Project: Snowie's Casket (part 1 of 2)

=====================
Snowie Chow has passed this week. He was older than grandma at 112 dog years old!.. so he did do pretty good. He didn't exactly see any World Wars or witness any major transportation get invented in his time. But, he did get to see the revolution that is the iPod/iPhone/iPad!


This project is for Snowie. The final resting place for him and his favorite toy. A small wooden traditional casket to house his cremated remains and his chew toy. This will be buried in Drew's parent's backyard under the pine tree.

The initial assemblage of the materials. The hardware, some found pine wood around the house(already slotted for the floor!), and a quick sketch of what I think it should look like. I wanted this to look exactly like a full-human-sized casket. Just mini-er.


Cutting up some decorative trim on the mitre box


Simple box cut, glued, and screwed together. Nothing fancy so far.
Test fitting where the handle should go.

Traditional side?


Or on the ends? I think we'll go with this option as this would allow me to put a dedication plaque on the side later.


All trim sanded and glued into place. Holes drilled for handles. (Only temporary to see them on at this point)


The Lid:
Thought of many ways I can approach this. The difficulty is that the design requests it to be curved. If I had decided to have a simple flat top, I'd be done in 10 minutes. (I could have just gone out and bought a jewelry box and be done with it!) But, it's not my style.. I'd always go for the most challenging way I can think of in the amount of time given to me. (An opportunity to learn and grow)

So, carving one out of a chunk of wood, Steam bending thin plywood, etc .. all approaches would take me too long a time to accomplish. Looking around the house to see what material I had to work with is also part of the process.

Half inch (Home Depot) foam insulation boards was perfect. Simple to carve, cut, and sand.


Stacked a few and sketched the shape.


First layer sanded to shape on the belt sander. Next two glued together.


The process of shaping this lid is pretty straight forward. Just like sculpting. just taking away the material in the negative space in one axis, then work on the next axis. This method is best for this shape.


Re-drawing what I need to take away in the profile axis.




On the belt sander working on the 2nd shape.




Same method used to carve the bottom half of the lid.


Ooops.
As I started the painting stage, the spray paint I used started to eat a bit of the foam. I wasn't worried before as I knew I could paint over this foam. The difference this time is that I used a paint from a spraycan with high gloss. Not exactly sure what ingredient it was that dissolves this foam. The damage was minor and was easily corrected with a light coat of spackling. When it dries, I'll sand to smooth finish. This blooper is actually a blessing as it would give the entire lid a harder shell.


Got this plaque made today. Cat/Drew had an opportunity to see the plaque and the work-in-progress casket as it so far. And immediately would not let me 'bury' the plaque as it's 'too nice'. So, I guess I'll have to come up with another alternative. For all you CG folks, this is a "revision"


On a side note... here's a quick pic of my sad workstation! But, it's all there at arms reach. Drill press, belt sander, scroll saw.. all inches apart from one another! Hey, I don't have to go very far for each tool!


Stay tuned for the finish!