Toolbox
After seeing this style of toolbox at an antique mall I just had to have one, the problem is that they are so expensive. "I could make one of these" I said, hopefully. I did some searching on the Internet and found discovered the 'Gerstner' name. This company has been making this style of toolboxes for over 100 years, based in Ohio. They have a great tour video on their website showing their production methods. Thanks to that and looking at a lot of pictures I figured out how they were put together. I couldn't hope to get anywhere near the quality of the toolboxes they make but I got the satisfaction of making one myself.
I made it with pine project boards, plywood for the drawer bases and felt for the linings. Maybe, one day, if this works out I thought I'd make one in oak. For now I wanted to keep the cost down in case it didn't get finished, found it to be too hard or whatever.
Well, after 7 weeks of weekends and some evenings I managed to turn out something usable and got a lot of practice in making tongue and groove joints along the way. There are a lot of parts, and there are some things I could have done better but I think it came out ok.
TV Stand
After completing the Coffee Table and End Tables I had been promising to do a TV for a while but I just hadn't found something that interested me until now.
The pieces I have done thus far have been using traditional joinery, mortise and tenon etc. but a colleague of mine from work has been extolling the virtues of the Kreg Pocket Hole system. Supposedly a much easier way to make strong joints by drilling a pocket hole then using special screws to secure pieces together.
This all sounded interesting but then I saw this TV Stand design in a copy of Handyman magazine which is made using this Pocket Hole method.
So a basic Pocket Hole set with screws was put on my Christmas list and dutifully purchased for me by my wife.
Although the magazine said it could be done in a couple of weekends, including finishing, it took me about 5 to get it done. I wasn't in any hurry and this was my first time with this new system.
I must say the Pocket Hole system does make it a lot easier and quicker to put a project together. Although I'm very glad that I did the traditional joinery first, I learned a lot from that, now I can use either.
