A few months ago, we visited a Woodcraft where they had a Campfire Roasting Fork Turning Kit on sale, so I picked it up. I knew winter was coming and there would be some to get them made.
That time came last week. I hunted through my wood stash and found a couple perfect pieces of Mulberry and got started turning a set of handles.
The set of four came out nicely, they actually look like a matching set. Good thing I threw away the first one, the one I tried without sketching a profile – wow it was ugly.
Anyway, fun project and I’m certain they will get put to use this year when camping.
For my birthday this year, Ana gave me a 17″ Blackstone griddle which we’re planning on giving plenty of use while camping.
This model came with a hood, but I’m not comfortable just stacking things on it – which is sure to happen as we’re loading the truck up for camping. With this in mind, I set out to build a box for storage and travelling. I want to make sure that it’s protected, can have stuff stacked atop it, and is easy to pack/unpack.
This afternoon I wrapped up the simple build and the final coat of stain is drying as I type this.
It’s a simple box constructed of 1/2″ birch plywood, sitting on a 3/4″ birch plywood base. Handles are routed into the sides for easy carrying, and a set of spring loaded toggle latches affix the box to its base. With this arrangement we’re able to just lift the lid off the base and get to the griddle. We may just end up cooking with the griddle on the base.
Some testing has shown the latches to be more than capable of securely holding a pair of 20lb dumbbells so the griddle’s weight isn’t a problem.
The second coat of finish is drying here.
I added small strips of wood to aid in lid alignment and a set of braces for the griddle’s legs to set into to keep it from sliding around as it’s in transit and being carried around.
The finish is Minwax Polyshades, Classic Black, Satin. I used this combination stain and polyurethane finish before for a tablet stand for the car, so I’m expecting it to be a good fit here too. The outside is covered in three coats, while the inside has two.
Ana created the vinyl logo on her Cricut machine and in the coming days I’ll be coating the whole thing with some polyurethane to add just a little more protection.
A couple years ago I built a chuck box for food and cooking while camping. It worked out so well I decided to make one for my dad as gift this past Christmas.
He has a smaller stove and doesn’t need food or cooking space for 4 people, so I was able to make it quite a bit smaller and lighter.
It’s birch plywood, trimmed with solid walnut. Finished with several coats (5 maybe? I can’t remember) of Helmsman Spar Urethane.
Funny story, I actually had to make this one twice. The first one I screwed up by making the top too shallow, so it has since been repurposed and tweaked to be a rock-tumbler-case for Claire’s rock tumbling hobby. I’ll post photos of that soon.
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