Baby Totoro keepsake box

It's been over a year since I've updated this blog! Sorry. Well.. here's one of the newest projects. A small wooden keepsake box for a friend. Baby Totoro. It's a bandsaw box.

Printer ran out of ink. But still good enough to use.

Glued up a few pieces walnut. To a nice block.

Spray glued a printout of totoro onto the block. Then with a bandsaw and a scrolls, cutting the silhouette out.  

The hole cut out for access to the drawer

Eyes. Made of pine, I think. It's cut from a dowel. (End grain)

Belly is made up of a thin maple veneer

Small nose is made up of maple again. It's an inlay

Pupils are made up of walnut. I cut them out with a plug cutter

Ears double as a lid for the second compartment.

Special date: Sept 3, 2018

Ready for a Teak Oil finish.

Adidas Shoe Box box

This project is of an ADIDAS shoe box made of wood. And oversized and holds 16 pairs of shoes. 

quick sketches. Cut/parts list. A simple build

First 2 walls cut. Man, it’s big.

The main box. Glue up

The drawer. Glue up

Lid all assembled

Mocked up all the elements. It is BIG. And heavy.

Box, lid, and drawers painted.

Installed a set of full extension slides with pull-close. Also 100lbs capacity! Though the drawer is 39lbs. haha

European hinges. Ugh... needs very specific sized holes made. 

Feet

Logos painted in. And pistons installed. The pistons allow for a safe soft open. The lid is heavy and needed this to control the speed and weight while it settles into the fully open position. Also tried to put in a few soft close. The full weight of the lid proves they do very little to slow the close. 

And the finish product:

Tooth box

Someone lost her first tooth. And we decided it should be in a keepsake box. A quick weekend project.

I used a bit of scrap cherry wood

Made my “lid” cut first.

With a forstner bit, I drilled out a nice cavity for the tooth. (pun?)

Drilled out some holes to fit 4 neodymium on each side. To sand off the sides, I used a super cheat. I cut up some thin strips of sandpaper about 5” by 3/4”. Taped the back with duct tape for reinforcement. Then folded it in half, lengthwise. Then just clipped it to my scroll saw! The oscillation makes for great sanding!! Made quick work of my little box. Gets into the areas/cuts where I can’t get to with my plane sander.. or my finger.

  Decided to give it a light coat of stain

Going to glue a small piece of felt on the bottom of the hole there.

To personalize it with a date or year the tooth fell out. And maybe Persephanie’s initials too. I’ll use a wood burner.