Pigs and Skids

 I finished the two little boxes for my Grand daughters. The boxes were inspired by bandsaw boxes.

 When all was said and done the wee boxes are sort of pigs

  They will serve as a small hiding place, for a treasure or a treat.

 

  The props are for illustrative purposes only. The pig on the left is Ash, and the freckles are were the Emerald Ash Borer did its business. The right hand pig is a true bandsaw box.  On the left is a version were I carved out the inner space with chisels and forstner bits.

  As I use forstner bits regularly for waste removal a while ago I modified a 3/4 inch bit by grinding the center point off.  This way I get a flat bottomed hole, which makes clean up quicker.

  I was out and about recently and came across a small stash of light weight wood skids.

  I hate to pass up free wood.  I picked up four skids like this, the planks are about 3/8".  The wood is rough but cleans up not bad and will make a couple of small boxes or pots to hide plastic inner pots. 

useful boards

BBQ starter boards

  All that is not re-used are the terrible rusty nails. 

  I use reclaimed wood regularly in my shop and I have a saw that I use to cut unknown and dirty wood.

  A few years ago I bought this, it is a rough carpentry/pruning saw. This is the saw I reach for for fast rough cross cutting of all sorts of material.  I think its design was for cutting plastic pipe, but it tears though wood.  I have a set of really nice hand saws and several power tools as well, but for quick cuts this is faster than getting my reciprocating  saw out of its box.

cheers, ianw