It's me chest, matey

Thought I’d show my treasure chest/cash box. Put this together a few years ago when I was doing several fairs a year and decided that A: the metal cashbox I had was pretty ratty and B: I wanted to try making something like this.

Body is made of 1x6” pine. The lid ends are pine, the top boards are sections of 1x2” with the sides beveled on Dad’s table saw. And getting the angles right was a pain. The body was glued and clamped, then drilled & pegged after the glue dried. The top was assembled by getting the pieces cut, then clamping all in place while each was drilled into the side piece, then glued and pegged. After the glue was set, all was sanded smooth, then stained, then hit with several coats of paste wax.

The hinges are pieces of steel strap 1” wide and about 3/32” thick. Shaped the hinge ends, then carefully bent the strap to fit the body and top, then drilled through and used 3/16” carriage bolts to lock them on so it looks like rivets from the outside. The bolts all had the company markings on the heads so I chucked them in a drill and used the belt sander to cut them down smooth, then hung them in acid to remove the plating, rinsed them and let them hang until they rusted smoothly, then wire-brushed to remove the rust and waxed; gave a nice appearance. The hasp is the same material, drilled and cut a slot in the top piece and used a piece of 1/8” round stock to make the shackle. The hard part there was setting the shackle in and riveting the ends to lock it in place.

All the hinge and hasp pieces were wire-brushed to clean them off, then given a couple of coats of paste wax. That keeps them from rusting and gives a nice look to them.

The thing was sized so I could use the tray from the old box, just glued & screwed a piece of thin wood on each end of the box to support it.

I ever get time, I’d like to make more of these. Maybe a big one.