Christmas Present for my Granddaughter

[BrokenolMarine]

My daughter and son in law asked me several weeks ago if I could possibly make a toy box for the Granddaughter, this is number six of seven. She's two (ish)
They said that her toys are starting to take over the house and it's time to teach her to put them away. What won't fit in the box, will be sorted and donated. Favorites kept, and others will slowly disappear. As new toys come into her life, she will slowly see old toys she doesn't play with and has no attachment to, mysteriously vanish. (Funny, we did the same with out kids, and it never hurt them either.)

I told my daughter that I couldn't just throw something together, and I'd have it ready by Christmas... she just laughed. "I know you daddy..."
"Do your thing, and whatever you come up with is fine." For the past few weeks I have been tossing ideas around, looking at various plans, and skimming images on the net for enhancements I'd like to add. I finally put some measurements down on paper and ordered some parts. (Wow.. the safety hinges were fifty bucks, but the lid won't slam down and crush baby fingers.)

I am thinking a Maple Cabinet Grade 3/4 ply box, with Walnut trim and enhancements. I had planned to carve Grumpy from the Seven Dwarfs, and of course Snow White... since the grandkids all call me Grumpy, and Izzy is a little princess. but, we'll see how it goes.

Spent the morning in the shop cutting the 3/4 sheet of ply into the rough size pieces for the "box". OMG... 3/4 ply sheets have to be manhandled over the table saw and it's too much for me these days. Miss T was a lot of help. Now they are rough cut... I can get them to final "smooth" sizes and pre-drill the assembly holes and get ready to "build" the basic box. That's the easy part. The fun part will be "trying" to cut out and carve the extras.

Wish me luck.

[The Wiz]

awesome project. Good luck!

[clovishound]

I quit manhandling full sheets of ply on the table saw a while back. Maybe if I had tables around the saw that fully supported a full sheet, I would feel differently. For now, I rough cut with a circular saw. Much safer.

I love the combo of maple and walnut. What kind of joinery are you planning to use? I normally lean toward box or dovetail joints, but using plywood the look is not the same. A locked miter with contrasting splines perhaps? Maple ply with walnut splines would look awesome.

[BrokenolMarine]

I normally go with box/finger joints since dove tails still cause me loads of grief to get them looking good... or, I countersink screws, use contrasting plugs intentionally as accents, and roll on. In this case, I will glue and screw the case, since I plan to "picture frame" the front and sides in walnut to accent whatever highlights/enhancements I manage to carve that meet my standards. Lol. The frame trim will hide the screws, as well as make the maple ply pop.

[JEBar]

good to have another of your projects to follow

[BrokenolMarine]

The pieces that Tina and I cut this morning, were all cut about 1/4" oversized, so that I could go back and run them across the tablesaw in the more manageable size and trim them to final size, then assemble the box. First, I put the box together on a dry run as a test fit.

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Everything fit very well except I needed to shave about a 32nd of an inch off the bottom of the box so the right side would close up tight. Meh, no matter. The bottom for this toy box fits inside the box, and is also made from 3/4 ply, mainly for weight. I want the box to be heavy and stable so I don't have to worry it will turn over on the "Little Princess" as it will also act as a bench seat in her room.

After final checks for fit and minor adjustments, I still went ahead while it was all clamped together and drilled positioning pins, two for each of the contact points, and put finishing nails in the holes ... The trimming of the bottom would have NO effect on the alignment, so the holes would still line up. Trimming would just allow the right side to pull in just a little tighter.

Each side was marked to match the corners and orientation, and then the pieces were pulled apart by pulling the nails, and I put down paper and waxed paper, and applied glue in the proper locations. (AFTER trimming the end of the bottom panel.) Then, one by one, each panel was reassembled, slipping the finishing nails back in the alignment holes and applying the clamps to draw the box up tight. I'll leave it overnight to dry, and then drill and countersink the necessary holes and screw the box together for additional strength. After all, a two year old will take possession at Christmas and once done, I'm hoping she will want to keep it a long time.

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If you look below the top clamps, or above the bottom clamps on the front panel, you can see the alignment pins sticking out along the right and left edges... Once I start screwing the box together, I'll pull the pins, countersink the holes and put screws in these holes as well. No worries.

The top of the box won't come into play again until the very end, as it was cut WELL oversized to allow it to be cut down to match the trim, and I'll add the backrest and side rails to the top AFTER the trim and accents are added to the box.

Stay tuned.

[Henry88]

Looks good BoM

[BrokenolMarine]

Looks good BoM

Thanks Henry, but we are barely gettin started. Like most of my projects, I don't really know exactly where I am going, my sketches and plan took me to here... The rest of my plan in my head is a general idea of what I want to do and where I want to go, FROM here. That's the adventure in all this. I want to make a toy box that the two year old will still love when she is six and then ten. I want to build quality, with durability and safety as well. But, I want this puppy to be unique. That will require either some wood carving or leather work. That's the fun.

[BrokenolMarine]

Got out in the shop this morning and back to work. Took off all the clamps and put them back where they belonged. Then drilled, countersunk and screwed the various holes so the box will be extra strong. Careful measuring using the pocket square made sure that none of the screws would break thru due to misalignment. Been there, done that. Extra work to patch the mistake and if you can't cover it up, you have to remake the piece or start over.

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If I wasn't going to hide the screws with the picture frame trim, I would have drilled counter sunk holes and used contrasting plugs for accent as I did in this project. The knotty pine cradle is beautifully accented with the walnut plugs which hide the screws giving the doll cradle strength enough to allow granddaughter number 3 to play with her heirloom cradle.

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There is a visitor in the shop for the next few months. The Polaris Ranger will live there for a bit, it's gotten hard to start in the colder weather, but starts on the first turn of the key in the climate controlled shop. Like it's brokenolmarine pop, it hates the cold. Mostly, it's not in the way, if it is, I back 'er out and do what I have to, and pull it back in.

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I put the remote for the garage door on the Ranger's Key ring, so it's not a problem to come and go to check the mail or run and check the property line if need be. The Ranger is my "farm" wheel chair.

[BrokenolMarine]

Next up for the project is making the Walnut "Picture Framing" and adding the detailing for that with the molding planes. Then deciding on the accents, whether I decide to go with the carvings or just IZZY in big letters. I'm looking forward to it all.