Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire wood working guys, I need help!!

my wife wants me to build, and I think it is a great idea, a toy box for our little boy. The idea has morphed it to a pirate chest. I am not that good with wood, steel on the other had I am a master. I can frame and do simple things like hang doors and pre-built cabinets but the idea of building a curved top box seems kind of scary. I assume it would be better to do it with slats rather than try to curve a piece of plywood but how do i determine the angles and better yet how do I cut it, I have at my disposal a jig saw, and circular saw and of course a drill and impact driver.

If your wife says you need to build the project, then come back with you need to buy a tablesaw.

If you want a curved top, there are special plywoods that have the plys all going the same direction and are super bendy in one direction. I can't remember the name of the plywood but any good lumber yard or specialty wood shop will have it.

Just make the sides of the top radius pieces and then cut a bunch of 1x2 and start laying them across....no biggee.

If you make the slats narrow and thin enough, you should not have to worry about beveling anything. Narrower slats will go around the curve pretty easily, and the thinner the slats the less the gap between slats will be. At this point, all you would have to do is make the rounded ends to the lid and glue/nail the slats to the ends.

Take your weakness and exploit it. If you feel that you can frame something okay but finishing is not your forte, consider distressing the box before painting or staining it. This can make any of your mistakes appear almost intentional. And, quite honestly, your kid won't care - they will just be impressed that their dad made something for them.

Here's a link to something you might like
http://ana-white.com/2012/04/plans/pirate-toy-chest

Superform is one brand of the highly flexible plywood

Just remember its for your kid and to have fun with it.

My wife asked me to make a little kitchen set for my daughter and as I was caulking the back of the counter top at 1am (for a toy that will never see a drop of water) I realized, WTF am I doing.

Have fun, don't worry if its not perfect and make sure you pick up all the power tools you "need".

Using narrow slats, if you bevel each one maybe 5 degrees, they'll fit better even if the angle isn't right. There will still be gaps, but they'll be smaller.
As said before, it's a good excuse to buy a table saw. One of those small table top types can do a pretty good job as long as it has a good, easy to adjust fence and miter gauge.

There no question how cool the curved top would look!

Bringing the difficulty factor down a couple of points would be a box like this:



Random internet photo to convey a thought.

Don't forget to trick it out with rows of big brass headed tacks and a big gold hasp. Been down this road a couple of times. ;-{>8

Many of the common toy boxes of our youth are now considered dangerous because the lid can drop onto a childs head, neck or hand and do injury. You might want to figure out how to spring assist the top or use pneumatic cylinders or ?

You can use "wiggle board" on top.. it's a bendy plywood that we use for curved laminations. You can glue and screw it down to your curved side, and then fill the screw holes with bondo if you're going to paint. Depending on size, you might get away with one layer. A larger box might need a couple of layers of wiggle board and a interior rib.

If you're not going to paint, you can laminate the wiggle board with paper back veneer glued on with contact adhesive. You should still fill the screw holes with bondo.

The hardest part of this would be picking up the materials.

You can find wiggle board at professional plywood and hardwood dealers..

+1 Little Pirates are easily impressed and just care about what's inside.

Ahoy you scurvy dog. Google is your friend.

Try "diy pirate chest plans free" or "diy treasure chest plans free"

Here's three ...

http://ana-white.com/2012/04/plans/pirate-toy-chest

http://www.woodworkingcorner.com/treasurechest.php

You'll have to copy and paste this. (it's a good one)

http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/~jesse/treasure/stories/tchest.html

You could also take an existing box, and put your steel working skills to use by giving it some cool looking reinforcements on the outside, like fancy corners, handles, and a big ole latch. You could make it look old and worn by beating it with a chain and other objects. Some burn marks and a dark stain, and it will look authentic.

eggzactly right.

To dress it up a bit...you can use fancy brass tacks to cover up the nail holes that are on the slats.

Here's a pic of the I one tried to link. I like the slats and brass hardware and it looks like it has brass nails as well.

I used some kind of spring loaded hinges in mine,so the lid couldn't hurt anyone.

I also designed it with enough cracks that it wouldn't be air tight.Kids love to play in boxes and sometimes young ones even fall asleep in them.You may always make sure your child is safe but it might get passed down or wind up with someone else.

Instead of making it perfectly round on the sided, maybe try using a shape like this:



This one is a 16 sided polygon, but you get the gist.

Cut it into two symetrical halves, and you will have flat surfaces to attach the lid covering.
All you would need to do is figure out the bevel to put on the slats to cover it so they join flush.

Might not be perfectly curved, but it would still look the part I think.

Just a thought anyway.

Good luck with whatever way you choose, I'm sure the tyke will love it!

Good point.

When I was a little kid I climbed into my dad's plywood camp food box and the latch closed and I couldn't get out. Luckily, he was nearby and heard me yellin'.

I'd make darn sure it didn't have a latch that could do that.