to stack things next to where you are staining.  Few grey spots in the tops.  Oops!

 

 

View from step ladder of shelf installed and boxes inserted.

 

 

A finished project as seen from ground level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOILET PAPER??? REALLY?

John

Just now, HARO50 said:

TOILET PAPER??? REALLY?

John

Aircraft mechanics joke about the roll of printer paper in the cockpit.  It is about 9 inches wide and looks and feels like receipt paper from a store.