Tool Box Handles

    Since I am now retired, I can not help but notice how over the past few years the price of my Cheerios box is going up and the size of the box seems to be getting a little smaller.   The same is true with my can of Campbell's tomato soup.   In fact this morning when I was doing my "thinking time" I noticed that even the toilet paper roll seemed be get narrower and narrower.   The other day I purchased a new screen door that was quoted to being 36 inches wide and I discovered when I got home it really was 35 1/2 inches wide.    What is the deal anyway...?

     Last summer I had taken some logs that came from a tree that we had taken down by our house and had it cut into lumber.    Later I just took a few chunks that had been cut into fire wood and ran them through the band saw to make my own boards.  (you can read about it on the May 27, 2015 Blog) I was never sure what I would do with these pieces, but everyone now knows that I have a really hard time throwing any chunk of wood away.

    So when it came time to purchase some handles to use on the tool box that I had just built, I was a little shocked at how the price of those handles had gone up and how suddenly the size of those handles seemed a little smaller.   I did a little research into making my own handles.   It is amazing what you can find on You Tube now days.

        First I made a slab about 1 1/2 inches thick.   It wasn't until I took the picture that I realized one board must have originated from a maple log and the other two came from the bass tree.   (A typical DAG thing.)

 


I sawed this slab into two pieces.   Each piece was 1 1/2 inches square.









I ran those two pieces over my dado blade so that I could notch out a little opening down the middle.

    I cut the top off at 10 degrees and shortened one of the legs.

     Next I cut the sides at an angle and ended up with what could be four handles.     At this point I got out my sandpaper and did a little hand sanding.  (My favorite part of the task.)

   I used three of the four handles that I made on this tool box.   I mounted them so they will not tear off.    They should work quite well.  My only cost is a little glue.    The cost to purchase the three handles that I was thinking of would have been $21.00.   That's a nice little savings.   Now I have some extra cash to buy a little soup, some cheerios, and especially that extra soft toilet paper.