Completed Toy Box w/ Pics

[Mike Vermeil]

This is my first attempt at including pictures in a post, so I appologize if it's not quite correct.

I just finished this toy box as a baby gift for my new neice. The top and legs are Peruvian Walnut (more like a light weight Mahogany than usual Maple), and the box is Maple. It was a fun project and gave me the opportunity to try some new techniques and perfect some others. What I found out was when working with curves, expect the time and patience required to increase exponentially.

I shaped the top of the top with a large jig that guided the workpiece under my router, which moved side-to-side across the jig. It was slow going, but worked extremely well. Only minor sanding was required to clean it up to a perfect curve. I then shaped the underside of the ends of the top using my rounter mounted on a trammel (sp?) arm, which worked surprisingly well, and carved out the remainder of the bottom with an angle grinder. The underside is not a perfect curve like the topside, but it's pretty good, and is of course only the underside.

For the curved legs I used a combination of pattern routing and sanding, depending on how the grain was hitting the working edge. Even with very good grain alignment, I still had to sand down to about 1/32" from the line before patern routing to avoid tear-out on the Peruvian Walnut. And in some cases, routing was impossible w/o tear-out. The P. Walnut, which appeared to be pretty high in resin, seemed to have very little holding the wood fibers together. The router bit caught end grain one time and, well, it wasn't pretty. The end of the workpiece looked like a ragged feather board. All in all though, I was happy with the wood, which is darker than North Amercian Walnut, and seemed to be more consistent in color. And speaking of color, these pics don't do it justice - all oiled up it's beautiful. It's also about half the price of Wenge, which was my original choice.

I cut the finger joints on the table saw, which I would never attempt again with such large panels. It worked, and the final product is good, but it was a royal pain. Next time I'll use the router w/ shop made jig.

The top hinges on half inch bolts embeded into the upper portions of the legs. I let the bolt heads into the sides of the upper legs, and anchored them in place with JB Weld - don't laugh, the stuff is a great product. My Dad is able to rebuild damaged portions of castings on antique motors with it all the time. Where the bolts pass through the box, there are nylon washers on each side, followed by a standard washer and lock nut. By adjusting the tightness of the locknuts, I'm able to control the ease of movement of the top, making extra fall control uneccessary.

It's all topped off with 5 coats of an oil/urethane combo - General Finshes brand. Anyway, here's the pics (maybe). Thanks for lookin'.

[Ted Shrader]

Mike -

Very nice piece! The contrasting woods really add to the overall impression.

When the lid closes down and restores the profile of the legs on the side, is there a finger guard or gap? Looks like that might pinch some little fingers.

Well done,
Ted

ps - JB Weld is great stuff!

[Maurice Ungaro]

I have to tell you that the design is spectacular! The piece looks awesome, and it will have a touch of whimsey when loaded with toys, peeking out from underneath. Mike, you are to be commended!. What a great top/leg/hinge combination.

Maurice

[Mark Singer]

This is a great design!I have never seen such a unique and well thought out toy box!
What seems like such a typical project from the verbal description....turns out to be a great surprise! A delight! Great fun for the child!
Wonderful construction techniques! I love the way it hinges!

Whoever said "all the good designs have been thought of....lets not talk about design"

Yeah right!:D

[John Shuk]

Nice work. The top hinge is interesting. I love the contrasting wood. I think the piece works very well. I love to make useful items and love to have my turnings touched not just looked at. That said I'd have to keep that gorgeous piece away from my two boys. They could break an iron ball if I gave them enough time.

[Jack Hogoboom]

Mike,

That box is absolutely beautiful!!! Seems to me that you could make an entire set of furniture with that basic design motif.

I'd like to see that router jig you used for the top. I'm not sure I understand how you worked that. I would've thought that a coopered top was the way to go.

How are the legs attached to the box? It looks like it is just hanging there!!

Thanks for sharing.

Jack

[Chris DeHut]

Hi Mike,

Just wanted to say FANTASTIC design. You certainly have "the eye".

Chris DeHut

[Jim Becker]

That is an awesome design, Mike. Very creative, asthetically pleasing with the contrast between the species and most importantly, very functional for the intended purpose! Great job! Thanks for sharing it...

[Keith Christopher]

Beautiful piece. I love the asian styling. Very well made and the finish is awesome.

[Mike Vermeil]

Ted - you're right. I hadn't thought about the pinch point at the hinge. I'm considering reproducing this piece, so that's one I'll have to give some thought. Actually, the further along I got on the design and construction of this piece, the more of a "hope" chest and less of a toy box it became.

Jack - Here's a picture of the jig. The top is coopered, but I used this jig to smooth it. I considered using hand planes, but after experimenting on scraps, I found my planes incapable of consistently planing the face grain on the Peruvian Walnut w/o tear-out. My block plane wasn't too bad, but my bench plane is an antique Stanley transitional plane (from my great-grandfather), and the mouth is extremely large. I considered closing down the mouth with an insert, but I was worried it would kill the value of the plane. In the jig, the coopered top is mounted in between the pie shaped pieces of plywood with screws, and then that whole assembly is swung in small increments under the upper tray - the pie shaped pieces pivot on those bolts at the bottom. The router rides back and forth across the tray, with a standard guide bushing riding in the slot. It was a little slow, but worked extremely well. The curve of the top is absolutley perfect.

As for how the legs are attached: The lower legs are attached to each other at their tops, and then that assembly is glued and screwed (from the inside) to the box for the first couple inches only to allow for movement of the maple box. The rear leg then got one screw, and the front two, from inside the box as far down as I could go. The holes are enlarged, and the screws have washers underneath to allow good movement. If there is any weak point in this design that is it. While the upper portion of the lower legs is very secure to the box (glue and screws), the bottoms are not (one or two screws only). If you drag this piece sideways over a carpeted floor all day, eventually it will fail. I just couldn't come up with another reasonable method of attachment that would allow for wood movement. If I decide to reproduce this piece, I'll also address the astetics of the inside. The screw heads are a bit unsightly.

Also, if you're worried about strength at the bottom of the front legs, I embeded a piece of 3/8" threaded stock from the back side to shore-up the short grain situation.

Thanks for all the input.

[Mark Singer]

As I stated: This is a great design!

Couple of things I really like:
1. The form of the lid suggests its movement...radially around the hinge point.
This is far more intuitive for children

2. When it is open , it is clearly not in the way and stays open. The typical lid swings down each time it is opened. Kids like to take many toys out one at a time.

3. It is fun...it looks like a little building with a curved roof...a little storage building to keep toys...a point of metaphor

4. It is IMHO safer than a typical toy box where the lid acts as a giant shear and can easily pinch fingers!

How does it compare to the traditional toy box design....it is new, fresh ideas, great proportions , it works, it is clearly a better design! New can be better!
You can throw your straight razor out...the Mach 3 is here!:rolleyes:

[Mike Vermeil]

All right Mark! I was hoping people would get the "roof" motif. I wanted the piece to look like someone took an antique box, maybe something from an old piece of farm furniture, and built a modern, protective roof structure for it. Sort of like an antique car parked under a modern car port. I also wanted the box to appear like it's hanging rather than resting (to add some tension), which someone else mentioned earlier. When you work on something so long, you get used to it, almost tired of it, and you begin to question it's worth. So when other people are able to read into the completed piece what you tried to put into it, well, that feels pretty darn good.

Thanks,
Mike

[Brad Hill]

Very cool toybox! I must say the first thing I thought of was how great it will be to have a surface that won't get cluttered easily. It looks like most things you might set on top would just slide off. Great way to keep the contents accessible, and the piece visible.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, perhaps the "roof" could get a gas-piston closer to insure that little fingers are safe. This would be hidden when the unit is closed yet help to mitigate both the pinch issue previously mentioned as well as the obvious "slam" potential.

[Mike Vermeil]

Jim - the design of the hinge is such that I'm able to adjust the friction to hold the lid in any position. It can be so tight you can't open it, completely free-wheeling, or anywhere in between. Half inch bolts embeded in the upper portions of the leg assemblies pass through mating holes in the box. Nylon washers are on either side of the box, with standard washers and ny-lock style lock nuts on the inside. By loosening or tightening the lock nuts, you adjust the friction. As for the pinch point on the outside where the leg assemblies split, the more I think about it, the more I think it's not such a problem. Since you must push the lid closed the entire way, at least one hand is occupied, and the chances of having fingers from the other hand that far down the side would probably be slim. But it is definitely something that needs to be considered.

Thanks for the input.

Mike

[Jack Hogoboom]

Mike,

It's an awesome design. That jig is pretty amazing. I don't know how you ever thought of it.

Maybe Chris will include it in his magazine. Looks like it'd be a fun project to build and if we had your leg templates, maybe not all that difficult to reproduce. At a minimum he should include it in the gallery.

Please post some of your other work when you have a chance. Clearly, this isn't your first design attempt.

Jack

[Aaron Koehl]

That's pretty darn cool. Looks like an excellent idea for a ShopBot drawing.. :)

[Silas Smith]

Wow! I was totally unprepared for what I saw by reading the post. You have a talent for design that you need to pursue. Great piece.

[Dan Stuewe]

Mike, first off that is one nice looking piece of art. Congratulations on designing and completing it the way you wanted too (sometimes something is lost in the translation between design and execution).


As for the pinch point on the outside where the leg assemblies split, the more I think about it, the more I think it's not such a problem. Since you must push the lid closed the entire way, at least one hand is occupied, and the chances of having fingers from the other hand that far down the side would probably be slim. But it is definitely something that needs to be considered.


As for the leg/hinge: While it is true that the person closing the lid may be safe from the pinch point when closing from the front, when it comes to something like this in a child's room, mom and dad will be the ones to close it many times, and it would be very likely that the little one will be right there at the side of the toy chest. Also, if the lid can be reached from the side, the lid will be opened/closed from the side.

I'm sorry I don't have a solution, but the overall look is stunning. Good Job!

[Mike Vermeil]

Dan - you're right. I hadn't thought of it that way. Eliminating the pinch point will be extremely difficult w/o compromising the design. Maybe this issue will push me over the edge to calling it a hope chest.

Jack - I don't get a whole bunch of time to spend here. Who's Chirs, & what is his magazine? Is there a gallery of photos on this website?

Thanks,
Mike

[Lou Morrissette]

Mike,

That is absolutely beautiful! I'm amazed at the thought that must have gone into the design. I wish I had 1/4 that imagination. Truely a facinating piece.

Lou

[Ryan Singer]

hey Mike,
that's really cool! Love the design at that scale. it could even be fun on a smaller scale for business cards..

you made the right decision on the Walnut over Wenge. not just because of price, but walnut is lighter weight than wenge. it's easier for little kids who can't lift as much as we can. :cool:

[Christine Tiede]

Absolutely gorgeous, Mike! That'd be a welcome toybox in any household, I'm sure!

regards,
christine

[Mark Stutz]

Absolutely stunning, from design to execution! I'm glad it's for your neice, because it might not survive the nephews! :D ;) My first reaction was that this couldn't be a toy chest...definitely a Hope Chest.

[John Miliunas]

Wow and double-wow! :D Fresh, unique, flowing lines, awesome fit and finish. Sheeeesh...What more can anyone ask for? Simply beautiful! Astounding job, Mike and thanks for sharing!:) :cool:

[Garry Smith]

I agree with all the other's, your design is diffenently thinking outside of the box.
I believe it is the most interesting design I have seen for any project in a long time. Thanks for the inspiration.
Garry

[Jason Tuinstra]

Mike, what a surprise to find this project tucked behind the title. Wow!!! Thanks a lot of showing this off. It's a first rate project and a first rate design.

[Mike Mastin]

I can not think of anything else to say about the project. Beautiful!