HI Folks, I've never done one of these before, but made it as a 40th birthday present for my brother-in-law who does a bit of handyman stuff & would like to get into a bit more of it.
I started with the lid, and sized it to suit a handsaw & a tenon saw. The base was to take a 7" circular saw at one end & a drill &/or jigsaw under the sliding tray (or anything, really). The end stop slots at the left are for wood chisels. The holes in the back of the tray are for pencils or spade bits or whatever.
The timber was all old hoop pine from our kitchen, pulled out before we gyprocked (plastered) it, and the handles were a bit of silky oak from a tree we cut up years ago.
I designed a clamshell-shaped file the size of my palm, with grooves to suit my fingers, and cut them on the CNC router then hollowed underneath for your fingertips with a linisher.
The ornamental monogram (RDH) & chisels on the front were in some lovely hard spotted gum offcuts I had. (aided by the cnc router). They're rebated in; into a hand-routed 5/16" deep recess. The brass hinges were salvaged from old QR railway carriage doors from Wulkuraka, near Ipswich, back in about 1980-81.
No tek-screws were used- all slotted countersunk brass or steel screws, & a few brads & exterior aquadhere. It has a 5/16" plywood base. The idea was to spend no extra money on parts for it-but I bought the chain & latches. It was actually really nice using the old screws. (I had a small supply of 12 & 14 gauge brass ones.)
He hasn't seen it yet, but my father-in-law will be adding some tools to it: mortise gauges, try-square etc. I thihk I spend a week on it-shockingly slow really, but it was done while all that flooding was happening & was a nice project.
[ January 29, 2011, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Ian Stewart-Koster ]
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
P.S. here is a sparkplug & crossed pistons we did for a local garage. Andrew created the file for the postons after I explained how to do it. The spark plug is about 1 foot high.
It's screwed & glued to Alupanel.
Posted by Joe Cieslowski (Member # 2429) on :
A couple of great projects there!!!!
You might guess that the tool chest is my favorite.
Nice work!
Joe,
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
Posted by Barry Branscum (Member # 445) on :
great stuff!!
Posted by Jim Moser (Member # 6526) on :
Very nice ! I especially like the sea shell handles !
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
Great work...and the chest is such a nice piece of woodwork...needless to say you are on good terms with the bother-in-law...I'd say he owes you big time.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Thanks- Rusty, he's a nice bloke, but has been dealt a couple of hard blows in life. I get on well with him & know he'll appreciate it!
The handles aren't as nice as Joe would have done, but I'll put a couple of photos below showing the stages of being made.
I started with drawing a circle in Corel, the diameter equal to a bit less than the timber width which made them 5 1/2" across, finished. I cropped it into a semicircle & drew 4 vertical guides then 5 more in their gaps. I added nodes to the diameter line on every guide & dragged them up & down to create the wavy bottom edge.
I then drew & edited each 'pie slice' from the bottom to the top centre, and flipped the left to make the right side, then saved it as an Illy file.
In Enroute I imported it & used the outline shape to make a very mildly domed relief. I then used the pie slices to add to that relief with a domed top to each slice, making the centre one a bit higher then the next two, and the outer ones a whisker lower.
That was all-I toolpathed it with a 1/4" ballnose endmill, and used island fill as a strategy as I thought it might help, rather than hatch fill; (but I roughed the background away a bit first.)
The timber is silky oak; an Australian native tree, and it has a pretty coarse grain which doesn't easily sand smooth nor carve too brilliantly (I've tried a lot) it tends to want to stay furry and softish. (I'd much rather beech or something nice like that!)
I hollowed out beneath the handles with a sander, (and made a third one to keep), and made a miniature one for the front centre of the lid, with the small offcut that was left over.
Making the monogram (RDH) was interesting too.
[ January 29, 2011, 12:14 AM: Message edited by: Ian Stewart-Koster ]
Posted by Pat Welter (Member # 785) on :
Stewey, thats some really nice work, love the chest.
Posted by Brian Diver (Member # 1552) on :
Very nice work!
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
That is fantastic!
Posted by Michael Clark (Member # 2268) on :
Great job!!!
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
I think they are both great, but that chest is something special.
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Beautiful, that's a gift he will treasure for the rest of his life! A real heirloom. Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
great looking stuff Ian!! thanks for sharing...
Posted by Catharine C. Kennedy (Member # 4459) on :
Really slick job! Both are cool, but the tool chest... ;-)
Posted by Gene Golden (Member # 3934) on :
Nice projects Ian!
I just wish you were able to write in English... so I could understand half of the stuff you described Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Wow, Ian that chest is just awesome! I bet you could make a mean sign painter kit, couldn't you?
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Bobbie, my first sign kit was a bedside cupboard/table with the legs removed-just a door on it-and I added one internal shelf.
The second kit was hastily whacked together the day before a letterheads meet in 1998 or 99-it's pretty plain & crude but the shelf spaces suited a host of cake tins & old biscuit tins I had that I kept stuff in.
I've bought a steel one that was in service for about six years, and recently and a nice wooden one that was so nice & cheap it was a shame not to buy it-so I haven't got around to making one yet.
Actually, the kids gave it to me for Christmas-it was on special for $165 delivered-they're normally around $250-320 plus freight.
and here's a picture: Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Gene, which words can't you figure out? [I Don t Know] (or is it just the router language?)
Reading here on Letterville, Aussies have to get used to translating many of your North American weird words for some things into the different (correct )names they're called Downunder. When typing stuff I try to 'backtranslate' a bit to make it easier on you but maybe I fail sometimes!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
but I'll put a couple of photos below showing the stages of being made.
![[Applause]](graemlins/applause.gif)
![[I Don t Know]](graemlins/dunno.gif)
