Description
Your choice of Green or Brown Felt.
An excellent project, a creative gift, and when it’s all put together, a high-quality tote case for your most delicate and precious items or your go-to tools. Easy to build in a weekend, endlessly customizable.You could sit on your couch, watch some TV and scroll through your phone again… or you could dive into a good project. And this is a really good project to get stuck into. What we learned from over 100 years in the business; woodworking is a great stress reliever. It improves dexterity, stimulates imagination and aids in tactile awareness. Besides, building something with your own two hands that is both functional and great looking leaves you with a wonderful sense of accomplishment. It feels good to be productive.
The 1600 DIY Kit can be accomplished in a weekend by novice or skilled makers, because of the pre-machined joinery cut in all the parts. Less than 20 steps are required to complete the tote case, but the personal touches that can be added are limitless.
The 1600 Tote Case is a versatile piece, which is why it makes such a great DIY project. You won’t just build it and then let it collect dust, it’ll be handy when it’s done. You can use the finished piece for carting around your most delicate precision tools or collectors items—the things you can’t just leave in with your regular tool chest. It’s compact enough to tuck away on a boat or RV, yet big enough for your go-to tools. The hardwood material pulls damaging moisture away from the contents, so your tools will remain rust-free and ready to go.
This is quite a thoughtful gift, especially as something to do together—a project for someone to share with their kids or grandchildren. The finished product also makes a memorable gift for newlyweds or new homeowners. Just put a starter set of tools in it and a personalized nameplate on it and you’ll have made a big statement out of something they can use for many years to come. You could use the Gerstner crafted 1600 Tote as a gift, but what makes the DIY Kit doubly special in gifting is that you made it yourself.
Martin Justis (verified owner) –
The quality of the wood is absolutely fantastic. The hardware that’s included is also quite nice. The fit of all parts makes the build of this very easy. If you have some clamps and wood glue it’s quite simple to have a square box without even trying. The beauty of this box is being able to finish it however you want. If you want a simple rubbed finish it will look great. If you want to do a multiple coat, pre-finish, stain, finish it will really pop the quartersawn white oak and look stunning. No matter how you finish it, you can’t go wrong. At the end of the day you have a Gerstner box but one you had a hand in making. Best of both worlds for me! My only gripe of this is that the holes for the hinges and clasp are pre-drilled. On mine (maybe only mine, I don’t know) the holes for the clasp were off just a bit. When the parts were screwed into the holes the two parts of the clasp couldn’t be closed to close the lid. It was only off maybe 1/16″, so I couldn’t just drill new holes. I ended up cutting about 1/16″ off the bottom of the lid. Not a huge deal, but if the holes hadn’t been predrilled, I wouldn’t have had to cut anything off. I understand this is a DIY kit, so I’m calling this a very minor issue. If you do build this, just be sure to try the hardware in place BEFORE you put your finish on. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed this project. It’s a good weekend project that is good for someone that doesn’t have a lot of machinery or tools, but will still produce a quality product that you can be proud of in the end. I’m looking forward to building the other DIY box you offer. That looks like a very nice box that would look great in my shop. Thanks Gerstner