Lorilei's Toy Box

Jim DeLaney

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My Grand-Niece's birthday is coming up, so I decided to make her a toy box

It's from Pennsylvania and Ohio walnut (no Michigan chocolate used here ), and is 25" high, 35" wide, and 18" deep. The finish is garnet shellac on the inside, and several coats of Watco Natural on the outside. I put several coats of BriWax Natural (Clear) on the outside, too.

The bottom is aromatic cedar, in case she wants to use it as a 'hope chest' in future years. There's no finish on the cedar, so that it'll emit the charactistic odors.

The top of the box is one wide board. More on that in the next chapter.
 

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The top of the chest is one wide board, and it has quite a story behind it.

The board started out in a piece of furniture made in the Philadelphia, PA area, somewhere in the mid-nineteenth century. That piece of furniture came to California on a train in 1872, when the owners moved across the country. That was 140 years ago!

Somewhere around 1997, one of my neighbors was tearing the old sideboard apart for the trash, and I was able to salvage the top from it. That's when Dietrich told me the story behind it. It had belonged to his great, great...great grandmother, and it was she who brought it with her from Philidelphia. He was dumping it because it had gotten damaged and he didn't think it was worth repairing (!)...

Anyway, I took the piece home, and seven years later, brought it back to Ohio with me when I moved - sot it's been cross-country twice, and is now only a few hundred miles from where it started.

I had to flatten it a bit, and remove some sawmill marks from the underside. It ended up about 5/4 thick

I put breadboard ends on it, and finished the underside with garnet shellac and the top surface with several coats of Watco Natural and wax. Now it's the top of a toy box/hope chest that will (hopefully) last another 140 years.
 

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Good story about the wood. Jim, what size UniKlamp is that? I am looking at getting some in the smaller sizes and can't decide on the 6", 12" or even the 18". Which size would you suggest? I have a ton of the 24, 31 and larger K clamps, but think the smaller UniKlamps would be very useful.
 
...what size UniKlamp is that? I am looking at getting some in the smaller sizes and can't decide on the 6", 12" or even the 18". Which size would you suggest? I have a ton of the 24, 31 and larger K clamps, but think the smaller UniKlamps would be very useful.

I have six of each size - 6", 12" & 18", and find that I use them all a lot, but the 6" ones get used the most. I also have 12", 24", 30", 42" and 60" K-bodies, but for box making, etc., the little UniKlamps are great. They're like mini-K-bodies.

As you could see, they also come in handy for holding stuff to the benchtop - or the drill press top, etc. I also use two of them to hol the fence in place on my router table, and sometimes for holding stop blocks on both the router table and the SCMS. When I got the first two, I had no idea how handy they'd turn out to be.
 
I have six of each size - 6", 12" & 18", and find that I use them all a lot, but the 6" ones get used the most. I also have 12", 24", 30", 42" and 60" K-bodies, but for box making, etc., the little UniKlamps are great. They're like mini-K-bodies.

As you could see, they also come in handy for holding stuff to the benchtop - or the drill press top, etc. I also use two of them to hol the fence in place on my router table, and sometimes for holding stop blocks on both the router table and the SCMS. When I got the first two, I had no idea how handy they'd turn out to be.

Thanks Jim, I will start with the 6's.
 
Toy box! Holy Cow! :eek:

That's not a toy box, that's a family Heirloom! :thumb: :thumb:

Great story about the top, and it gives me some good idea of what to do with an old table and sideboard from Sharons family. It's old, and well, not particularly desirable furniture. Been in the family a while but nobody would want it. But the recycling idea has some great merit....
 
Beautiful work, Jim. I have a strong suspicion that'll be more than a toy box in the future, and quite possibly used by more girls than Lorilei. ;)

You mentioned using Briwax, but I see a can of Renaissance wax in the photos. Either, neither, or both?
 
...You mentioned using Briwax, but I see a can of Renaissance wax in the photos. Either, neither, or both?

Both, actually. I ran out of BriWax, but though another coat would be better, so I used the Renaissance wax for the last coat. The BriWax seems considerably harder, though. It may be a bit more durable than the Renaissance.
 
well jim dont know how i missed this must be i have been sensored on here from some threads:):rofl::rofl::rofl:just joking vaughn dont put me on probation for joking,,, please. that was one wide board and you never showed that one to me you knew better didnt yu:) the shellac done well on the walnut and i can feel the smoothness of that waxed surface.. nice job and great story
 
Great story behind the lumber. Makes it all the more special. Great job getting the color matched. I'm sure it's nice to finally be able to enjoy the lumber that you've been carrying around.
 
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