Pochade Box

  I have been drawing and painting for a couple of years and now and I've got good enough that I am not embarrassed by my efforts.  Sometimes I try to on paint outside  and have decided to make myself a Pochade Box.  If you do a search of pochade box plans or complete boxes for sale on the internet there are 100's of different boxes available.

  The first part of the project was deciding what I wanted included in the box.

  In my box I want water colour paint, water bottles and the leather pencil case has pencils, pens, brushes and other tools.  I decided that I needed a box that was 10 inches by 12 inches.

  

  To make the box I used a piece of 2 x 4.  Once the 2 x 4 has been jointed, sawed and planed it is actually pretty nice wood with which to work.  I used all the power tools at hand to get the wood ready. I used my King Jointer to get a flat face and edge and then cut a parallel side on my table saw. Once I had a square board I sliced the 2 x 4 into 1/2 inch boards on my band saw I ran the thin boards through my Planer.

  I have my box nailed and clamped together while the glue sets.  I will cut the box apart tomorrow.  At this point I like the grain of the sides, this 2 x 4 was a nice bit of wood.  Once I get every thing sanded on the out side I will glue dividers on the inside and then I have to decide what I want to to about the lid.  I don't think I am going to hinge the lid, thought that is the traditional method. I think I will making the lid a 'fit over' type.

 Tomorrow I am at the kids house for a birthday so it will be Sunday before I can get hardware and carry on with this projects.

cheers ianw

A String of Small Projects

  I was away on holiday for much of June and so several repairs piled up at 10,000 Villages. They had a window leak and some of their products got stained or rusted.  I had a couple of things to clean up for them. 

  Every shop should have a selection of wire brushes. Wire brushes are the best tool for removing rust or staining on metal.  A wire brush in a drill driver can also be used to texture soft wood to create an interesting effect.

  The other day a friend dropped by to have some 1 x 4 ripped and cut to length.  As he said, it is so much easier and accurate to have these cuts made by  a table saw and a mitre saw than to fuss around with a circular saw.  Especially as he is not a handy man type. 

  

  While in Sweden I picked up a couple of heavy bladed utility gardening knives.  The knives were cheap but didn't have sheaths.  This morning I glued up some wood and made a solid wooden sheath to protect the blade and the user. 

  The other thing I did this morning was whittle another spreader knife.  These latest few things have been whittled  (carved)  from split out pieces of fire wood.  I have made spoons in the past but have come to believe that the best wood for spoons is split wood rather than cut. Wood that is split follows the grain and makes the whittler follow the grain too. Things look nicer and are stronger.

  I have a baby's crib to rebuild and a flower pot stand to build as my next larger projects but for now I am pretty happy with these smaller things. My grandson is coming for a while later in the month and I think we need to make some Bee Houses. 

 

  I think that should be fun.

cheers, ianw