Re: Box Cutter reincarnation.
OK, here's the story. I work at the Food Lion distribution warehouse in Salisbury and we use a specific brand of box cutter for "safety" reasons. Below is a picture of the original.
One of my associates had dropped his knife and it had been run over by a forklift. As you can imagine, a 12,000 lb forklift isn't exactly good for a plastic knife. Most of the handle was crushed but the mechanism inside was still good. I held onto the knife and started planning. My reasons for making the knife into a wooden version are the best reason to do any woodworking, because I could.:wsmile: So my dad (TracyP) and I started work on it yesterday.
The first thing that we did was to get a chunk of wood and cut it down to just larger than the overall size.
We then ripped it into two 1/2" pieces, for the sides of the knife. I traced the pattern of the knife internals onto one of the 1/2" pieces of wood and we started to cut it out with a dremel tool.
BTW, I REALLY like Dremel tools now. :gar-La; It took a few tries but eventually we got the internals to fit snugly into the recess we cut in the wood. I also need a slot on the bottom of the knife for a blade release. On the original there is a button you push but we decided to just cut a recess to get to the button on the inside. I used the Dremel tool for that too.
Next we needed a slot for the blade extension knob. I tried doing this part with the dremel tool on the other half of the wood we cut, but it didn't turn out so well. :nah:
Note to dad: I wish I'd known you were taking this one. I could've posed instead of looking dumbfounded. :eusa_thin haha. I was trying to figure out what to do next.
Apparently I'm better with a half of a hole than cutting a whole one. So my dad took the piece to the scroll saw and got it cut right out. :icon_cheers
Then we painted some Titebond II on and clamped it all together.
Now for the hardest part, we wait. Only took about 30 minutes but it always feels longer. I traced the pattern of the handle that I wanted and back to the scroll saw my dad went. He cut it right out and by now I'm a little jealous since I can barely cut a 1" straight line on the scroll saw. OK, maybe not jealous but I need some practice. :gar-Bi Once the general shape was right we sanded it. And sanded it. And sanded it a little more.
Once all of the contours were right my dad made a mixture of BLO, mineral spirits, and some cherry stain. It was approx. 1/3 part each. He painted the stain on and we waited again. Once several coats of finish were applied and dried we applied a few coats of spray lacquer and once dry again it was done.
What we finished with was a box cutter that was much better than in it's previous life. It's smaller, fits in my hand and pocket better, and is wood. Who in their right mind would say plastic is better than wood? And another bonus to it, I can spot it in a second if anybody ever steals it. I think the best thing I got out of this knife was that my dad and I spent a fun Sunday together. I "think" he'd agree. :wsmile:
