Stanley 45 Case

I was fortunate to have inherited a few antique handtools. Chief among them was a Stanley 45 Combination Plane, a big ol' heavy hunk of metal that lets you make all sorts of grooves, rabbets, and even some mouldings. It's well-preserved a thing of beauty.

Sadly, the original cardboard box it came in did not fair so well. So I set out to make a simple box for it.

As with all things, I couldn't stop at simple. I decided it was a good opportunity to practice handcut dovetails. And while I used a cheap wood for it, poplar, I found a piece with some curl in it. I friction-fitted a dust-warding lip when a random comment on Instagram led me to reject the piano hinge I was going to use. And when I realized it needed a handle for it, I couldn't just make one out of wood, and ended up sourcing leather at a local shop.

The end result resembles a picnic basket or a very square purse.