Laundry hamper on wheels with hand tools (seeking first project help)

[Brandon Guergo]

Hello all, my name is Brandon, I am new here.


Introduction (skip if you don’t care)

I am an aspiring woodworker in South Florida, east coast, with interests in Japanese woodworking (as well as blacksmithing and laminated metals), fine cabinetry, minimalist furniture, tiny houses and trick cabinetry, Native bow/arrow making, and someday instrument making (flamenco guitar, violin, traditional banjo, possibly wooden drums). Tobacco pipe making is very enticing as well but no way can I fit a metal lathe anywhere, tiny warehouses cost $2,000/month here. Nope.

I have barely any space to work, so I don’t own power tools except for an angle grinder and Dremel. Maybe I will add a very small and cheap drill press and band saw someday. I dream of owning a power hammer... but again, will have to relocate! I have plenty of Japanese chisels, a few planes, a router is my only specialty plane (been waiting on a Veritas right-hand plow plane for months now), Japanese saws, gouges, carving tools, and the standard miscellaneous things, gennou, measuring and marking tools, etc. Standard tiny setup, it could all fit in a Harry Potter closet.

For now, I sleep on the ground and roll my bed up each morning to utilize the space I have. Any power tools would be outside use only. A small floor bench is all I have for now, a Western bench for instrument making in the future would be necessary, I think.

Project

It's possible this could've been posted in the project section, but with the hand tool restriction I have, I figured I'd post it here.

I would like to make a very simple hardwood hamper on wheels, using hand tools, for my grandmother, as she has trouble carrying the load to the washer. It’s last minute, as it is always is with her, trying to pry out a small bit of information as to what gift she might want. This was a little bit of a gem if I can overcome my mediocracy.

Dimensions (inches) : 12x12x30 (LxWxH) on wheels with hinged lid. Rectangular cuboid?

I have mostly been sharpening, watching, studying, and practicing the past year, so when it comes to design it is a big step that I do not feel confident tackling on my own. All I’ve really done is copy other people. I am a decent problem solver but since this is a gift, I don’t want to botch it or waste my money.

I am guessing the majority of builds online will involve plywood, unfortunately you can’t chisel plywood, and I really love chiseling, so that’s out for now. If it comes to that, I suppose I would but I’m trying to avoid it, might as well buy one premade at that point…

I am hoping to have some foundational suggestions to approaching a hardwood hamper on wheels. I have the feeling I might have to cut a ludicrous amount of dovetails. How about just a few gigantic dovetails, like absurdly sized cartoon puzzle pieces, with some dowels implemented vertically through the edge tails? Mostly kidding... I could go the box making route, or I could go the 4 corner post route with paneling… 1x12 is not unreasonable if it's pine, but I might have to laminate two 1x6s for the sides if they're hardwood accents.

Honestly, I just barely know where to begin, it's overwhelming to me. I can picture something but I can' really arrive at the point where I say this should work. Not to mention the dozens of structural tips and innovations that you develop with actual experience.

I have access to a small number of hardwood lumber, but I will likely have to tackle this using select pine from Home Depot, accented by hardwoods as mentioned.

Perspective drawing is something else I need to practice, so I can post photos of my idea, but they're bad for now... It should be pretty simple though to picture, small yet tall box on wheels with hinged lid.

Regards!



Side note: I am still looking for a proper lumber yard here in South East Florida, I have extremely small ones locally, relatively small ones about an hour away, and it looks like the decent ones, as per a search on this forum, are about 3+ hours away. I really, really hate driving so these journeys will have to be worth it for me whenever I go.

I am especially interested in Osage orange staves for bow making and as per a blog, some absolutely beautiful hammer handles.

If anyone has land in FL, I am sowing dozens of Osage orange trees, also have a tamarind available and I’m always growing things made of wood, but mostly vegetables. Contact me in half a year if you want some Osage wood to grow.
I would like to make a very simple hardwood hamper on wheels, using hand tools, for my grandmother, as she has trouble carrying the load to the washer. It’s last minute, as it is always is with her, trying to pry out a small bit of information as to what gift she might want. This was a little bit of a gem if I can overcome my mediocracy.

[Mark Rainey]

Brandon, as a starting point look at this. It can be enhanced as much as you like - bridle joints could be substituted for butt joints etc.

https://www.simplyeasydiy.com/2014/1...r-with_10.html

[Brandon Guergo]

Hey, I actually found that during my research. It provided the best options so far for simplicity, so I am more confident now that you’ve linked it.

Do you have any idea how I could go about implementing hardwood accents instead of the mesh screen she chose? Would simple glue ups work due to outward pressure only?

[Derek Cohen]

Brandon, if you want to do some dovetailing, then just build a large box. Dovetail it at the sides. Add a bottom inside a groove or nailed to a rebate. Use a light wood to make it manageable for her to push around. I suggest something in the range of 18" x 18" square x 3' high.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Brandon Guergo]

I don’t necessarily want to at this height!

Is there an easy calculation as to how many dovetails would be expected per corner at 30 inches tall?

[Richard Verwoest]

Maybe use butt joints and either cut nails or rose head type nails.

Richard

[Brandon Guergo]

Maybe I'll do at least the front with bridle joints, I do like that joint. Butt joints work just fine though depending on when I get to this and how time constrained I am.

I think since it's square utilizing same-shaped frames, overlapping them would reduce the length of two edges. Would gluing them to four corner posts provide sufficient strength? Perhaps a few alternate faced dowels for good measure?

Lastly, any suggestions on adding the panels? It can't be solid wood because the hamper has to breathe... Perhaps my image has one too many, and I need the panels to be a little bit spread out and with removing one, a bit larger. Cutting to slightly oversize and hammering them between the frames could work, as long as I don't pop the bridle joints apart...

IMG_0660.jpg

[Mark Rainey]

No need for a corner post - simplify. Edge grain of one panel to face grain of another panel is a very strong joint. No need for dowels. I like the bridle joints - very strong. If in a hurry pocket screws with Kreg jig.

[Brandon Guergo]

Alright, sounds good to me, thanks! I will buy the materials and let them sit in my room for a week and then proceed.

Any quick tips for the middle/spaced hardwood panels?

[Christopher Charles]

Hi Brandon,

Great project and good advice above. I love hand tool work. And I also have the smaller version of one of these and use it all the time for quick projects that are on a timeline:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...B&item=25K6162

[Jim Koepke]

Hi Brandon and welcome to the Creek.

I've thought of building something like this that would be a cart for regualr laundry baskets.

That would be a rolling platform with handles and then some regular laundry baskets for separating colors & fabrics.

jtk

[Brandon Guergo]

I understand the above, I was considering making this beyond simple and opting to insert a plastic bin, however I am going the route of ensuring structural stability and I'm going to use a sort of interior cloth sack with drawstrings, as my grandma carries the laundry load across the house in a wrapped up towel, nothing wrong with that, but I think she'll like this!

As much as it's a gift, it's a first step for me, giving away a project, starting from nothing, sourcing varied lumber to use, all my tools are being sharpened at once... etc. It's nothing special, but it is to me.

I do love Japanese styles and I'm always naturally on the ground (relatively fit and 5'8" so I can just plop down), but my floor bench might need a bit of company for planing in my room. It's by far the hardest part of my small space, besides minimal leverage, it tends to come out uneven, without any fault in the plane. I haven't been able to find 10+ foot 6x6 stock for a Japanese planing beam as per Odate's book.

There's a mint, local Sjobergs Nordic Plus 1450 for ~ $300. I have been very against the idea of buying a premade workbench, but in order to make a workbench, you need more space than the actual workbench takes up if that makes sense, and also the workbench is generally bigger than anything that will be made on top of it.

As per the Kreg Pocket Hole Kit... I called Lee Valley on Black Friday because I had a new card shipped, and just hours ago I ordered that $1,000 gift card for $850 because I had a note placed on my account I'm going to use about half for miscellaneous things and about half to possibly try to get planes that are never in stock.

[Tom Bender]

Hi Brandon
Sounds like you have enough tools to get you started. What does your floor bench look like?

One thing I sometimes do is make mockups with cardboard and tape to get the scale of a project sorted out. If it needs adjustment, a little more tape can fix it. That might work out for the hamper and for the bench.

[Brandon Guergo]

My position is rough, to be frank. In my room, I barely have enough space to do a small glue up. I'm going to have to make a floor bench I don't mind getting destroyed, lug it outside, and glue up out there.

I finally found 2-3 inch thick, whole pieces of wood locally that are 3+ feet in length (as per Toshio Odate's schematics in his Japanese tools book). So a proper floor bench will be made when I acquire that wood, with some basic stops.

At this point I need an intensive apprenticeship in furniture, boat building, luthiery, something! Because I can't make the progress I'd like to be making in my current situation. Unfortunately I also have bad anxiety, and no such apprenticeships exist these days. They're all huge groups due to the sufficient monetary benefit that provides to the instructor. I'm looking for a lifelong and reciprocal relationship where I don't bolt once I got my money's worth. Not many know what it's like to be at the bottom.

A man can dream! In the mean time I will continue devouring knowledge, it's mostly all I can do, otherwise it's like trying to build furniture in one of those microscopic pod/capsule hotels they have in China/Japan.

Cheers.

Edit: I have a few larger gouges on the way to tackle more bowls. I'm just going to make bowls and trays for the entirety of 2023 at this point, even though I prefer chisel work and joinery. Maybe I can squeeze in a few small boxes once I get my floor bench. I'm learning Japanese in the meantime, hopefully I can learn more from the narrowly-focused books on woodworking written in Japanese.

[Derek Cohen]

Brandon, have you considered building miniature furniture?



Regards from Perth

Derek