Skull Box

The woodshop is in prep-mode right now, getting ready for some larger summer projects, but I still want to show you guys something. If you're popping over here from Facebook, you'll have seen this already, the skull box. 

I saw something like this a friend bought from Etsy and new I had to make one. My mother had given me a couple of very cool fleur-de-li hinges she had pulled off a piece of furniture she was refinishing and I had been waiting for the right project to come around to use it on. So with coping sway, file, and some cedar in hand, here's the output:

As I said, this is all cedar, and the hinge lets the jaw open and close freely. The kids had fun making him 'talk'.

I have the other hinge and have plans on making another skull box, though I am thinking of a bright red finish with some dia de los muertos motifs worked in...

Cat Tree

It's been a while since I posted, but I have good reasons. This spring we added a new member to our family, Emmet, the cat. Full name, Emmet Brickowski Mauger. Yes he's named after the hero in the Lego Movie. And yes, I have yelled his full name at him. Not that he's cared, he's a cat. We also call him a bunch of other things like Emmy Whemmy, Snack Hunter, and Hey You; my favorite is Fuzzbutt.

What does this have to do with the Woodshop? Glad you asked. In preparation for cat ownership I had purchased the requisite litter and food and nip-related items. When it came time to look cat-trees and the like I was dismayed that so many of them looked like carpeted monstrosities. I get the functionality, but the aesthetic has no place in anyone's living room. Unless, I guess, you're Becky, Queen of Carpet. What I wanted, regardless of what the cat might have wanted, was a cat tree that could be in the living room as a piece of furniture—something I could look at and not be distracted by. So I did some research and turned up a lot of great ideas, but the closer I got to what I wanted the further I got away from my budget. I guess you know, by now, what some next…

I built one my damn self.

After reviewing the ones I liked with the Mrs., we selected a design we found by a company in Korea, Trillo. Once I had the basic idea, I modified from there to suit our space and my available materials.

I'll put the details after the pics.

 The details:

The legs are Douglas Fir 2x4 milled down to 1.75x3. To achieve the correct angled half lap—which you can see in the first picture—was a bit tricky. The angle was too severe to get it on the mitre saw, and the boards were too big to cross cut on the table saw, so I measured a hand cut the primary shoulder-cut and routed all of the rest out. During the glue-up I discovered I had cut the laps a bit wide so I shimmed them and tweaked the angle a bit further to reduce the footprint. 

The platforms were made of 2x4 scrap—some pine, some cedar—each rip-cut to create 1.75 wide planks. I glued the planks together to form boards which I hand- and machine-planed down to a uniform thickness of about .75 inches. 

The box was constructed out of various plywood scraps. I put a piece a chipboard in the box interior to make sure it would be nice and comfortable. 

The finish is a combination of differently tinted Dutch Oils, and Shellac. Once more than enough coats were on and dried, everything was gently wet-sanded with 800 grit. 

The lap joints are wrapped in sisal rope and 2 platowms, as well as the box sides, have carpet stair-steps glued to them. 

Not pictured above is the final resting spot for the tree, which is front of our basement walk-out, where every platform gets a great view of the yard. 

I will proudly say that the cat loves the tree and can usually be found there when banished to the basement during dinner.