Introduction: The One Day Shoe Shine Box.
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About: Married father of 5 (4 boys and 1 girl). A Captain in the Fire Department with over 25 years of service. Grew up turning wrenches at my fathers garage. That turned into a love of building things with my hands.
My son joined JROTC at his high school a few years back. He asked for some shoe shining supplies as he has daily inspection when he's in uniform. Instead of just getting him the supplies, I decided to surprise him with a custom box that he could be proud of. I made this in one day so it's super easy.
Step 1: The Box Start to Finish.
All I did was go to the hobby store and buy a pre built wooden hobby box. I painted it OD green and stenciled JROTC on it. His last name in the other side.
I found an old hinge and attached a piece of metal scrap to it. I attached that to the lid of the box. I then got a scrap piece of wood and cut a heal notch out of one end. Using a chisel, recessed that little latch so he can pick it up. There's a strong magnet under the boot rest that keeps the boot rest and hinge together for when you carry it. I then attached another hinge to that and screwed it into the lid. The only modification I did to the box itself, was to cut a piece of wood and glue it into the top of the lid to add durability for when I screwed the hinges in.
I painted the foot stand with that black rubber sealing paint for durability. I put a thin piece of copper sheet on the bottom of the box so any shoe shine stuff could be easily wiped out. Thought it looked cool too and I had some scraps lying around.
Loaded his stuff in it and when he got home from school, it was waiting for him. He loved it. It's been 3 years and he's still sporting that thing around. He even brings it to school on inspection day so everyone in his unit can get their shoes squared away.
Probably spent less then $20 on this.
Enjoy.
I found an old hinge and attached a piece of metal scrap to it. I attached that to the lid of the box. I then got a scrap piece of wood and cut a heal notch out of one end. Using a chisel, recessed that little latch so he can pick it up. There's a strong magnet under the boot rest that keeps the boot rest and hinge together for when you carry it. I then attached another hinge to that and screwed it into the lid. The only modification I did to the box itself, was to cut a piece of wood and glue it into the top of the lid to add durability for when I screwed the hinges in.
I painted the foot stand with that black rubber sealing paint for durability. I put a thin piece of copper sheet on the bottom of the box so any shoe shine stuff could be easily wiped out. Thought it looked cool too and I had some scraps lying around.
Loaded his stuff in it and when he got home from school, it was waiting for him. He loved it. It's been 3 years and he's still sporting that thing around. He even brings it to school on inspection day so everyone in his unit can get their shoes squared away.
Probably spent less then $20 on this.
Enjoy.
Participated in the
Hand Tools Only Contest 2016
