# Toolbox - WIP



## carlb40 (8 Jan 2014)

Further to this thread
some-pre-toolbox-cabinet-wip-questions-t76029.html


Well i have been wanting to make a toolbox for a while, so i have decided to go ahead and start one. It will be for my door hanging / 2nd fix hand tools only.
I will be mainly using materials i already have. It is going to be just a plainish rectangular box, nothing too fancy. 

The main box will be 12mm hardwood exterior ply - acquired from a job last year. While not up there with birch ply, this stuff ( from travis perkins ) is quite good with very few voids. 

Any way the drawing of said box.






As you can see - starting at the bottom. It will have an oak skirt to give some protection to the bottom. 
Then the ply - yet to be veneered - This will be my first time veneering. :shock: 
Then we have 2 lots of oak lips again for decoration/ protection. 
Then a bit more veneered ply to form a lid. 
One detail not shown on the drawing. The corners will be mitred and reinforced with biscuits. Then further reinforced with dovetail splines. 

The handle will be a curved contrasting hardwood, through wedged tenoned into the hardwood tear drop shaped pivots on the box sides. 

Inside will be a lift out tray -made from solid oak. Mainly for the various marking/measuring tools.

Some details still need to be worked out. Hardware is still to be decided on. 

If anyone can see any glaring issues please mention them.

EDIT

After popping down to the workshop and looking at the full size profile drawing, The height of the box will actually be around 260/265mm not the 300/320mm shown in the drawing.


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## carlb40 (8 Jan 2014)

After sorting through some oak and seeing what i could salvage/ use from my stock pile oak. I found some that could be used. Spent a few hours denailing/ machining up the timber.

Here we have some of the timber for the tray, i forgot to take pics of the stuff for the lipping/ skirt #-o It looked very similar to the other oak, but without the medullary rays once machined :| 

This is how it all looked at the start.





Then after machining it turned out quite good.






As you can see? It has some quite good quarter sawn markings, so should be quite stable. 






Then cut the ply to rough size


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## Noggsy (8 Jan 2014)

Looking good Carl, I look forward to seeing more pics.


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## Berncarpenter (8 Jan 2014)

Watching this one with interest, looking good so far 

Cheers Bern


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## carlb40 (8 Jan 2014)

Cheers guys, there will be an update later


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## carlb40 (8 Jan 2014)

Well after all the oak was machined up, a bit of disappointment set in. The oak designated for the skirt/lippings was plain and not really what i wanted. So i placed a piece of the veneer on some ply along with some of the oak.











I left it for a few days, kept looking at it. Seeing if it would work for me or not. There was some contrast there, but to me the oak/ maple seemed too similar. Wiping a bit of oil on the oak helped, but i just wasn't happy with it. :| 
So off i tootled to google and searched for oak/ curly maple box. I think out of all the hits, one oak/maple sample turned up. I guess there is a reason curly maple/ oak aren't used together much. :lol: 
Also i had a small piece of walnut which was brought to life with a quick wipe of the oil. So that and a piece of purple heart was placed by the veneer.

The contrast i was after was there.  

Now while i was thinking the box out originally, my thoughts were to use either purple heart or walnut. However i was trying to save a few quid by using my oak up. 
During my oak/maple box search i came across something - a smallish box and in my eyes it gave me the look i was after.   

So the search began for some suitable timber. Ebay provided a few pieces, not too expensive and were added to my timber list. However some of the other timbers seemed a tad expensive for the sizes available :shock: 

So i tried a general net search and found a piece that would do the skirt and lippings and leave some spare. 

Soooo after some umming / ahhhing between the timbers i added ***** to my basket. It was delivered friday 3rd jan. new year delaying things. :roll:


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## deserter (8 Jan 2014)

Not trying to cause an argument here, but is oak the best timber to use for the tray? When metal tools are left on oak for any length if time they rust don't they? At least that's what I was always told. 


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~


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## Kalimna (9 Jan 2014)

Not sure if it's too late now, but have you thought of increasing the contrast by ebonising the oak with steel wool/vinegar?

Adam


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## carlb40 (9 Jan 2014)

deserter":23qx4f23 said:


> Not trying to cause an argument here, but is oak the best timber to use for the tray? When metal tools are left on oak for any length if time they rust don't they? At least that's what I was always told.
> 
> 
> ~Nil carborundum illegitemi~


No argument, i'm always open to suggestions 

I forgot about that, oak and metal don't mix too well. #-o Well i guess plan B needs to be authorised


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## carlb40 (9 Jan 2014)

Kalimna":320493k1 said:


> Not sure if it's too late now, but have you thought of increasing the contrast by ebonising the oak with steel wool/vinegar?
> 
> Adam


Hi Adam.
Thank you for reminding me. I did think that myself and while i never tried ebonising, i did try shellac/ oil/ van dyke crystals and mixtures of them on a sample board. None were really doing anything for me. :|


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## carlb40 (11 Jan 2014)

For those reading, i ordered a nice 3 x 3 x 600mm Purple heart turning blank from Yandles. Which duly arrived a few days later 






I made a scale drawing and it looked like i would have enough and some spare. 

I then decided to cut the veneer to rough size, and enter my first mistake.  Not thinking properly i cut 3 lots of 610mm. What i should have done was cut 610, 300, 610, 300. That way the grain would flow around the box. Luckily this lot of veneer is for the inside, so won't be so visible.  










Still needs to be flattened a bit more. Not too bad now considering it's been rolled up for a year.

Then came a slight set back. 


Popped into the workshop yesterday to find some of the ply had mould on it :shock: Not sure why as it has always been kept in my workshop. 
So i set about it with some watered down bleach. Then vinegar to neutralise it, then washed it off with water. Left it overnight. Back in there this morning and it was worse. :evil: 

So no messing this time, everything was wiped over with neat bleach and popped by my heater to dry. So far it looks ok, that will teach it to mess with me. :lol: 

Well after the oak has been dismissed. The original plan was to have a piece of veneered ply to form the lid. However now i have gone over to purple heart, i decided in for a penny and all that.

Soooo i cut a 610mm section off my curly maple timber - a piece of 10ft 5 x 1 i found by chance on ebay last year. So the new plan is. Purple heart lip, curly maple upstand ( to form lid) with a piece of ply sitting in a rebate to form the top of the lid.


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## carlb40 (11 Jan 2014)

After fitting new blades to my planer. The purple heart was rough cut to size, planed and thicknessed. Then the maple was cut/planed. 






Enter the 2nd mistake. :roll:  
The full size drawing showed i could get everything i needed out of the one piece, along with some spare. However after adding a few mm to each piece to allow for planing etc, i am short of timber.  
So i now have to buy more purple heart. So things may slow down on this for a bit. :roll:


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## mark2191 (13 Jan 2014)

got a feeling that it is going to turn out perfectly


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## carlb40 (13 Jan 2014)

Thank you Mark. I hope it does LOL


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## DMF (14 Jan 2014)

Hi Carl,

good luck with this and thanks for another warts and all WIP, really interesting to see somebodys journey through a project so ta for the educating i'm getting  

Dean


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## carlb40 (14 Jan 2014)

Thank you Dean. Might as well show the mistakes as we all make them.


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## DMF (15 Jan 2014)

Yep and i'm glad you do, owe you at least one official thank you thingy by now for that at least :lol: but i'll take the example as well and there's WIPs planned......

Have fun!

Dean


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## carlb40 (18 Jan 2014)

Well today saw me start to sort the veneers out. The sheets i had cut to length for the inside was jointed. Not having time or space to build a shooting board long enough to use a hand plane. I used a straight edge and router. 

After the 3 sets were jointed, i set about joining them together. I started on the first side with selotape, nice stretch to it and pulled the veneer together nicely.

Then on the reverse ( face side) i tried the veneer tape i bought specifically for this job. Not sure if it was me, or the fact it was my first go with veneer tape. I couldn't get on with it. Some parts wouldn't stick properly, others didn't dry even after an hour. :? So i went back to the selotape. 

Then once together, i tried working out how to get the intended corners to meet. After moving the sheets about, nothing seemed to want to work. I know it's for the inside of the box and won't be seen so easily as the outside.

So i have a question to put out to you guys. Do i

A - Try again with the veneer and the spare piece from when i cut it to ( wrong ) lengths, and try to get 3 sides to match?

B - I have some other curly maple veneer. That i started to purchase 1 roll a week for my tool cabinet, but wasn't able to get the required amount needed. With this i could have all 4 internal panels with flowing/matching grain, apart from the last corner where they meet.


I think i know which way to go, just some other opinions. 

TIA


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## carlb40 (19 Jan 2014)

Well today saw me in the workshop at 7.30 this morning :shock:

I think i had pretty much decided on which way to go with the veneers. But i would still like to thank everyone for their help/advice on deciding. :lol: :lol:

So first thing i did was unroll and measured one of the long veneers for the tool cabinet job. It came in at about 3mtrs. I only need 1.8mtrs for the toolbox. 

After putting that away i started on the new plan of attack. I had jointed 3 sets of veneers ready for the inside.
So new plan, 2 of the veneers to do the base of the box. 3rd one for the inside of the lid.
Then take 1.8mtrs ish from the roll and that will be for the inside parts of the panels.
I then trimmed the 2 veneers for the base - left slightly oversize. I then sorted out my clamps and some ply for platens. 
Over the last few days i had been racking my brains as to what i could use for cauls. Last night i remembered i had some 2 x 2 from work before xmas still in the car.
Grabbing them and finding they were just the right size for the job.  Everything was placed on my bench ready for the glue up.
Everything was there set up. Packers to lift the bottom cauls off the bench, 2 pieces of 18mm ply, grease proof paper. Then the same again ready for the top.

I then mixed the glue - i'm using cascamite. Rolled it onto the ply, put veneer down and used a roller to flatten. Turned the board and did the same on the other side. Then grease proof paper, ply and clamped. Let it sit for 7hrs.

So after the 7hrs it was removed 

Enter mistakes No 3 and 4  No 3 was using ply for platens. I have 2 pieces of mdf i was going to use, but i was lazy and never cut them up. doh: Now on one side i have a small solid bump from where there was a dent in the ply 

Mistake No 4 i will see if you can spot tomorrow when i add pics.

There were no WIP pics today as this was my very first attempt with veneering, i haven't even done a trial run. :lol:
So today i concentrated on getting it wrong :lol:

However tomorrow i will be cutting that mdf up.


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## carlb40 (20 Jan 2014)

A few pics from the first attempt at veneering. The jointing wasn't as good as i would have liked. :|

Anyhoo.
Glued up - waiting to be trimmed to size.











And can you spot the mistake here? 






Yep, i was too busy trying to get as much curl in as possible. I jointed and glued the veneer without book matching it. doh:

Hopefully anyone who checks the toolbox out in the future won't lift it up to check the underneath. :lol:


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## carlb40 (20 Jan 2014)

Sooo onto today. I have started on what will be the front panel of the box. First up was the ply panel, which was actually prepped last week. I taped the veneer into place to form a hinge. Flip it up, apply glue, pop down. Done 
While getting ready though, i removed it, put some selotape along the length where there is no veneer - so the glue doesn't stick to it. Then taped the veneer back into place.







As some might notice the veneer looks a bit short. That's because it is :lol: That is the bottom and i will probably add a piece in later. It won't be seen as the skirt will cover it. 

Next up was cutting the inner veneer to size. 











Then i noticed a small split, it must have happened after i cut it.  So some first aid was applied 






Then began the setting up process. First up some packers - trespa in this case. 





Then the bottom cauls






Then 2 - 18mm mdf platens - yes i cut them up this time, along with the grease proof paper. 






And as you can see clamps/ roller at the ready. Plus bigger clamps just out of shot.






Glue was weighed and mixed and rollered onto the ply. Then veneer added and rolled. More grease proof paper on top, then 2 mdf sheets, cauls and clamp time.






Aaaaaand relax and breathe  





But wait, what's happened there? After looking and carefully checking to make sure there is even glue squeeze out. One end of the veneer is over hanging the ply by about 5mm :shock: It is sized about 1.5mm extra all around.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the veneer has slid during the clamp up. :twisted: Quickly undo clamps, remove mdf etc. Then carefully slide veneer into place again. Not easy as the glue has a good grip on it. Sorted, put everything back.
Start to clamp up again and it moves yet again. Move veneer again, this time i taped it to the bottom mdf. Put it all back and start to clamp up again, and the veneer is sliding again. :twisted: So off it all comes. New grease proof as the glue is everywhere. This time i used selotape and taped the top piece around and under the bottom.
So put everything back again, clamp up. This time veneer stays put. Ha that will teach it, no one messes with me and gets away with it. :mrgreen:

So there it will stay, in clamps till tomorrow morning. I just hope the veneer sticks. :-k


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## DannyEssex (20 Jan 2014)

Great stuff mate, looking forward to seeing how it comes out tomorrow


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## carlb40 (21 Jan 2014)

Thank's Danny. Pics later


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## MMUK (21 Jan 2014)

I agree. More Pics!


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## carlb40 (21 Jan 2014)

Thank's Mark.


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## carlb40 (21 Jan 2014)

Sooo onto today. Before even having my first cuppa :shock: I popped up to the workshop and unclamped everything. 
It all had stayed put and the glue had done it's job and the veneer was still stuck to the ply.  
The mdf did make a difference, everything was flat and smooth this time. 









Then i began to clean / square up the edges. 





Once all the edges were done, i then started to prep the other panels. All the veneer was cut to size - in the right order this time :lol: 

Then same as before the short pieces were taped up to form a hinge. I then did the same for the other side. 
You have seen it once so never bothered with same pics again. 
I decided to go for it today and the 2 sides and the rear were all glued up together :shock: After applying the glue the veneers were taped down. Everything was clamped up and no veneers moved this time. 

They will be left overnight again. All the veneering is done now bar the panel for the lid. That will have to wait for a bit as i need to source a suitable piece for the outer of the lid. :roll: 


Oh and my finger slipped today. I pressed the buy button on another piece of purple heart from Yandles :mrgreen:


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## carlb40 (23 Jan 2014)

Forgot to post this yesterday. #-o 




Soooo there i was sitting there enjoying a nice cuppa, when i hear bang bang on the door. :evil:
After answering the door, i let him off as it was a nice man from city link with my purple heart from Yandles. 

Let the show commence. \/ 

On another note, hardware. :hmm: While it may be a way off yet, i should start thinking about it now. So is there anything in between the normal cheap tat and Brusso? Other thing is do i go the traditional route of brass? or modern stainless steel?
Either way i can see the hardware costing wayyyyyyy more than i have spent on materials for the main box. :shock:

However a few Brusso items have caught my eye. 

catch
http://www.classichandtools.com/acatalo ... russo.html
Thinking 1st one on that page. 

stay
http://www.classichandtools.com/acatalo ... russo.html


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## morfa (25 Jan 2014)

Looks really nice so far. Really looking forward to seeing the finished product.


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## MMUK (25 Jan 2014)

I'd go for brushed chrome hardware. The problem with brass and brass electroplate is that they go green when in contact with human hands due to the acids.


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

Thank's guys. 
Mark i'm not too fond of chrome, it always seems cheap to me. I would hope for the money those Brusso fittings have some form of lacquer / protection on them.


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

Soooo after being so rudely interrupted during my cuppa :lol: I thought i better make a start. Off the workshop i pop with me new length - of purple heart LOL

This piece is giving me no end of grief. The first piece was nice and straight grained. This one is all over the place. 

Even the finest of cuts is giving me deep tear out - even planing with the grain.

So after a bit of planing, sawing and thicknessing i have the missing bits prepped.





As you might be able to see the grain issue. The lot is taking a lot of hand scraping and sanding to get it reasonably smooth. :roll: 
Also the lid sections were thicknessed at the same time. 






So that was another day over.

Then the next morning i finished trimming up the veneered panels and started to glue the strips onto the panels 






Then while the glue was setting i thought a small cuppa was appropriate :mrgreen: 






Then after setting up the router table i machined up the skirts. Rounding over the top/bottom and then forming the rebate. The bottom was done because although the purple heart is tough, it is also brittle on the corners. So easing the bottom edges should help. 






Once machined up a quick look to see how they look on the panel.


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## DannyEssex (26 Jan 2014)

Looking nice Carl, you sure do like a cupper :lol:


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

Next day was started by sanding the skirts/ panels etc. Once done it was time for some biscuits. :mrgreen: 

Panels layed out 





and cut










I then decided to do a mock up and that's when i found another error. #-o 

I made the carcass at 600mm x 300mm. The skirt once fitted added another 18/20mm to each direction. The purple heart is 610mm long. Therefore too short to mitre and fit. 
So take it apart and work out how much to trim the base by. Yes the base i haven't long put biscuit slots into. #-o 

So trimmed the the base. Then checking for square etc. After much measuring / checking/ swearing lol. It turns out my 2 squares are not square ](*,) Also i have been having issues with the TS. As i'm cutting, once past the front teeth the rear teeth also catch the work piece.  After fitting a new blade for cutting the ply. It's the same. After much swearing and throwing things LOL. It turns out the front rail has moved from 90 degrees to the blade. So the rail gets altered and squared up. 
So i call it a night before something goes horribly wrong.


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

DannyEssex":1xosyzzs said:


> Looking nice Carl, you sure do like a cupper :lol:


Thank you Danny. That is a small one, i have spotted a nice one in asda, it holds 1.5ltrs i think :mrgreen:


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## billybuntus (26 Jan 2014)

Looking good. Can you not just shorten everything to accommodate the mistake. I presume your not short by 50mm +


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

Now onto today. Starts of nice with sanding :roll: Starting with 80g going up to 180g.

Biscuit slots done in base again, oh how i lurrrrrve redoing work.  

I then set up the TS and trimmed the panels all to the same width. Then i set up the router table and cut a groove in the front/ rear panels. 






Those will be for some strips for the inner tray to sit on. 

Saw set up for cutting strips and after trying to plane them i give up and resort to scraping again. 






Now a quick mock up of how it might look.






The rest of the day was spent trying different mock ups of tool locations. 
1 





2




This one didn't really work too well. The mallet blocks easy access to removing/ replacing the saw.

3




This way the saw handle is too close to the side for easy access.

4




This is probably the one i will use, good access all round. Plus even weight distribution. 

I am also thinking of a strip of purple heart level with the top of the saw spine with a magnet in it to keep it in place? 

Next up, start mitring the box corners :shock:


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

billybuntus":3qt3v3mg said:


> Looking good. Can you not just shorten everything to accommodate the mistake. I presume your not short by 50mm +


Thank you.

Yeah i trimmed about 10mm off the length and about the same - splitting it off each side to keep the veneer pattern central.


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## MMUK (26 Jan 2014)

carlb40":20hbi7df said:


> Thank's guys.
> Mark i'm not too fond of chrome, it always seems cheap to me. I would hope for the money those Brusso fittings have some form of lacquer / protection on them.




It's Steve btw :wink: MMUK stands for Madison Motorsport UK, my race team :mrgreen:


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

MMUK":2hfbwf40 said:


> carlb40":2hfbwf40 said:
> 
> 
> > Thank's guys.
> ...



Ooops  

Sure i put Steve :mrgreen:


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## Journeyman_uk (31 Jan 2014)

This is progressing very nicely, excellent stuff so far. I built a quick plywood cabinet from Fine Woodworking Tools and Shops edition but I want do a proper craftsman one (be after Roubo is finished  ). 

J


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## rspsteve (31 Jan 2014)

Looking very good Carl....lots of Steves on here ..lol


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## carlb40 (31 Jan 2014)

Journeyman_uk":25fr4sdz said:


> This is progressing very nicely, excellent stuff so far. I built a quick plywood cabinet from Fine Woodworking Tools and Shops edition but I want do a proper craftsman one (be after Roubo is finished  ).
> 
> J


Thank you 

Looking forward to both builds


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## carlb40 (31 Jan 2014)

rspsteve":u9zhobrp said:


> Looking very good Carl....lots of Steves on here ..lol


Thank you Steve.


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## rspsteve (31 Jan 2014)

Carl..take a look at this , you may have already seen it ..I think its fab!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enmp2VSO ... B4zpdKMEBo


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## carlb40 (31 Jan 2014)

Yeah i have seen that, trouble is i got bored after about the 8th episode


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## rspsteve (31 Jan 2014)

GO TO THE END THEN..LOL it looks a very nice job.


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## carlb40 (31 Jan 2014)

It's not tooo bad i guess. :-" 

I think he needs to get a cordless drill ( a proper one :mrgreen: ) things would go quicker then. :lol:


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## rspsteve (31 Jan 2014)

And some power tools..lol could have finished it in 6 episodes instead of 13


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## carlb40 (31 Jan 2014)

rspsteve":1t4h332o said:


> And some power tools..lol could have finished it in 6 episodes instead of 13


Power tools? :shock: That would mean a hair cut in case of it falling into a cutter etc . I can see it now just like in the cartoons, hair trapped in router bit and him spinning around in circles :lol:


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## rspsteve (31 Jan 2014)

well to a newbie it looks nice..cant wait to see yours ..


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## carlb40 (2 Feb 2014)

A small update. The mitres have been giving me issues, which thankfully they are now sorted. Ended up having to trim another 1.5mm off the width of the base. :roll: 
Anyhoo it all fits together nicely now.  So onto some internal works.

I started off fitting the saw holder and dividers. 







Each one has been glued on, one a day to allow the glue to go off properly and make life easier clamping them. 

After that first strip was glued, i started to mask off the section next to the strips so the glue didn't go every where. 






Clamping was awkward ish. 





All the dividers are now glued into place. 

So then after more sanding, i wasn't too happy with the lack of the curl showing up. I know it is just the base, but hey ho. 
So i tried scraping, and the curl came back.  

I then put the first coat of lacquer on the underside. Not good, i had brush marks and bubbles. :evil: 

So this morning at 7am i was in the shop scraping it off. Applied another first coat, again lines and bubbles. :evil: 
So left it till this evening and flatted it and tried a 2nd coat. More bubbles and brush marks. :twisted: 

So think this might have to go on hold until i can get a decent lacquer brush. :roll:


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## morfa (2 Feb 2014)

Coming along nicely there. I feel your pain with lacquer. Painting and related tasks are always tricky like that.


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## carlb40 (2 Feb 2014)

morfa":27l5bvuu said:


> Coming along nicely there. I feel your pain with lacquer. Painting and related tasks are always tricky like that.


Thank you. 

Painting/ varnishing etc are ok. It's just this water based lacquer giving me probs.  Need to sort it as i need to lacquer the inside of the box before it can be assembled . #-o


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