Project Information
I'll be starting as an apprentice boatbuilder in Copenhagen, Denmark this January. I've made this tool tote for transporting hand tools to and from the boats that I'll be working on.
The tote is made of a board of oak that I have salvaged from an old bookshelf. The size of this board pretty much dictated the size of the tote. The boards were only 18cm wide, which is one of the reasons that I screwed the sides onto the tote instead of dovetailing the four corners. The dovetailing would have consumed about 3cm of width, which would have made the tote very narrow. Anyways, I think dovetailing the bottom to the ends is a better solution overall, as this adds strength to the bottom (which carries the tools' weight) and the vertical grain direction also makes the top of the sides (and the handle joint) less prone to breaking.
The handle was steam bent from a 22mm oak dowel. I soaked it overnight and steamed it in my oven for an hour and then clamped it onto a template. It worked okay, however the curve of the handle is not quite as sweet as I could have wished. It might be due to the fact that the dowel has been kiln dried and therefore is not as easy to steam bend.
The tote has been treated with a couple of coats of linseed oil.
What I like about the tote:
- I think the overall size and shape is quite nice
- It is relatively light and it seems very strong
- I like the double S curve from the corner to the top of tote (see picture 2)
What I would have done differently:
- The hole for the handle dowel is not very precise. I didn't have a 22mm drill bit, so I went with a 20mm and filed the rest … with a pretty miserable result.
- I was way too sloppy with the screws at the side. First of all, there are way too many screws - half would probably have been enough. Secondly, I was very sloppy with the measuring which shows quite clearly if you look at the location of the screw plugs.
- I should have been more careful removing excess glue from the joints, because it has prevented the linseed oil from penetrating the inside corners. The effect is that the inside corners of the tote are much lighter in color than the rest of the tote.
Cheers,
Mikkel
The tote is made of a board of oak that I have salvaged from an old bookshelf. The size of this board pretty much dictated the size of the tote. The boards were only 18cm wide, which is one of the reasons that I screwed the sides onto the tote instead of dovetailing the four corners. The dovetailing would have consumed about 3cm of width, which would have made the tote very narrow. Anyways, I think dovetailing the bottom to the ends is a better solution overall, as this adds strength to the bottom (which carries the tools' weight) and the vertical grain direction also makes the top of the sides (and the handle joint) less prone to breaking.
The handle was steam bent from a 22mm oak dowel. I soaked it overnight and steamed it in my oven for an hour and then clamped it onto a template. It worked okay, however the curve of the handle is not quite as sweet as I could have wished. It might be due to the fact that the dowel has been kiln dried and therefore is not as easy to steam bend.
The tote has been treated with a couple of coats of linseed oil.
What I like about the tote:
- I think the overall size and shape is quite nice
- It is relatively light and it seems very strong
- I like the double S curve from the corner to the top of tote (see picture 2)
What I would have done differently:
- The hole for the handle dowel is not very precise. I didn't have a 22mm drill bit, so I went with a 20mm and filed the rest … with a pretty miserable result.
- I was way too sloppy with the screws at the side. First of all, there are way too many screws - half would probably have been enough. Secondly, I was very sloppy with the measuring which shows quite clearly if you look at the location of the screw plugs.
- I should have been more careful removing excess glue from the joints, because it has prevented the linseed oil from penetrating the inside corners. The effect is that the inside corners of the tote are much lighter in color than the rest of the tote.
Cheers,
Mikkel
