A Very Important Project.

Today Kieran, his sister, Mum and Oma are having 'A Day Out With Thomas'.



 While they are out for the day I have been working on a very important project.  For Kieran's Fifth birthday I promised him that we would build a real tool box and begin filling it with real tools so that he can work with Opa in the shop. His birthday was at the beginning of the summer and this is the first time he will be here with time to work in the shop. 

  The tool box is 16 by 6 by 8 inches.  The ends and bottom are made from 1/2 Baltic birth plywood and the sides are 1/4.  I have cut the whole thing out and marked all the spots that need to be drilled for assembly.  Drilling is something at which K is good. He also likes to use a drill to drive screws, the box will be partly glued and screwed and partly glued and nailed.  Once assembled he needed to sand the assembly and then we'll finish it with shellac. 

  To keep the handle small but sturdy I am using 1/2 copper pipe rather than a wooded dowel.  I also kept the tool box narrow so that a small person could carry it without it bumping their leg.

  In an ideal world he and I would have cut the parts out together but sheet stock is awkward to handle, and is dealt with best by bench tools.  A keen 5 year old would not have had a positive experience in the shop doing the cut out stage. He would have been stuck sitting on a chair watching the work get done.   Maybe down the road he and I can make a tool box from real wood and he can do all the work.  He has done some cutting with a hand saw and used a block plane once, developing those skills requires time and stronger hands than the little boy has, yet.

  There is nothing radical about this tool box, he will now have a version of the tool box his great Grandpa had, (its in the shop), his Opa has, his Uncle Leroy made in public school wood shop and next we'll have to make one for his Daddy. 

  This is the selection of tools that will go in his tool box to start him off.  Kieran was quite excited to think that he was going to have 'real' tools so he could help in the shop. Most of the tools are not new but all of them will help him build and fix things until he finds his way in the world and decides what he needs for his shop.

  I hope that it rains tomorrow so he will want to play in the shop with me.

cheers, ianw