Day 25, My Japanese-inspired toolbox
Today's garage gem is something I made: a simple toolbox, inspired by the kind of toolbox that Japanese carpenters put together to hold their tools. These are in most respects a dead simple project whose distinctive feature is the lid, which requires no hinges, hasps, or metal parts at all. It is made to slide in, and is usually held in place by a wooden key. On my example, the friction of the lid is actually fine and it remains shut quite well with just the friction of the lid. If I wanted to really secure it, I could have added a wooden key, but it didn't seem to be necessary.
Rather than explain all the steps, I'll simply refer you to this video by Hiroto Yamazaki, which is awesome. Rewatching it again makes me want to plane down some old weathered fence boards that I have lying around and make another one. He uses brass nails, and carefully tunes the wedge. Assembling the lid is the only slightly tricky part.
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One thing that I did on mine that was kind of experimental (and I think brought about by this video by Matthias Wandel ) is that I drill holes for some thin bamboo skewers and used them like nails. These were simple thin skewers I had lying around, rather than the 5mm ones that Matthias used, so they don't stand out very well. I doubt they actually add that much to the strength over the glue joint, but it was fun. Watching Hiroto's video, perhaps my next version will have brass nails, or possibly cut nails.
Hope you all are having a good weekend.