These shots are all taken after the lids have been removed, rubbish refurb-job undone, timber all re-seated and re-glued with sash clamps. It actually took quite a bit of work to get these to the point of "getting started".
 | The cheap timber joinery had no support at the top, so if you (kids) pulled the boxes towards yourself from the top, you'd shatter the entire assembly. Some reinforcement was needed. |
I made some simple "L-beams" with some 20mm pine and formed a basic frame for the top.
The frame just drops in from the top, and then I fastened it with more brass screws from the inside-out.
The top rim is pretty sturdy now. Should support some serious beatings, and gives some meat for hinges to bite into.
One is stained Dark Mahogany, the other Teak. (it should be noted that dark mahogany always looks like rubbish before it's varnished.)
Some new Vinyl and brass tacks make the lids look like new again. Brass tacks seems to look good on anything.
Hinge on the ugly-side where there was some stain-bleeding. Not sure what happened here, but fortunately it was only on this one edge of this one toy box.
It works ! I'll put some sort of rubber stopper in so that little fingers don't get smushed in the likely event of a slam.
The kids chose their vinyl colors, so they should be happy with the final results :)
Dark Mahogany on the left. Teak on the right.
Something goofy with the lighting on this shot, but you get the idea.
