Just won some old brass "campaign" handles on EB and some small hardwood knobs for the hinged lids so that should be the next mod.
Ditty Box - Project
- Thread starter Wayland
- Start date
Looking at it now it's got things in it makes me think you've got the central lift out section the wrong way round in use Gary
Reason for my thinking that is the little piece in the middle section would be of more us to retain things in a similar way to the lid. Just my thoughts on it as I think it would look more right the other way round.
As it is the retaining bar in the lid holds the lids down when the box is closed. The lid bar roughly coresponds with the odd bit in the middle for reference when closed.
You can also see a mark on the lid bar where the ring has rubbed the surface a little.
The other way around everything falls out of the covered section and into the lid if it goes lock side up.
It also means that you can put bigger stuff into the front compartments because they fit up into the empty lid section.
You can also see a mark on the lid bar where the ring has rubbed the surface a little.
The other way around everything falls out of the covered section and into the lid if it goes lock side up.
It also means that you can put bigger stuff into the front compartments because they fit up into the empty lid section.
One of my inspirations for this project is the travelling chests that Army Officers took with them on campaign in the Nineteenth Century.
I was particularly impressed with the legs that some of them had for raising them above the damp when living in a tent.
What I wanted was a detachable set of legs so I could use the box with or without the legs depending on my situation.
By attaching a pair of battens to the bottom of the box I was able to adapt some legs from an old folding stool which do the job perfectly.
When the lid is closed the whole affair becomes a convenient table for working on too.
One last thing to do for which I am just waiting for something to arrive in the post.
I was particularly impressed with the legs that some of them had for raising them above the damp when living in a tent.
What I wanted was a detachable set of legs so I could use the box with or without the legs depending on my situation.
By attaching a pair of battens to the bottom of the box I was able to adapt some legs from an old folding stool which do the job perfectly.
When the lid is closed the whole affair becomes a convenient table for working on too.
One last thing to do for which I am just waiting for something to arrive in the post.
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Will we be seeing this - and you of course - at the Moot?
I love the old "Campaign Chest" look (they are among my favourite things seen on Antiques Road Show) and I really like the way you are taking the box ... but it needs a Pink silk lining!
I love the old "Campaign Chest" look (they are among my favourite things seen on Antiques Road Show) and I really like the way you are taking the box ... but it needs a Pink silk lining!
It will certainly be travelling to meets and moots with me John but I'm not sure if I will be at the Moot this year, it may be one of my off years.
I may yet leather line some of the compartments but it is unlikely to be in pink.
I'll be taking it to Steve's Birthday bash though. Will you be there?
I may yet leather line some of the compartments but it is unlikely to be in pink.
I'll be taking it to Steve's Birthday bash though. Will you be there?
'Fraid not - work!
My Mrs has finally given up work (at 70!) so work I must as Sate Pensions will not support two....
My Mrs has finally given up work (at 70!) so work I must as Sate Pensions will not support two....
Thank you.
Sadly I don't have any kids to leave my stuff to but I guess my niece and nephew will have to duke it out for anything they really want.
Over the years I've picked up all sorts of stuff that seems to have become "collectible" in the intervening years. I dropped into a boot sale yesterday looking for the folding legs and I didn't see anything like the sort of things I used to see twenty years ago.
I don't think it is just the fact that we are 20 years further from the start of the plastic age. I suspect that car boots sales only see the sort of stuff that people can't be bothered to list on Ebay these days.
A bit sad really..
Sadly I don't have any kids to leave my stuff to but I guess my niece and nephew will have to duke it out for anything they really want.
Over the years I've picked up all sorts of stuff that seems to have become "collectible" in the intervening years. I dropped into a boot sale yesterday looking for the folding legs and I didn't see anything like the sort of things I used to see twenty years ago.
I don't think it is just the fact that we are 20 years further from the start of the plastic age. I suspect that car boots sales only see the sort of stuff that people can't be bothered to list on Ebay these days.
A bit sad really..
That would certainly be easy enough C.
The postman arrived early today allowing me to complete possibly the final modification. (Although I tinker with things so much I should probably never say final.)
I wanted an extra handle so that I could pick it up and carry it one handed on occasions.
This is just an added convenience really but at big meet ups it is nice to wander from camp to camp and this means I have an extra hand to carry a chair as well.
Most of the contents are the sort of things that are convenient to have around a communal fire such as eating and drinking utensils, lighting, repair and craft kit.
The fact that the whole thing is just the right height to stand a bottle of wine on by the side of your chair is of course completely coincidental.
The postman arrived early today allowing me to complete possibly the final modification. (Although I tinker with things so much I should probably never say final.)
I wanted an extra handle so that I could pick it up and carry it one handed on occasions.
This is just an added convenience really but at big meet ups it is nice to wander from camp to camp and this means I have an extra hand to carry a chair as well.
Most of the contents are the sort of things that are convenient to have around a communal fire such as eating and drinking utensils, lighting, repair and craft kit.
The fact that the whole thing is just the right height to stand a bottle of wine on by the side of your chair is of course completely coincidental.
Plywood can look great if you sand it down and stain it.
Even better if you use brass L-section to cover the edges.
Even better if you use brass L-section to cover the edges.
That's looking really, really good - you wouldn't have guessed that it had been modded. Got me feeling salty for wooden boxes now...!
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Wayland - are you still using your wooden cooler box... that is the wooden box filled with polystyrene insulation held in place with wood-grain fablon - not a wooden box that is cooler than this one?
