My "Patrol Box"

Next I cut a slot in the bottom to fit the hinge with a router. As it turned out, this was too deep, but it didn't hurt anything. In hindsight, I probably could have gotten away with no slot at all.

I then glued and clamped the whole thing together. This was really easy since I used biscuits on the corners.  Then I puttied up the screw holes and sanded the whole thing.

Here is the whole box before I sanded it and attached the front.

Here I attached the legs using pipe holders. A simple block of wood was screwed on to keep the pipe from going up too high.

I then primed the outside and applied 2 coats of polyurethane on the inside. I then attached the front with the hinge.

The box ended up weighing in at 40 pounds (not counting the legs). This is quite a reasonable weight for one person to carry, even with a bunch of stuff inside. The real test will be to see how it holds up under real use. The door is a little springy, but I think that is mostly due to the flexy thin rope I used to attach it. I will have to install a nice chain for this when I get a chance. The legs are very sturdy. The box could definitely use some partitions to keep the contents from shifting too much during transport.

Overall, I am pleased with it, but only time will tell whether I have made too many weight compromises.

Go to see it in use!

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