Toy Box / Chest

Jeb Taylor

Member
Messages
518
Location
Decatur, Alabama
This is my most recent project, with pictures as promised. It's going to be a toy box for my 2 and 4 yr old nephews. They keep toys at our house and come over a lot, so I thought it a good excuse for a project.

I picked up some white oak a couple months ago, which oddly enough is hard to find here. But I like the look of the arts and crafts chests so it was a good fit.

For hinges I used the torsion hinges from rockler. They might loosen up after a while, but for now they seem to be stronger than rated. The top is 23" across and weighs about 12 lbs. The hinges are supposed to support 120 in lbs together, but they easily hold this top and you have to push on it pretty good to close.

I haven't quite decided on how to finish it yet, testing some different stains atm.

-Jeb
 

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Looking good, Jeb. :thumb: We'll be looking forward to seeing the finished pics. I'm guessing you're gonna make two little boys very happy with that toy box.
 
I prefer the natural look, but it wouldn't really match any furniture in our house. My wife prefers darker stained woods so I'm doing a few samples for approval :)

What's the purpose of doing the BLO under the poly?
 
That's one sweet looking chest. Just love the clean lines and you can tell from looking how well put together it is :thumb: :thumb:
 
nice toy box, jeb. you got a closer look at the wood than me ,but from my view i would say you have a fair amount of red oak in there ,, white oak normally is more yellow to light brown..the grain willtell you for sure if you can blow threw the end grain on the cutoffs short pieces you got red oak,, white oak is what whisky barrels and boats were made out of the grain is alot tighter.. those hinges will work just fine and the new ones are much better than the old style..so whats next? :):thumb:
 
Most of what I have/used was white oak, but there was some pink tint to the board I used for the top. I just checked and I could blow through the cutoffs from the top panel. I really dont' know enough about oak to be 100% sure TBH. I know most of it was white to yellowish brown in color and I felt pretty confident that was white oak. The pinkish ones I was suspect on, but didn't really know for sure.

Next some type of end table out of walnut for my reading chair (100% positive it's black walnut) Haven't really decided on a design yet though.

Thanks btw on the red oak. I will have to look closer if I come across anymore advertised as white oak. I think the guy I bought it from must have just had a mixture.
 
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Here's the finished version. Two coats of minwax Red Mahogany stain, a coat of oil, two coats of wipe on poly, and a coat of wax.
 

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Jeb, that looks super, really nice work and I like the venting on the sides near the top good idea for sure.

I'm confident that two little boys will be really happy to see their new toy box!:thumb:
 
Jeb that's a nice piece.
I'm in the middle of a chest similar to that with breadboard ends. I'm curious as to how you fastened them. I can see you have a slotted mortise and tenon and that always looks great but did you glue or pin just the middle? I'm not sure of the rule but I know something is going to move. I'm hesitant to move on this until I get an opinion. How did you approach this?

Thanks Mark
 
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