The project was a lot of fun because I was able to practice woodworking in various forms, something I have only done a little bit before now. I also was able to work with Cris which made the entire process so much more enjoyable.
The first part of the project was cutting our wood. We did this by using the Miter Saw to cut one piece at the length we needed, then clamping a block to the table at the distance needed. This made the cutting very quick and easy.
After we cut our wood, we decided to do out post proccesing before accembly.
What we did to the wood before assembly:
Hand routed out bottom planks and machine routed out top plates.
Used a orbital sander on all parts to make sure all sharp bits and bark were removed.
Spray painted the short ends and bottom planks green.
Lightly sanded the spray painted boards to make them smooth.
Stained the long side boards and our 2 x 2 supports.
Covered all of our pieces in a sealant spray.
While doing this, we decided to make little art boards to put on the side. Cris made Kirby and I made a Blobfish.
We did this by cutting out stencils that we then over laid to create different layers on plywood. Cris’s turned our absolutely amazing and it is so cute!!! I did not do so well so I went over my design with spray paint and did sharpy line art to make the face of the blobfish.
During the assembly of the box, it was a very quick strait forward. We assembled the three rings of boards, added the bottom planks, then used extra blocks as spacers when putting in screws in the 2 x 2.
During this part, we learned that putting down a piece of tape and doing very quick taps of the drill work well for not tearing up the wood when counter screwing. Also, by the time we were putting screws in to the 2 x 2 supports, we were pretty good at putting the screws in with no seams and little to no tearing of the wood.
After finishing the box, we spray painted over the screws. We were kinda silly and used our hands to gaurd the wood. It hit about 3 hours later that gloves would have been smart. I am still scrubbing the paint off my skin.
Once the paint had died, Cris and I nailed on our art placards.
Pictures of our box!