Building the carcase for the tack trunk

Enough of the designing and tinkering in Sketch-Up it’s time to get building the tack trunk if I’m going to have it done by sometime around Chelsea’s birthday!

Tack Trunk Carcase

Yesterday I started the actual construction of the plywood carcase.  The carcase is made from 3/4″ oak plywood. I had a real hard time trying to find some good quality plywood to use. The stuff you can get at the local home goods stores is really cheap with voids and very thin veneer. I even went and talked to one of the local cabinet shops in the area to see where they purchase cabinet grade plywood around here and the answer is they don’t.  They end up ordering it from a supplier and even then the quality isn’t what it used to be. I did find some oak plywood at a local Home Depot that was fairly good, but I ended up digging through a pile of 15 sheets (by myself)  before finding two that were acceptable to me.

By the end of my time in the workshop yesterday I had rough cut the pieces for the carcase from one of the 4×8 sheets of plywood into managable sizes and ripped them to the correct width.  Today after work I cut the individual pieces of the carcase to thier correct dimensions, and using the tablesaw cut the rabbits in the bottom, front, and back pieces. I also cut the dado for the sliding tray support.

Inside of the tack trunk carcase

I still have the stopped dado to cut in the front and back pieces for the shelf support and also the stopped dado for the dividing panel in the carcase then it will be ready for glue up.

Did I mention that I am also creating a set of plans for the tack trunk?  I will have them available for a nominal fee after I complete the build. If you want to order yours now, just send an email to TheKraftsman@kyserikekraftsman.com.

Update 07/25/2010: The plans are now available in the download store.