So today I figured I’d try making a special box for my tarot cards, you know? Like a little home for ’em. Saw some fancy ones online but didn’t wanna spend all that cash. Thought, how hard could it be to make one myself?
Getting Started: Measuring Stuff (Badly)
First thing, I dug around my workspace – honestly just the garage – for scrap wood. Found some thin maple panels hiding behind paint cans. Grabbed a tape measure and my deck. Measured the deck height, added like half an inch ’cause I ain’t perfect. Measured the width, added a smidge more. Picked a depth, kinda guessed it would feel nice. Wrote the numbers down on a pizza box flap: length, width, depth.
Then came the scary part: cutting the wood. Plugged in the jigsaw, marked my lines with a dusty pencil stub, tried to cut straight. Definitely wobbled a bit. Got six pieces in the end: two identical long sides, two identical short sides, one bottom panel, and one lid piece. Didn’t match perfectly – some edges were rougher than others. Ran sandpaper over the cut edges, just enough so they wouldn’t give me splinters later.
Glue, Gravity, and Mild Panic
Next up: assembly. Laid the bottom piece flat on the workbench. Grabbed some wood glue – the regular yellow kind. Squeezed a wobbly line of glue along one long edge of the bottom piece. Stood one long side piece on it. Held it vertical. Grabbed a clamp, fumbled with it, almost knocked the whole thing over. Repeat for the other long side. Then panic glued and clamped the short sides in place.
Key Mistakes Made:
- Used too much glue; squeezed out all over the place like sticky snot.
- Didn’t have enough clamps; used old textbooks and a brick for weight.
- Realized AFTER gluing I should’ve sanded the insides before assembly.
Left it clamped overnight. Glue dried, looked kinda messy with hardened drips. Took the belt sander to the corners to try and make ’em less sharp, kinda got carried away on one spot.
Making a Lid That Actually Fits
Took the main box body and placed it on the lid piece I’d cut earlier. Traced around the outside with the pencil stub. Grabbed the jigsaw again and cut about a millimeter outside the traced line. Sanded the lid edges to be smooth. Tried to drop the lid onto the box. Too tight! Had to sand, sand, sand. Eventually, it fit, but felt looser than I wanted. Oh well.
Adding a Tiny Bit of Fancy
Wanted the lid to have a little handle thing. Found a small brass drawer knob in the junk drawer. Drilled a hole dead center in the lid – measured super carefully this time. Screwed the knob in from the top. Easy part!
The Messy Finish
Here’s where it got ugly. Wanted a dark, kinda moody stain. Picked “Espresso” from an old can in the garage. Slapped the stain on with a rag. Looked patchy and gross. Went for a second coat. Still not great. Let it dry. Felt sticky. Sanded it lightly with super fine sandpaper, which helped a bit. Wiped it clean with a damp cloth. Then tried some clear polyurethane varnish in a spray can to protect it. Sprayed outside – held the can way too close. Made runs and drips everywhere. Tried to sand the drips smooth after it dried, left cloudy patches. Added another coat, held it farther away. Looked slightly less terrible.
Let it dry for a full day. Plopped the tarot cards inside. Put the lid on.
Not Perfect, But Mine
So yeah. The wood glue is visible in spots. One corner is a bit rounded from my over-zealous sanding. The stain is uneven. The poly finish is bubbly near a corner. And the lid fits, but it’s a little loose.
But you know what? It holds the cards just fine. Feels solid in my hands. The brass knob looks kinda cool. More importantly, I made it. Used stuff I had lying around. Made all the dumb mistakes and kinda powered through. Ain’t winning any woodworking prizes, but it works for me. My deck’s got its own little wooden home now.
