Cedar Ice Chest

I needed some sort of picnic basket type thing. I don't know the first thing about basket weaving, so I figured I'd make a simple box out of cedar instead. I used fence picket cutoffs leftover from some planter boxes.

I think I had to change my plan at just about every step of the way, but that just keeps things interesting!

I was sort of making it up as I went, but the general idea I had was to cut the wood into a bunch of strips and stagger them so that I could connect the corners like box joints.

I ripped the strips to width using my table saw and cut them to length using my miter saw.

Each side was made of half long strips and half short strips, alternating them so I could emulate box joints. Once glued, I screwed some scrap strips into my bench, and hammered in a wedge at the top to clamp everything together. To prevent any bowing, I placed some heavy objects on top while the glue dried.

Yes, I did end up gluing everything to my bench. Luckily I was able to pry it all up, but in the future I will be putting down wax paper or applying paste wax before clamping something like this again.

When I hammered in the wedge, it caused some of the strips to slide and shift. I used a speed square to draw a line across the short strips and trimmed them with a chisel. The long strips didn't matter, because the plan was to trim them all flush once the box was assembled.

At this point I ran the boards through my thickness planer to clean them up. I was surprised how nice the ragged cedar pickets looked after a few passes.

I tried to join the boards as intended, but the box joints were just too tight. I should have made the short strips just a touch wider than the long ones, so there would be a little wiggle room. As is, I was afraid of splitting the boards. So instead of starting over I decided to modify my plans and cut all the fingers off with my table saw.

I came up with this sort of double diamond shape to join the corners. This would give each board two edges to be attached to. I made these corner pieces out of a white oak pallet runner. The boards were attached with wood glue and brad nails.

I forgot to take pictures of it, but I made a bottom by biscuit joining some more picket cutoffs together into a board. I also glued some thin vertical strips of cedar to the inside of the walls for added strength.

It was at this point that I realized just how big the box was. It was larger than any picnic basket I'd ever seen. I decided to eat up some of that room by lining it with foam, making it into more of a cooler. I wanted the inside to be sealed so I went ahead and polyurethane everything before putting in the foam.

I found this foam by the isolation at Lowes. It cut easily enough with a utility knife and straightedge. It held just fine with a pressure fit, but I went ahead and added a bit of super glue as insurance.

Since I had covered the inside with foam, I wanted to line it with something a bit more presentable looking. I used this green curtain that I had sitting around from a previous apartment.

I attached the liner to the top edge of the foam with a line of hot glue and plenty of nails with wide heads.

I covered the top edge of the foam with this sort of trim ledge bit. Once it was in place, I trimmed the perimeter flush with a router and rounded over the edges where the lid would open.

The lid was made from more picket cutoffs held together with biscuits like the bottom. My cutoffs weren't long enough, so I added a perpendicular piece at one end, kind of like a breadboard on a dining table. It also helps differentiate which end you are supposed to lift from.

I decided where I wanted the lid to hinge and cut it, fixing the short part down to the box.

I made two of these foam "cushions" to help add some insulation to the lid. I glued one to the fixed portion and one the the hinged part of the lid.

It wasn't finished, but it was time for a trial run. I had some turkey, cheese, and mayonnaise that needed to kept cool, so I put them in one corner with a few ice packs on top. The rest of the snacks weren't so temperature sensitive.

The cooler sat in the back of a car for about half a day, and the ice packs never melted. I'd call that a success. My only complaint is that it was pretty awkward to carry around without any handles, but we're about to address that.

First though, I added several more coats of polyurethane and cut a piano hinge to length.

I had originally envisioned leather straps bordering the perimeter of the ice chest, and leather picnic basket-style handles coming out of the top. I didn't have enough thick leather, so I opted for brass handles instead. These were just simple drawer pulls from the hardware store.

I didn't trust the short screws the handle came with to hold in the soft cedar, so I got some matching brass bolts and domed nuts.

I applied masking tape, so I could mark on the chest where I wanted to drill, and draw a center reference line. While drilling, I made sure to pull the fabric away from the foam to keep it from getting all twisted up in the drill bit.

I used an ice pick to poke holes through the fabric, then cut slits for the bolts to come through.

I had hoped to find a thick enough piece of brass at the hardware store to make a backing plate for the inside and keep the nuts from pulling into the foam. Unfortunately I couldn't find any, so I bought some large washers instead.

I didn't take spacing into account, and didn't realize these washers would be too wide until I was ready to install the handle. I found some oak and went back to my backing plate idea. The oak was the perfect thickness, and I didn't need to trim the bolts to length.

I installed the handles and piano hinge.

And done!