Shop update #414 (10-15-25)

It was another long weekend involving a high school marching band competition and a Boy Scout Court of Honor.

At the Fall COH for our Boy Scout Troop, we serve lunch and raffle off gift baskets of items donated by member families.  I always build some kind of woodworking gift package.  This year, it was a custom made laser engraved box, a laser engraved crate, and 3 laser engraved cutting boards.

During the week, I built a box out of plywood scraps from last weekend’s Eagle Scout project.  I had never made a box with rabbeted edges for the the sides and ends to have more glue surface so I decided to learn on this box.  I think it turned out pretty good for my first try.

I glued it all up and let it dry overnight.  The next day, I cut the lid off on the table saw and then stained the entire box.  I was planning on giving it an amber shellac finish but had very little left in the can so I used a beeswax and oil finish instead.  That ended up being a very bad idea.  The stain was rubbing off while I was applying the finish and it ended up looking splotchy and uninspired.

I got out to the shop about 11:00 am on Saturday morning and decided that I was not going to use this box.  I dug around in my scrap piles (plural) and found 2 – 5 1/2″ x 24″ x 3/8″ boards that I had bought 6 months ago for a project that I never made.  I designed up a quick box in Sketchup using those material dimensions, and came up with a 10″ x 5 1/2″ x 5 3/4″ box.  I cut the wood down to size, laser engraved the top, and then glued it together using butt joints and 1″ brad nails.  I let it dry for an hour, sanded everything flush, cut off the lid and then stained it with the last of my Gunstock stain.

While I was working on the box, I had the laser engraver working in the background engraving cutting boards.  While the glue was drying, I cut a bunch of scrap plywood down into 1 1/2″ x 3/4″ by 18″ strips.  I had 2 larger pieces of scrap 3/4″ plywood that were the same size (around 10″ x 8″ I think) so I laser engraved the Eagle Scout logo and Troop number and city name on the sides and then built everything into a crate.

I sanded down all the rough edges and gave it 2 or 3 coats of spray lacquer and let it dry outside all day.

Before I took the crate outside, I gave the box a coat of amber shellac.

After I was done with the crate, I gave the box another coat of amber shellac.  By this time, it was 3:30 pm so I took a shower and the wife and I headed out to Orange County for my son’s first high school marching band competition of the year.  They took first place in all three of their categories and 1 best of award.  By the time the band got back to town, emptied the semi trailer and 2 UHAUL trucks and drove home, it was 1:15 am.  My wife and son washed up and went to bed.  I went to the shop to finish the box.  I sanded the box down to smooth out the shellac finish, installed the 2 hinges, 1 latch, and 8 corner protectors.  By the time I was done, it was 2:45 am.

I didn’t want the box to be empty so I fired up the 2 – 3D printers and started printing up a bunch of ghosts and ducks.  They were finished by the time I woke up and 9:30 am on Sunday.

We were in Chino by 11:00 am to help prepare the hall for our Fall Court of Honor.  I setup all of the wood items in the raffle area, ate really quick, and then spent the next hour taking family portrait pictures in front of a backdrop that we setup for the occasion.  The scouts then received all of their rank advancements, merit badges, and various other awards.  Before, during, and after the ceremony, all of the gift baskets were raffled off.  My contribution did quite well and raised a bunch of money for the troop.

Once we got home and I checked my phone, I realized that I had been so busy that I had not taken any pictures of the finished products.  I texted the family that won it, and they were nice enough to send me some pictures of the items.