wooden

There are certain phrases in the English language — and I’m sure in other languages as well — that are spoken so often that they are no longer heard. It’s not that they you don’t actually hear them, it’s more that they become overused; white noise. And we never even question their validity because they’ve been around for so long.

There are many examples of this, such as — Don’t go to bed angry. What? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard and is also totally wrong because angry is the absolute best time to go to bed. Since sleep is the cosmic reset button, you go to bed angry, you wake up not angry. Perfect. And you also wake up and realize what an idiot you were for being ticked off in the first place.

Here’s another one. Let’s give it 110%. Dumb. I mean, I get it. You’re saying let’s give more than we have, let’s push the envelope, —. Yeah. But you’re also stating that we should give an immeasurable, incomprehensible amount that can never be tracked or gauged — and the phrase is so overused that our 110% has been reduced to about 40%.

How about this one. Well, to be honest here … That great. So it basically it says, okay, I’ll start telling the truth now because everything else I’ve said so far has been total crap.

And how about this one. The best gifts are the homemade. This is basically false. Because the best gifts are the ones with thought behind them, where we have spent time thinking about the gift and most homemade gifts are usually quickly made, generic items, thrown together without much thought or meaning.

However …

There are a few homemade gifts that can be both made pretty quickly, are of higher quality and will show a little thought. And — here is the best part — they will actually be used.

On the very top of the list is the classic open faced wooden toolbox. These things are great and have been used for generations and even if you have a toolbox — even if you have ten toolboxes — you need a classic wooden toolbox because they are ideal to carry specific tools to a specific project. They are simple to make, quick, have a real charm and will actually be used —- and more importantly they will be remembered.

Make one for yourself and them make them as gifts.

HOW TO MAKE AN OPEN FACED WOODEN TOOLBOX.

1. Get some lumber. The great thing about these boxes is they can be made from any scrap lumber you have laying around — often these are made from pine because its low cost but you can also get yourself a solid piece of oak to give it more of a furniture look. On the other side, I’ve seen some really great ones made out of rough cut lumber that gives it that rustic quality. So there is not wrong answer.

      2. Design the size of the box. There is no standard length and height for these boxes and they range from a few feet long to three or four feet long to hold saws and levels in. But a 24” box is pretty common. So lay out the tools you want to fit in there and go from there.

I have seen several drawings online for these boxes but the most simplistic and easy is one I found on the handymanwire.com site …

draw

http://www.handymanwire.com/articles/toolbox.html

3. Cut your lumber. (see above).

      4. Assemble the tray. Glue and nail the tray bottom and sides — and remember, you are nailing in the edges of wood so screws and even larger nails will split the wood. Be careful. Use furniture or finishing nails.

     5. Insert the dowel. Slip it in and glue it — you can also add a nails into the edge for support.

     6. Finish. You can leave these boxes unfinished or you can stain or paint. Completely up to you.

BY:

evdemorier@aol.com

Everett De Morier has appeared on CNN, Fox News Network, NPR, ABC, as well as in The New York Times and The London Times. He is the author of Crib Notes for the First Year of Marriage: A...


Notice: compact(): Undefined variable: limits in /home4/fivfouu9/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 853

Notice: compact(): Undefined variable: groupby in /home4/fivfouu9/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 853