Some woodworking projects turn up unexpected results ... this is one of those builds. I absolutely loved making this project, the Boot Locker or mini trunk. It was fun to make and what I really liked was there were SO MANY different things I could do in making this, I am going to make more ...
And that was my biggest problem, what kind of joinery should I use, what kind of top, what woods could I use, how do I want to color the wood and what finish? ... so many questions and ideas ...
So in the end, I opted for bit more simple approach because there are very few of these topics on YouTube, I thought best to introduce it and in later versions I can concentrate on different kinds of modifications.
As I began the build, my mind was racing ahead to all the things I could do with this box, it was hard to concentrate on the job at hand.
The wood cutting was easy, the box is 12 inches high, but 14 inches wide and 24 inches long. A smaller version would be very nice too, I felt mine was at the top of where I wanted the size of this footlocker to be, future versions will probably be a bit smaller to see how they fit in.
Below is the finished version
I has some very thin 3/16 inch 3 ply, plywood from an earlier build, some of it was damaged but I managed to find a piece in the half sheet I had left that I could cut out a near perfect top. As you can see in the video I laminated the 3-ply cherry to some 1/3" Baltic Birch using contact cement. I haven't used contact cement that often in the past and every time I use it I wonder why I don't use it more ...
I did not finish the inside of the box, I seldom do unless there is a reason to do this. Among woodworkers there are varying thoughts about finishing the insides of many projects, so always finish the insides, other never ... I think it depends on the project, where it's going and who will own it. In this case this box is mine, and I want to leave it as is because someday I may want to add aromatic cedar to the inside.
I did add a little bit of hardware, like the piano hinge for the lid. I felt that because this was a very soft wood as Pine is, that having a couple of hinges with only 4 screws in each hinge, there would be a high probability that the screws could pull out of the Pine in the future when anyone opened the lid too far or picked up the box by the lid .. or whatever. For these reasons I opted to use Piano Hinge with it multiple screws that should stand the test of time for many decades and well beyond my lifetime.
The nice thing with these boxes is the many, many different things that people can do with them, adding locks, hinges, carry handles not to mention the construction options and finishing options, just a great build for so many reasons.
I can't believe how few of these kinds of builds there are on YouTubed when it doesn't take a lot of lumber to make something that another person might cherish and use for the rest of their life.
Hopefully others will take up the challenge to make a Boot of Foot Locker, I would love to see what new ideas they might come up with ...
Copyright Colin Knecht
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