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12-18-2017, 10:51 PM
Busy in the shop this week putting together gifts for the grandkids. They've been admiring my tool tote, so I built some for them. The bodies are wormy spalted birch harvested last winter. One has a hawthorne handle, also harvested last winter, and the other two handles are cherry. The handles are glued wedged tenons, and the bodies are nailed with Tremont 1-1/2" headless brads. Skinny little things that have a death grip. I figured they would drive easy into this spalted birch, but I ended up pre-drilling all the holes. Bottoms are scrap pine, also nailed on. Finish is 1 coat of shellac and wax.
I think they'll have a good time with these, and the boys will especially like the wormholes, I'm sure.
![[Image: 27369941789_dd7ab16101_z.jpg]](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4641/27369941789_dd7ab16101_z.jpg)
True power makes no noise - Albert Schweitzer. It's obvious he was referring to hand tools
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Nice looking totes, Not to give you much more work, but when I have done similar things for nephews or nieces, I add their initials somewhere. Quickest way is using a letter stamp kit, next is to just cut out an initial of thin wood and tack it on, hardest and most time consuming is routing it in. Even without that, I am sure they will love it, but kids seem to love their initials on stuff.
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This is a great idea, very useful, rugged, good-looking totes!
Chris
Chris
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Very nice totes. Are they from a plan, or your own invention?
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(12-19-2017, 09:21 AM)overland Wrote: Very nice totes. Are they from a plan, or your own invention?
Thanks for the comment, Chris. Overland, I seldom use plans and I don't usually measure stuff with a tape. Even when I have plans, I modify them to suit materials on hand.
So no plans for these. Lots of times I just search for the item I am going to build, then browse a bunch of images until I find something I like or something that gives me an idea or two. In this case, I made the one with the curved Hawthorne handle first. I had to do a lot of shaping with a rasp on it, which took a lot of time. So on the next two I went with turned cherry handles, which were quicker. Lots of projects to do at Christmas, have to be speedy about it!
True power makes no noise - Albert Schweitzer. It's obvious he was referring to hand tools
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Nice!
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Now you have to fill them - birthdays, future holidays...
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(12-18-2017, 10:51 PM)BaileyNo5 Wrote: Busy in the shop this week putting together gifts for the grandkids. They've been admiring my tool tote, so I built some for them. The bodies are wormy spalted birch harvested last winter. One has a hawthorne handle, also harvested last winter, and the other two handles are cherry. The handles are glued wedged tenons, and the bodies are nailed with Tremont 1-1/2" headless brads. Skinny little things that have a death grip. I figured they would drive easy into this spalted birch, but I ended up pre-drilling all the holes. Bottoms are scrap pine, also nailed on. Finish is 1 coat of shellac and wax.
I think they'll have a good time with these, and the boys will especially like the wormholes, I'm sure.
These are beautiful. They'll love it.
