Maple Toy Box

I made this maple toy box for my nephew a couple of years ago. Maple plywood panels fit into dadoes in the legs. The top edges of the box are trimmed out with 1” solid maple strips. The top is maple ply with solid maple trim. I had some trouble with the alignment of the solid maple which led to the v groove in the top. By cutting the groove the slight misalignment is less obvious (although I’ll always know it’s there!).

The design is original and is the result of finding 4 or 5 designs for toy boxes and blanket chests and picking the features I liked best from each.

When I went to attach the lid I realized that I had made a design error. The back panel is set in from the back of the legs (like the front and sides) which made it impossible to use the piano hinge without a lot of work to determine the correct placement. I solved this by adding a 1” x 3/4” strip at the top of the back between the legs.

The lift is a pneumatic one designed for uplift cabinet doors. We tested carefully to be sure that the lid would not fall onto little hands and that my nephew could get out of the closed box (at the time he loved hiding inside). I also added a piece of a bathroom rug to the bottom to help muffle the noise of toys being tossed into the box.

The plywood I used for the top had a pretty nasty looking knot. I solved this by pulling out my router inlay set. His parents are partial to stars so the star was the logical addition to the box. The dark spots in the center of the bottom edge are my brand. I have one of the fairly common ones that says “Handmade by” and has my full name.

-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com