Introduction: Mitered Box With Paracord Handles
Making a mitered plywood box with paracord handles.
To store wooden building blocks I made a box from plywood with mitre
joints and handles made of paracord. My son gave it a special paint job.
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Step 1: The Sides
I cut a sheet of 6mm or 1/4in plywood to four rectangle pieces with the same size. And I cut a square piece for the bottom, which had about 1/4inch or 6mm smaller sides.
I cut a dado into every side piece and bevelled the long edges with a 45° miter.
Step 2:
Then I marked the a point where I drilled a finger hole on each side with a forstner bit. I chose the size of the bit so that no building block could fall through the hole later.
Step 3: Glue Up
Before glueing the miters, I sanded the inner surface smooth. Then I put the side pieces down to the workbench and attached them with pieces of painters tape on the outside.
I inserted the bottom into the dados and folded everything up. Some bar clamps hold everything tight.
Step 4: The Lid
I cut a piece corresponding to the inner rim of the opening and one piece in the size of the outer rim. I glued both together to get the lid.
Step 5: Sanding
The next step was to sand the lid and the outer surfaces.
Step 6: Painting
My son gave it a special paint job. We used finger paint for children.
Step 7: Finishing
After the finger paint was dry I protected everything with a few codes of spray laquer and gave it a last sanding with 600 grid wet sandpaper.
Step 8: Preparation for the Handles
I marked the places where I wanted to put the handles and drilled holes.
Step 9: The Monkey's Fist
Then I tied the knot for the lid handle with black para cord and put a small steel ball in the middle for stability reasons. This type of knots is called “The Monkey’s Fist”.
After tighten the knot, I added a strand of white para cord by melting the ends and press them together.
Step 10: The Handles
I threaded the white and black end through one hole in the lid and back through the other. I kept about the width of my hand on the knots side. Then I started to tie “Snake Knots” around the remaining cord. I cut the ends flush and sealed them with a lighter.
For the two handles on the sides I threaded a white and a black card through one hole each and tied a “Reef Knot” inside the box. On the outside I tied several “Snake Knots” like before on the lid. At the end I threaded the black and white cord through the other holes and attached them again with a “Reef Knot”.
Step 11: Gliders
For protection I added some glides in each corner of the bottom with CA glue.
Step 12: Noise Reduction
Unfortunately the sound of letting wooden building block fallen into the box was much too loud, so I had to dampen I with a piece of cloth.