We recycle newspapers, and for many years we just had a pile in a corner of the dining room. When the pile started to collapse, that was the signal to put the papers in bags or to tie them up with cords and to drop them off at the
appropriate recycle bin. This was pretty unsightly as well as rather inconvenient, so I decided we needed a better system. This consisted of two parts; a storage box, and a disposal bag.
I decided to make a decorative box to hold the papers so they could stay conveniently located in the dining room. The box is made from Cherry. Front and back are each made from one piece; the back solid, the front milled out with a Frank Lloyd Wright - inspired design. The sides are multiple overlapping square rods with a linearly varying pitch, and the bottom consists of 3 plys of thin laminated cherry.
The front wall was made by using a table-mounted router to mill out the openings. My first attempt had a few minor errors and one big one. The minor errors were slightly out-of shape holes, and the
major error was putting the completed piece through the planer to thin it down. The latter action resulted in a bunch of smaller pieces. This turned out to be not too bad, since I then had the opportunity to make a better-made front wall. I was also able to use part of the original broken wall as a pattern, which sped things up considerably. On the original one, I taped down 4 guide boards for each opening to be made - a rather time-consuming process.
The sides were made simply by cutting the square rods and then routing out the overlapping portions so they interlocked. I also decided I needed solid wood at the corners for strength, so narrow end pieces were made to accept the side wall rods and mate with the front and back. I kept the width of the front pattern, side wall rods, and box joints on the corner the same size to tie things together.
The second part of the system was a strong reusable bag to hold the paper for disposal. I made a square double-walled denim bag with handles and ties that would hold the paper for delivery to the drop-off bins. The bag was made large enough to fit over the box, so in operation, it is used to cover the full box, the box inverted and pulled out, and the ties tied together to hold the paper in the bag.
| Material: | Cherry with 3-ply cherry base |
| Finish: | Several coats Varathane Prof. 1000 semi-gloss |
| Size: | 14.75" w x 14.25" d x 11.95" h |
| Done: | March 27, 2003 |
