Building a toy box for your child or grand child can be a fun weekend project. The materials required are not terribly expensive and finishes are limited only by your imagination. You can cut a two foot wide, two foot deep by four foot wide toy box out of two sheets of plywood with some left over for your next project. Picking a finished faced, three quarter inch thick plywood such as a birch or oak face, makes for a beautiful, long lasting heirloom that will last many, many years. You can of course construct a beautiful toy box using paint grade plywood as well. Using individual boards, installing biscuits and edge gluing is a little more than many homeowners are equipped to do so we will work with plywood sheets for this toy box. When purchasing your plywood, get four heavy duty caster wheels, some one and a quarter inch wood screws, some good carpenters glue, a four foot piano hinge and a handle if you wish to add one. You will also need about thirty feet of three quarter inch wide trim to cover the exposed edges of the cut sheets. Paints and stains can be purchased once you decide on the your desired finish.
If you have a large table saw, cutting the plywood into panels is a snap. If not, using a good straight edge clamped to the plywood to guide you while you cut, works just fine. Use a good sharp blade made just for plywood in your circular saw. The trick is to get good sharp clean edges on all your cuts. The first sheet of plywood will be marked in two foot increments so you have four two foot by four foot pieces when your done. These are the top, bottom, front and back panels. The second sheet will have only one two foot by four foot piece cut from the sheet and then cut that piece is cut in half to end up with two, two foot by two foot pieces. These are the ends of the toy box. Now to keep this simple, cut an additional one and a half inches from the length of the two ends and the bottom panel. Not the height, just the length and here is why. When you assemble the toy box you will construct the rectangle portion using the ends and front and back panels first. When they are all assembled the rectangle will measure exactly two feet wide by four feet long. Cutting the inch and a half off the ends allows you to lap the front and back panels over the end panels and the result is a two foot measurement. Now after checking the inside measurement cut an additional inch and a half off the width of the bottom panel and then drop the bottom panel inside the rectangle. The provides the minimum exposed cut edges of the plywood. Assemble all these panels using your wood glue and screws and apply your pipe clamps making sure all panels are plumb and square to each other and set aside to dry. Once dry do a light sanding of all the edges to assure no nasty plywood splinters are present. The top piece measuring two feet by four feet will sit flush on top of the toy box. You want to install the piano hinge in such a manner that it will allow the top to flip back from the box when opened but close flush with the front when closed. Once done, install a short piece of small chain inside to prevent the lid from flipping backwards and ripping the hinge out of the box. Install the handle if you purchased one or cut a hole four inches long and two inches wide lengthwise in the front portion of the lid and then round over all the edges inside and out. This will allow small hands to fit inside and lift the lid. Install the three quarter inch wide edge trims to the ends of the box and the edges of the lid.
Now install the four heavy duty casters. A full toy box can weigh a great deal and when the box
becomes a seat for two kids having lunch, you don't want the casters to collapse. With all the hard work done finishing the toy box becomes a great project with the kids or grand kids. Once the base color is applied, try having them use their hands in different colored paints to leave their small hand prints behind. Date the prints for them, and then apply a good finish sealer. Your toy box will be a treasure they will remember doing with you for a long, long time.
BCES-Building Inspection & Code Enforcement System Software
Pete is a 30+ year building inspector with experience in both public and private construction industries. From schools to treatment plants, from private homes and condo projects, to large residential landscaping projects, he has worked both in the building design areas and field construction in the Eastern US. In 2006 he formed along with two other building inspectors, Wagsys LLC which produced software for municipal agencies in the fields of building departments, planning boards and Zoning Boards of Appeals.
