Dog Walking Station - Rolled Bags

A few months ago, I made a dog walking station, which incorporated storage for plastic shopping bags ... a reuse concept basically. Thanks to some of the great comments, I decided to make a version which incorporates the bags on a roll.

I used the same construction method for the backing board and wall mounting. Dimensions are different, I switched up the style of hooks, and I still don't have a dog.

I started by ripping some 3/4" poplar scrap into 1/4" strips, which will be used as edge banding.

The plywood back panel was ripped to width using the table saw and then cut it to length using a small crosscut sled. A smaller piece of poplar was cut to act as a shelf using this same method.

The poplar edge banding was attached using glue and pin nails ... starting with the tops and sides. Once dry, I cut off the excess, sanded flush using the OSS, and then attached the bottom with glue and pin nails. I use this second glue session to fill any voids/nail holes with glue and sawdust. Same deal once the glue dries .. cut the excess and sand flush using the OSS.

I personally find this method less tedious than trying to get all the parts cut to exact lengths and I get a better finished product.

The rolled bags fit perfectly onto a 5/16" bolt. You could easily use steel rod stock or even wood doweling. I personally wanted to use metal to avoid a dowel getting broken by accident. I didn't have any steel stock .. so I used hex bolts. One benefit of the bolt is that the hex head will give a lot of "root," so it won't come unglued and pop out ... which sometimes happens with steel and epoxy.

Using a 5/8" forstner bit, I drilled a 1/2" deep hole to conceal the hex head. The rest of the hole was drilled through using a 5/16" bit.

I didn't want the threaded part of the bolts, so I cut them off using an angle grinder. The cut edge was sanded smooth and chamfered using the OSS.

The bolts were inserted up through the larger hole and I chose to use Gorilla glue to bond the metal to wood. Since I didn't want these holes to be visible, I plugged them with 5/8" wooden doweling ... wood glue, dowel, rough cut, and clamp. Once the glue was dry, I trimmed them closer with the bandsaw and then sanded them flush using the OSS.

I first tried this hanging method on Dog Walking Station V1.0 and it works well ... at least for light objects. I've also used it with custom picture framing and hanging. It's a cheaper solution than the store bought hangers, which you can't get at the big box stores. Also, the store bought version are oval from what I've seen, which means chisels and fussy work.

Fabricating The Hanger
1. Drill a 3/32" hole in the washer 1/3 of the distance from the inner hole.
2. Use a step bit to enlarge that hole enough for the head of a screw
3. Remove two sharp points between the holes with a file ... I used a round file, but you can use whatever.
4. Sand off the burr left by the step bit using the OSS.

Fitting The Hanger
1. Use a Forstner bit the same diameter as the washer to drill a hole just deep enough to recess the washer.
2. Continue that hole with a smaller Forstner bit .. deep enough for the screw head, but not so deep that blast though the other side of your work.
3 Glue the washer in place. I used superglue since my project is very light, but epoxy would be good as well.

All of the parts were sanded up to 220 grit and then finished with 50/50 boiled linseed oil/mineral spirits, followed by a coat of paste wax and then buffed out.

Prior to finishing, I had drilled all of the necessary pilot holes for the coat hooks and bag shelf. The quickest and most accurate way to transfer those hole locations to the shelf is just to clamp it in place. Then, you can use the established holes as guides to drill pilots in the shelf.

I started the screws by hand so the points just stuck out on the front side, which let me get the shelf aligned before reapplying the clamp. The clamp just kept the shelf in place and tight to the back as I drove the screws by hand.

The coat hooks were attached with two screws each and you can see that I like all my phillips screws to be uniformly oriented ... my personal preference is so they look like an X as opposed to a +.

It's a quick and easy project, which could be scaled up or down for more dogs or less dogs. You could make the panel taller and personalize it with the dog's name or some image if desired.

These are going to a friend's doggy daycare ... we'll see if there is any retail interest.

Dimensions:
Plywood Panel: 3/4" x 3 1/2" x 11 1/2"
Poplar Edge Banding: 3/4" x 1/4" x Cut to Fit
Bag Roll Shelf: 3/4" x 1 5/8" x 5"
Washers: 1 1/4" Diameter with a 5/16" Center Hole
Hex Bolt: 5/16" Diameter - 3" Length (then threads cut off)