Shop storage #2: Enamel paint box

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This is part 2 in a 6 part series: Shop storage

I’ve accumulated a few cans of One Shot Lettering Enamel for use on various projects, plus I have the fine brushes I use with it that I want to keep all together. After having things fall down recently, I’ve been building even more shop storage, and the paints got a walnut box (⅜ inch microlumber) with Baltic birch 7 layer 6mm plywood top and bottom. The box was cut halfway through on the inside to make a recess, plus had grooves for the top and bottom made with the Luban 043, dovetailed together, then grooves cut in the outside with the table saw until it opened up and I had a top and bottom that piston-fit together. Two days construction start to finish, with another box going on in parallel.



May you have the day you deserve!

13 Comments

you sure love your boxes dave ! hey nothing wrong with proper storage buddy.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Yeah, especially after having stuff fall down, I’ve got to try and keep things a little better organized. I’ll probably be hanging some shelves at some point for all the boxes, but simply collecting things up and putting them in a box is a good start.

May you have the day you deserve!

Instead of Systainers... Davetainers?, Polatainers?,  'chektainers? 

I need to make some storage boxes.  I keep hoping that seeing yours will finally get me of my....

--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Not sure, Nathan. “Boxes.”

I can basically knock out a pair of these in two days of shop time now, as long as I’m not spending too much time resawing the wood. I need a good source of ¼ or ⅜ inch “microlumber” though. Don’t want to use the ¾ that comes from the lumber yard, as that makes boxes that are too dang heavy.

May you have the day you deserve!

Great storage Dave, and a must in any shop.

Main Street to the Mountains

Dave,

Agree, thin sided boxes work and look better.


Petey

Well, I’ve ordered a couple dozen project boards from Ocooch Hardwoods in ¼ and ⅜ thicknesses. Their prices are… not cheap.

May you have the day you deserve!

Nice Dave.

Not tried that method of splitting the box - I assume you need the wider kerf of a table saw for it to work though.
The Ocooch website is a little quirky.  I could not get the drop downs for size and width to work consistently to check out the prices.  What species and widths did you get?  My local HDs and Lowes' do have some 1/4" and 1/2" stock of pine, red oak and poplar (used to carry maple but not any more) but IIRC, the widths are only up to 4", but you can always glue up wider panels.  I think that the pine also comes in 3/8" thickness.  

--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Nice box  to keep all the stuff together like that!!
When you get to 120 cans of spray paint like I have, you'll need a bigger box!

cheers, JIm

Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day

Indeed, Mike. I use four passes with my 3mm table saw blade on the inside, and then if I’ve done things right, two or three passes on the outside (offset so one or two passes overlap with the ones from the inside), et voila! I think Eric showed that trick to me first, but I’m not certain. It saves me having to spend $10 for hinges and a latch.

Nathan, try this table which has all the pricing in one place. This time I got white oak in 4” and 8” widths, in ¼ and ⅜ thicknesses. I had ordered a pretty big box of poplar from them in the past, in 4 and 6” widths and ¼ inch thick, and I also order ash and bubinga in ⅛ (for splines for miter and spline construction to match my table saw blade thickness) and ash in ¼  for box construction. I tend to order about $200 worth of microlumber at a crack, which ends up being a 20-30 pound box when the UPS guy delivers it.

May you have the day you deserve!

Dave, those dust lips can be tricky at times. I have missed a few times when cutting the box open.

Main Street to the Mountains

Yeah, Eric. The nice thing about doing them in a dovetailed box is that I can see the interior cuts even after the box is all glued together, and use that to sanity check myself. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll go back and put rectangular plugs into the gaps, but they’re not necessary unless I load the box a lot more heavily than I typically do.

May you have the day you deserve!