Tool Chest For Alcohol Stove Hobby
Recently I became interested in alcohol stove design. My favorite you-tuber has great series of designs, please see https://www.youtube.com/user/tetkoba . This hobby is simple and requires few tools, but seems so much fun to build them. My fascination with alcohol stoves and woodworking contest coincided and here I am starting my new hobby, by building a toolbox that will hold all the tools for the hobby. The toolbox has detachable lid that doubles as cutting table. The box is built with just glue. Screws were used for brass latches and rubber feet of the box and lid. I am kind of proud of my first try on Japanese joinery. The toolbox base has hidden joints, and I made them mostly with table saw. This was a project by itself but happy to report that it is doable and following is the build video.
Here is how finished project looks. It contains all the tools required for Alcohol stove design.
Another view of the finished joints. This is my first try at this joint and some chipping occurred at the base of the joints. This was caused by dadoo blade and me taking a lot of material in one pass. Later on I did final finishing pass with chisel, but some of the crevices caused barely visible gaps in finished box.
Notice little gaps that are left by chipped edges. I am not worried too much about this and kind of surprised how good it came out, considering it was my first try at this jointery.
All the cuts for the box walls and the lid was done using single 7.5" x 48" x 3/4" oak board. This drawing shows the cut dimensions. After forming we cut this board to 2x10" and 2x13" pieces, making sure we have 1" slack. Later we add the 45° cut on one side and form two fingers on the right side of each board.
Finished project box is not perfect but that what differentiates this and shows that it is handmade. I thought about redoing the lid to make it more perfect but then I decided not to. It would be waste of wood and I love the toolbox as it is. It has this polished look and charm that warms you up when you look at it. I can spend few more hours to make it perfect but then I might not like it as much. For now this will do and I hope you enjoy the build progress photos and the project. Thanks for watching and you are invited to see my other project videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/vantonyan912
All the cuts for the box walls and the lid was done using single 7.5" x 48" x 3/4" oak board. The drawing shows the cut dimensions. After forming we cut this board to 2x10" and 2x13" pieces, making sure we have 1" slack. Later we add the 45° cut on one side and form two fingers on the right side.
This is how it looks before we chop into pieces
After forming we cut this board to 2x10" and 2x13" pieces, making sure we have 1" slack on each piece.
Here is a picture showing the universal sled used to cut the hidden joints
Half way done joints
Almost finished joints before final processing
This is how the joints look before finial cleanup with chisel
Other side of each board is cut at 45° and corresponding mortises are created using a chisel
The gap is barely visible after glue up
I did overdo with clamps on the lid. I should have just let the lid hold it shape with blue masking tape
The corner supports were glued to be the base of rubber feet on finished box
This is a closeup of center finder. Notice that it was assambled only with glue
After sanding we apply the finish and let it dry. I used Danish oil for the finish.
Notice that plywood insert on the lid is not perfect. The nice looking side of this in plywood insert is on the other side. This side will be covered with cutting mat and does not have to be perfect.
After the finish is dried, we add the brass latches and rubber feet. The rubber feet are bought from amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W9N2S7E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
This is the hardware used for the latches. I bought it in Lowes
This is the mat used in the project. It is available from amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027RN0O2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
Apparently it has self healing qualities. Don't know how it works but will see
For gluing the mat to the lid we use Elmer's rubber cement you can buy in any office store.