How to Build a Tack Trunk, Part One

My niece is 12 years old and has the horse bug just as bad as I do.  One of her first words, actually, I should say one of her first signs, was horse.  You see she was born profoundly deaf and could only communicate through sign language for the first few years of her life.  My brother, seeing that there was not a lot of early intervention programs for children with hearing loss in our area, started The Decibels Foundation to raise money to help pay for such programs.   This year they are holding their second annual horse show and I decided to make a tack box to donate to the silent auction.

This is how I went about it:

I used some 3/4 inch birch veneer plywood, cut out front, back and side panels for the basic box and routered the edges.

Using some small brads nails and wood glue I put together the basic box shape.

I added some trim to the inside so I would have something to nail the floor to.  Then I cut and attached the floor.

 I attached some 1 by 3 for the base trim and...

 ...a 1 by 2 for the top trim.

Added some corner trim to the sides.  Then countersunk any nails, filled the holes with wood putty, and sanded for a neater look.

I attached some thin pieces of wood to the inside corners as guides for the small storage box and brush box I will be making in part two.

Then using more 1 by 2  and some 1/2 inch birch veneer plywood I built the lid.

I stained the whole thing and attached the lid with a piano hinge.

Added a latch and some handles and the basic trunk was finished!

Stay tuned for part two...