Build a storage chest from reclaimed wood

In this video I'll show you how I made this rustic storage chest made from reclaimed wood. For this build I used some old barn wood I've had up on the lumber rack in my shop for some time now just waiting for a project like this. These are tongue and groove boards, about three quarters of an inch thick. I started by rough cutting all my pieces at the miter saw, cutting them close to their final length but leaving a little extra. I find it a lot easier to manage my lumber this way especially if I'm going to make rip cuts on my table saw. Unfortunately most of the tongues and grooves from the boards were damaged during the demolition process so I decided to cut them off. I started by removing all the tongues and then flipped the boards on the other edge so I could rip them down to three inches. With all the boards I mentioned I made the final cuts to the exact lengths I needed using a stop block on my miter saw. When you're done you'll have a lot of wood. For details on all the measurements and the cut list for this project check out my written article. I'll leave a link in the description below. Before assembling the walls you'll need to make a custom spacer that's the exact same size as the thickness of your wood. To do this I used a leftover piece of wood to set my fence then cut the spacer. Each wall is made up of five boards stacked together. Once you find a layout you're happy with use the spacer to align the boards and square them up. I place another piece on top of the boards lining up the outside edge with the edge of the spacer and then secured the boards with some brad nails. I then repeated the same process on the other side. All right so here's one of the walls fully assembled. I did the same for all four walls lining up the boards with the spacer and securing with brad nails making sure to stay clear from the spacer. Before going any further with the reclaimed wood I made a simple base using two by two pine wood. The base will be hidden so no need to use anything fancy here. Again you can find all the measurements in the written article that'll be linked in the description below. I first made some pilot holes using a countersink bit. Then I simply assembled the corners using some screws making sure to use a speed square to get the corners nice and square. It's also a good idea to pre-drill some pilot holes on the inside of the base frame so it'll be easier to attach later on. With the four individual walls assembled building the trunk is a matter of standing them up and making a box. I started by checking that all the panels fit with the base then removed three of the panels so I could attach the panels one by one. To make things easier I first put in a few brad nails from the outside then I screwed the base in from the inside. Have I told you how much I love this palm driver? I repeated the same process for each of the walls one by one first adding brad nails from the outside and then screwing the base in from the inside. Alright so this is what it looks like when all the walls are assembled. Okay so next I installed the floorboards. I simply laid them flat and secured them to the 2x2 base using my nail gun. To join the wall panels together I'm using these metal corner braces. You could also use pocket hole screws or other methods but I like the look of the visible hardware. That being said I wanted all my hardware to be black so I first coated the corner braces with some black spray paint. I then mounted them to each corner with some screws making sure to push the panels together and close that gap. To make the lid I decided to use concealed pocket screws. I measured and marked on the underside of the boards where I would make the pocket holes. I then used my mini kreg jig to make all the holes. I lightly clamped all the boards together then put in the pocket screws. I'm adding some decorative support pieces to hide the pocket screws and since they're just decorative I simply nailed them into place using my brad nailer. I used three inch black hinges to attach the lid to the trunk. I didn't have much of a surface so I decided to add an extra board across the back to better support the hinges. I cut the board to size, added a bead of glue and simply clamped it into place before securing it with brad nails. Next I traced out where I wanted the hinge to sit and used a chisel to countersink the hinge so it would sit flush with the top of the wood. From this process I learned that I really need to practice my chiseling skills. After making some pilot holes I screwed the hinges to the chest, then had a little help so I could screw in the hinges to the lid. To make the handles I decided to repurpose an old leather belt. I cut out two eight inch strips using a utility knife. To attach the handles I placed two strips of tape as guidelines, spacing them about half an inch closer together than the length of the leather to create a small hump. Next I moved on to the latch, first finding the center of the chest and marking it out. I needed to make a few custom adjustments to fit the latch and I used my flush cut saw to do this. Next I simply screwed the latch to the lid and now my chest will accommodate a padlock, although really I just like the look. Alright, almost done, but before calling this a wrap I used my sander to round over and smooth all of the edges. I also touched up all the visible screws with some black paint. I also wanted a way to hold the lid upright when open. I wasn't sure the best way to do this, but I simply screwed in a piece of rope to both the inside of the lid and the side of the chest and it seems to be working out pretty good. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this build. I'd love to hear what you think so feel free to let me know in the comments below. Thanks for watching!