marc - on today's show, we've got something really special for you. a charity project forwoodworkers fighting cancer. we're going to make thiseasy to build toy chest.
wood joints diagrams, (lively music) as you can see, this isnot your average toy chest. we've got quite a bit going on here, and this was clearly made for a kid,
but it does have finger-saving technology. i think that might be trademarked and we might now owe somebody money. let me show you someof the other features. when the lid comes down,the decorative curves help prevent little pinched fingers. hinge supports keep the lid open, and slow its descent. a white board surface servesas the front and back panels.
the sides feature book storage, and the lid doubles as a play surface for legos, trains, or whatever. the whole thing is madefrom premilled poplar and birch plywood, and i gavemine a nice milk paint finish. so that's the project. here's more about the charity. woodworkers fightingcancer is a charity event that nicole and i started back in 2010.
since then we've raisednearly 40,000 dollars for various cancer charities. this year, the money goes tothe cancer research institute. so how does it work? you download the plan forthis project, you build it, and you send me a pictureof the finished piece by the end of november, and i'mgoing to donate five dollars per finished piece that i receive. now, that's one per person.
now again this year, we'regoing to partner with steve over at mere mortals. he's going to make a versionthat might be slightly different but, in the samevein, the bottom line is that you need to build either his version or my version to qualify for this. make sure you send thepictures to me so i can tally everything up becausewe have corporate sponsors. this is the coolest part.
i'm donating five bucks andthere's a bunch of companies who are matching mydonation and they are really going above and beyond this year. we even have some charityauctions sponsored by powermatic. so here's some of those greatcompanies who are helping us out with the fight against cancer. festool. making woodworking faster,easier, and smarter. bell forest products.
my personal favorite lumber source. brusso. american made precision hardware. eagle america. the world's router bit source. powermatic. the gold standard since 1921. i'm going to start bybreaking down the plywood. i find the most backfriendly way to do this
is on the floor. a few foam insulationboards keep the plywood a safe distance from the concrete. i'll do the cutting with a shop made track and a circular saw. the track is made fromparticle board shelf stock and a thin strip of mdf. the saw blade just kissesthe edge of the guide, making it super easy toline up with my marks.
so i measure for the firstcut and extend the line with a large framing square. the guide simply goes right up to the line and the cut is made. at this point, it's a goodidea to cut these parts oversize since we'll eventually want to cut off all of those factory edges. the real key to cuttingdown plywood accurately is to remember which edges arefreshly cut and then use
those edges as referencefor subsequent cuts. obviously the largeframing square helps a lot. now there's our top and bottom pieces. the remaining piece getsits factory edge trimmed off and then we can crosscut thetwo side pieces to length. the sides can be cut to final dimension, but the top and bottomare only cut to width. the length is kept rough for now. for the box frame, i'm using premilled,
three quarter inch thick poplar. since the stock is alreadycut to width, all i need to do is square up theends and cut the pieces to the lengths listed in the cut list. i like to use my chopsaw for the crosscuts and a stop block helpsensure accuracy when cutting similar length parts. all the rails and stiles are cut to final length at this point.
by the way, your shortrail should match up perfectly with the widthof your plywood sides. the actual number isn'tas important as the fact that they're exactly the same. if you want some curveslike the ones featured in our design, here's how you make them. find the center line of a short rail, and then measure in threequarters of an inch. now use a thin strip ofscrap to bend a curve shape
from the outside corners tothe three quarter inch line. a second set of handscan really help here. i usually work alone, soi like to use one of those nifty lee valley drawing bows. now cut the curve using the jigsaw with a high tooth count blade. the cutting will be slower,but it'll also be cleaner. of course even the best jigsawblade will leave a surface that still needs work soi use my spokeshave to
finalize the shape of the curve and further smooth the surface. you can also use a simple shopmade flexible sanding strip. now use the first piece asa template for the rest. if you have a router and a flush trim bit that will be a great way to go. otherwise, just mark theremaining short rails and repeat the curve cutting process. we'll do the same thing forthree of our four long rails,
starting with one rail as a template, and then using that tocut the remaining rails. remember, the back top raildoesn't receive a curve. well now we can startour side subassemblies. if you're going to assemblewith screws, you want to get to know this little guy here. it's a countersink bit. there are a lot ofdifferent countersink bits on the market, but thisone i happen to like a lot.
it's got an adjustablebit, so you can control the depth there. you've also got, of course,the countersink section here, and a stop collar that controls the depth of the countersink. so in this case, we're going to drive our screws nice and deep. then we'll be able to comeback with some dowel rod and cut it to cap them off so that you
don't see the screw head. so, let's do some assembly. let's start by attaching theside stiles to the rails. two screws each should do the trick. i'll drive the screws atabout one inch and then two and a half inches in from the end. these holes will go at the top and the bottom of each vertical stile. now it's time to predrillfor the plywood side panel.
strike a line about 7/8 of an inch in from the inside edge. drill four to five holes down the length. to assemble our sides, idrop in two inch and a half spacers to help positionthe plywood panel, which should also be flushwith the top of the stiles. a clamp snugs things up, anda dead blow hammer allows me to make fine adjustments. it's a good idea topredrill the panel so that
the screws don't causethe plywood to split. now drive in some inchand a quarter screws. with the piece flipped over,reapply clamping pressure once the rails are in perfect position. predrill and drive the screws home. just like that, we have onof our side subassemblies. repeat the process for the other side. now our side subassemblesare going to be held together with these four long railsthat we've already cut.
in the name of simplicity, we're going to attach them with pocket screws. grab your favorite jig and start drilling. i center my boards on thejig and clamp it in place. the two outer holes should do the trick. now for the other side. i don't know how much ithelps, but i like to add glue to my pocket screwjoints whenever possible. with the clamp in place,i drive the screws.
work your way around andattach all four rails to one of the side subassemblies. now we can flip the assembly over and attach it to the other side. with the case upside down, wecan install the bottom panel. the panel should already be cut to width, so we just need to mark the length. cutting is easy enough,as i extend the line with my square, clamp theguide in place, and cut.
the bottom panel will bescrewed up into the side panels, so we need to know where to predrill. the center of the sidepanel should be around an inch and three quartersto an inch and 7/8 in. strike a line on bothends of the bottom panel and then predrill forthree to four screws. now drop in the bottom panel. if it's a snug fit, don't beafraid to give it a couple of taps with a hammer or a dead blow.
for additional support, i'mgoing to drive screws in through the front and back rails too. i mark a guideline representing the center of the bottom panel, predrill and drive four screws per side. maybe it's a little bit overkill, but that's how i do things. flip the piece over andget ready to cut the lid. the lid panel should be cut to fit within
the inside perimeter of the box. the trim will be cut frominch and a half poplar stock. i'll cut and attach the sides first. a clamp helps hold thepiece in place securely while the screws are driven. the front and back are then cut to size and attached as well. don't worry if the trim sits proud. we'll sand it nice andflush once the glue dries.
here's a quick tip for you. when you're sanding edgetrim flush, be sure to keep at least 50 percent ofthe sander on the panel. if you have too much hangingoff the edge, you'll create dips and valleys, and youmight even round over the edge or burn through the veneer. now there are a lot of hingeson the market that you could potentially use for thistoy box, including regular old butt hinges, mortise hinges,
and what i've got here, a piano hinge. now there is a specialhinge out there that i highly recommend forsomething like a toy box and rockler sells them. they're called torsion hinges. the cool thing is thesehinges have the built-in ability to resist the fallingof the lid, so you don't have to add any supplementalsafety items to it. problem is, they're very, very expensive.
so, we're going forsimple, inexpensive here. that's why i've got a piano hinge. now piano hinges are great, because they cover along length like this, even if it's somewhat flimsy material. i mean, this is definitelynot the best hinge material i've ever worked with. the fact that it goes allthe way across and has as many screws as it has,
means it's going to be very strong. it's easy to install. let me show you how to do it. find the center of the lidand the box on the back side. extend that line to theedge on the case as well as to the underside of the lid. we'll use a self centeringbit or a vix bit to predrill for our hinge screws. simply drop the hinge in place with
the top leaf folded down. line up the center holewith the center line and predrill the first hole. drive a single screw tohold the hinge in position and predrill the remaining holes. now remove the hinge anddo the same operation on the underside of the lid. if you fold the hinge leafdown and line the hinge up with the center lines, thehinge should work pefectly
once we do the final installation. to plug up all of those screwheads, trim a bunch of plugs from a 3/8 of an inch down. notice how the tape createsa zero clearance area and prevents the plugs fromfalling through the base plate. also notice that i've gota pencil mark in the tape and that helps me line up each cut. installing the plugs is a piece of cake. a little glue in the hole,a little glue on the plug,
and a few taps with a hammer. now i've got quite a few holes to plug so, enjoy the process. while the glue on theplugs dries, i measure for my front and back panels. i'm going with some quarterinch whiteboard stocks since my son loves to draw. the panels will be held in with cleats, which i'll cut from some scrap stock.
one on the bottom and one on each side should do the trick. because the strips areso close to the panel, i predrill the screwholes at a slight angle. inch and 1//8 screwsattach the cleats securely. to further secure thepanel, you might consider driving a short screwthrough the panel and into the top rail as well. when the plugs are dry, youcan use a flush trim saw
to remove the excess or go gangster style and hit it with a sander. now remove the cleatsand panels and get ready for the finishing touches. i like to hit all the sharpedges with a block plane and then follow up with a light sanding. with that, we're donewith the construction. on to the finish. now we're going to applythe finish to the toy chest.
i've got my lovely wife nicole here. - hello! - she's actually going to do the painting. the thing is she wants it painted. i tend to not like painted pieces. so i said, "look, youwant it painted lady, "you're doing it yourself." - i will do it myself. - that's why she's here.
what we're going to use isa product called milk paint. now true milk paint is really interesting. it actually predateshistory, recorded history. this is stuff that wasused back in ancient times because it's a very basicformulation made with milk protein, lime, and thenpigments added for color. so it's actually a prettydurable finish, but we will be adding an additional waterbased acrylic on top of it for extra protection because it's going to
be around a toddler. - yes. - so, just in case. - he does like milk. - he does enjoy milk.(nicole laughing) he might start trying toliquefy the stuff and drink it. we'll catch him over therejust going, "blep, blep, blep." licking it, so yeah. protect it.
it's usually not very water-resistant so some polyurethane,water based polyurethane, is a good choice. so we're going to mix it up. i'm actually getting the heck out of here. this is all you now. - me? let's go! - have a good time.
- [marc] milk paint comesin all kinds of colors and you can mix them to your liking. we're using one scoop of whitewith one scoop of pumpkin, the color my son picked out. mix the colors thoroughly, and then add in an equal amount of water. warm water seems to work best. add about three quarters of the water and mix to a consistent paste.
then add the remaining water to get a nice paintable consistency. yes, a round bowl would have been much easier to work with. the great thing aboutmilk paint is that you can dilute it as far as youwant, anywhere from a light stain effect to aheavy, thick coat of paint. we decided to add in aproduct called extra-bond, which should help thefirst coat bind better to
the birch plywood in our toy chest. one scoop will do. now mix for a few minutes, and be patient. once mixed thoroughly, let the paint sit for about 10 minutes. we're going for a bit of a rustic look, so inexpensive chip brushes do the trick. we don't feel the need to be too careful about hiding brush marks.
if you're new to milkpaint, start on the bottom of the case so that you canget to know the product. as the paint dries it should take on a dull, chalky appearance. we're painting the entirecase, inside and out. after a few hours, thefirst coat can be sanded. now no one likes sanding,but nicole's a champ, and she doesn't mindgetting her hands dirty. vacuum the dust with asoft brush attachment
and then mix up another batch of paint. two things are different this time. we no longer need the extra-bond product, and we're leaving out the white color. we didn't really like thecolor as much as we thought we would, which is definitely something that can definitelyhappen with milk paint. you'll find the second coat goes on much easier than the first.
after an overnight drytime, we get some acrylic water based poly ready. we don't want much of a shine, so satin will do nicely. coat the entire project thoroughly with a decent synthetic bristle brush. keep in mind, the firstcoat will look like crap. don't fret. once the first coat dries,give it a light sanding with
320 grit and then proceed withthe second and final coat. the second coat looks muchmore even and consistent, but since we're dealing with milk paint, don't expect perfection. this is a much more earthyproduct than most are used to. once the finish is drywe can install the panels and secure them with cleats. the easiest way i findto install the hinge is to lay the case down on its back.
attach the hinge to the lid first, using the supplied screws. now prop up the case with a block of wood so that the hinge lines up with the holes. simply drive the screws, one at a time, all the way across the hinge. for some extra added safety,i installed two lid supports on the inside of the case. alright, so the finish is dry.
i attached my lego plates,so the only thing left to do is unleash the kid. (playful music) - whoa! lookit! whoa! books! lego! we got legos.
lego time, daddy. (joyful squealing) if you can't build oneof these toy chests, we actually have shirtsand mugs where the proceeds also go to the charity. go to twwstore.com to find that. i think it's time we letthis kid have his toy chest. i've kept it from him long enough. - you ready buddy?- [nicole] wanna go?
- wanna play? - wanna go lego? say bye-bye. - bye. - come on, daddy! - tablesaw! planer! bandsaw! shaper!
in powermatic yellow. - come on, dad!