I decided that with the downtime that I have this winter that I would try to improve my carpentry skills. Simple building skills come in real handy around the farm, and I’ve saved a lot of money by building things myself rather than buying it pre-made or paying someone to build it. Some simple woodworking projects seemed like a good way to hone some of those skills. So here’s my first project: a carpenter’s tool box.
This seemed logical since everyone said that one of the best things to start with in woodworking is building a box. Since I got some new tools for Christmas and am in need of more space I figured I would start with something that I actually really needed. It was not as easy as I thought.
First I tried making the angled cuts for the end with a jigsaw just following my drawn line. It didn’t turn out that well. So I switched to the good old-fashioned hand saw and the rest of the cuts turned out OK. Then, I had altered the plans to make the box bigger but only used the altered dimensions for the sides, and forgot when I did the bottom. The other challenge was putting in the finishing nails straight. There wasn’t much room for error, and I split the boards in a couple of places from being too close to the edge. Also, I somehow made a side about a 1/4″ too short, and had to use a shim to make up the difference. What’s that they say? Measure twice cut once? That will be my mantra for my next project.
All in all I had a great time doing it. And even though it didn’t come out just the way I expected it is very functional. I learned a lot too!
fourmaplesfarm 