The Dapper Organizer

Over the years, Whisker's acquired various accessories which have invariably been found in different locations for lack of an organizer. So we decided to make a single place he could put all of his items including:

• Pocketwatch
• Trilby hat
• Wallet
• Pipe
• Glasses

What you need:

• Various kinds of wood of approximately 6" x 24" x 1/4" to 1" thickness. For ease of manipulation, we used poplar, maple, and cedar. They're all relatively soft woods and are easy to cut!
• Wood glue
• Mouse sander
• Bandsaw
• Sandpaper of various fine grit (whatever you have will work)
• Wax

We knew that the largest piece we needed to fit was the hat, and we had measured that its size was about 7x10" give or take, so the wood base we needed had to be about that size so the hat could be held up by it.

Take your wood boards and cut out approximately 1.5 x 6" slats. Because they are from different boards, they will be of different thicknesses. That variability is a-okay!

Match them all up together - we alternated poplar and maple. Keep in mind that the bottom of the boards will be what eventually faces up into the hat. We chose that side because the table helps to create a flat surface from which to work with.

The hat base will be on a stand. To do this, pre-cut a slot in one of the middle slats. Also left slots equidistantly from the middle about the width of your glasses. They will eventually help keep the eyeglass frame in place.

Glue all of these together once you've organized them to fit the rough size of the inner brim of your hat.

The video shows us going through all of these steps!

Once the glue has set up (about an hour, though we left it for a day), sand all of the major bits off! Get a towel or piece of paper and cut it into the shape of the inside of the hat brim. Then trace this shape onto the wood so you know where to cut.

Use the bandsaw and cut the shape out!

If you want an angle to the hat stand base, you'll want to angle the bandsaw base and rough cut an angle into the base. Once you sand this down and fit it to the hat, you can get started on the next portion!

The video (up to about 7:53) shows these steps!

With some of your leftover wood, we're going to make a stand that goes between the hat base and the main base. The shape is up to you but you'll want to make sure that the ends (top and bottom) are able to fit into the slots that we pre-cut before. This helps to make it look seamless from the hat base to the bottom base. Also remember to use the same wood for the stand that is used for the pre-cut slot wood.

To fit Whisker's glasses, we also cut a little "tree branch" on the stand that the bridge of the glasses could sit on.

We decided to use the same lamination process for the base. You've done this for the hat, so you're a pro at this! For the main base we used cedar and poplar. The only maple we used was for the center one that the stand would sit into. Just make sure to match the stand insert with the slot you cut out for it!

Because the hat base and stand looked like a tree, we wanted to make the main base have an organic look to it - like a grassy patch (kinda :p). So we shaped the cut-out to have some curves to it.

We also wanted to have spots for the pocketwatch, pipe, and wallet, so we also made some of the wood slats taller so they acted as dividers. This section will hold the wallet and passport.

For the pipe, we traced a piece of wider cedar - cut and then sanded it, and then put it into place.

We also put a little divot in for the pocket watch. You can see the relatively unsanded version in the 7th picture. The options are endless depending on what you want your dapper organizer to hold!

Then glue it up!

The video shows these steps :)

Cut the main base's shape out and make sure everything fits nicely. We haven't forgotten the two slots for the eyeglasses - so we cut out a couple of "ear shaped" pieces to glue in.

Do a rough sand of the bottom and the top before an epic glue up! Note the clamps and weight :p

The video shows these steps up to around 5:43.

Now that everything's glued up, sand, sand, sand!

Once it's been sanded to a point that you're satisfied, it's time to put coats of wax! We found the easiest way to put on finishing wax was with our fingers. Rub rub rub. And try to rub off the excess. Then let the coat of wax harden. This usually takes a few hours.

Once it's no longer soft/tacky, you'll want to take some of the minute excess off. We found the easiest way to do this was just to use a scrap piece of wood and scrape the extra bits off. Once you've buffed it with a towel, put on another layer and repeat. We were able to get the results we wanted with just 2 wax layers.

And voila! You have your own dapper organizer!