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Country Tool & Toy Chest

Nails, glue and a nice long dayin the shop are all it takes.

PoPular WoodWorking February 200734

This rustic hinged-lid box is a design tra-ditionally used as a basic tool chest, but Ithought a scaled-down version would make a

great chest or stashing toys (with the addition

o a saety hinge) or extra grocery bags in the

kitchen. It is adapted rom a chest shown inJohn A. and Joyce C. Nelsons The Big Book

o Weekend Woodworking (Lark Books).

A Trp to th Ho CtrA trip to the home center is the beginning o

every I Can Do That project, and there I

assessed every #2 pine 1x12 in stock. Because

Id decided to paint the chest, I wasnt con-

cerned with the grain as much as getting the

straightest, attest boards. While two 8'-long

boards would have been enough to construct

the chest, I purchased an extra, just in case. Ialso bought a quart o red paint, 6" strap hinges

and a box o 4dfnish nails. Even with the extra

wood, the materials cost was but $50.

Rogh Ct th PcThe top and ront are the most visible pieces,

so I marked these frst and rough cut them

to length (with a couple inches to spare)

using the miter saw. I then selected the next-

clearest areas or the sides, then two boards

or the back, and fnally the bottom. Ocuts

were set aside or the battens and cleats.

La Ot th ArchArched cutouts on the sides dress up the piece

a bit. To lay them out, frst mark a line on each

piece 11116" up rom the bottom, then measure

in 4116" rom each long edge on both pieces

and mark the intersections. Then butt the

sides against one another (eet to eet), set

by Megan Fitzpatrick

Comments or questions? You can reach Megan at 513-

531-2690 ext. 1348 or megan.ftzpatrick@wpubs.com

Chafr PalBecause the top, ront and back o the chest are

13" wide and a 1x12 is narrower than that, you

have to rip two boards to 612" wide to make

each panel. Its nigh on impossible to cut a glue-

ready edge with a jigsaw, so to help disguise

any resulting gaps at the seam, I used my block

the compass to make a 514" radius, then place

the point on each mark and draw arcs on the

opposite piece. The two arcs on each piece will

intersect at the center o your board, orming

the arch apex. Cut out each arch with your

jigsaw, then clamp the sides together and clean

them up using a rasp and sandpaper.

PhotobyAlParrish

Mark a horizontal line 11116" rom the bottom oeach piece, then measure in 4116" rom each othe our sides and mark the intersecting points.These are the our points on which youll place the

point o your compass to mark the arches.

Clamp the sides together and use a rasp andsandpaper to clean up the arches. Dont worry ithey dont match perectly; because theres 22"between them on the fnished chest, minor di er-

ences wont be noticeable.

i Can do ThaT

11116"

4116"

Botto

of btt

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ABOuT THis COLumnOur I Can Do That column eatures proj-

ects that can be completed by any wood-worker with a modest (but decent) kit otools in less than two days o shop time,and using raw materials that are availableat any home center. We oer a ree onlinemanual in PDF ormat that explains all thetools and shows you how to perorm thebasic operations in a step-by-step ormat.Youll learn to rip with a jigsaw, crosscutwith a miter saw and drill straight with thehelp o our manual.

To download the ree manual, visitICanDoThatExtras.com.

popularwoodworking.com 35

COunTRy CHesTnO. iTem dimensiOns (inCHes) mATeRiAL

T W L

4 Front/backs 34 612 22 Pine

2 Top 34 612 2312 Pine

2 Sides 34 1034 17 Pine 1 Bottom 34 2012 1034 Pine

2 Battens 34 1 13 Pine

Cleats* 34 1 72 Pine

* Cut to ft.

plane to chamer the adjoining edges.

Now youre ready to assemble the box. Glue

and clamp the back boards in place on the sides

and drill three 18" pilot holes in each board.

Drive 4dfnish nails into the holes, then repeat

this process or the ront boards. Leave thenails proud o the surace to avoid dinging the

boards with your hammer, then use a nail set

to drive them 116" below the surace.

Top & BottoTo make the battens, cut two 1" x 13" pieces

rom your ocuts, trim the ront edge at 45

but leave a 14" at at the top. To make the top,

screw the top pieces to the battens. First snug

the two top pieces together on your bench, and

lay the battens across either end. Drill coun-

tersunk clearance and pilot holes, then attachthe battens with #8 x 112" wood screws.

To make the bottom, frst cut your cleats

to size and nail them around the inside bot-

tom edge o the chest. Now cut the bottom a

hair wider than necessary and use your block

plane to trim it to ft. Drop the bottom in place,

hang the work over the edge o the Workmate

so the cleats are supported, then nail the bot-

tom to the cleats rom the inside.

Wooworkg ThrapSand to #120 grit and apply two coats o bright

red paint to the outside and a coat o amber

shellac to the interior to seal it. Ater the

paint dries, grab a ring o keys and beat the

you-know-what out o the box until you get

a lot o lovely dings. Take a rasp to the edges,

and or good measure, grab your hammer by

the head and use the handle end to whomp

the top edge a ew times. Once the piece looks

distressed (and you eel de-stressed) apply acoat o any dark gel stain over the entire thing.

Work the stain into the dings, dents and raw

edges. Wipe it o, and voil a century o age

in just minutes. Ater the stain is completely

dry, apply a coat o paste wax.

Th Fhg TochTo attach the strap hinges, measure in 4" rom

the battens on the top, mark the holes with an

Hold your plane at a 45 angle to the edge o theboard, and shave down the length until youre sat-isfed with the chamer. The goal is to draw atten-tion to the seam, so make sure the chamer is

big enough so that paint doesnt overwhelm it.

Ater drilling pilot holes, drive 4dnails and leave

them a little proud o the surace.

Cut the ront and back cleats to size frst, thensnug the end cleats between them.

awl, and drill pilot holes or the screws. The

screws that came with the hinges were toolong, so we used some we had on hand. You

can color the heads black with a Sharpie i

you want everything to match. I also attached

a length o chain, leaving a ew extra loops

so the open angle o the top can be easily

adjusted. PW

ElevationProfle

IllustrationbyMaryJaneF

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