The Dale C. Maley Family Web Site

I bought a new saber saw a couple of  years ago.  You no longer get a plastic case when you buy a new saw. So, I designed and made a case out of wood for my saw.

My son tried my new saber saw and liked it, so I am going to get him a new one identical to mine for a Christmas gift.  I also needed to build another wood case for him.

I still had the original design in Google Sketchup:



For my son's wood case, I wanted to add the outline of a saber saw on the top of the case.  This makes it easy to know what tool is inside.  I took an image of the saber saw, then used it to generate an outline in Sketchup.

I printed out a full scale paper pattern from Sketchup of the saw outline........



I used old-fashioned carbon paper to trace the outline on the top of the saw box. Then I used my wood burning pen to engrave the outline.

Box Construction

The sides and top of the box are 1/2" thick pine. The bottom of the box is 3/16" thick Luan plywood. The corners are just 45 degree angles.

Steps in making the box were:

-plane pine to 1/2" thickness from 3/4" thick standard stock

-because my planer will only hand 12" max width, I made 2 blanks for the top,
  and planed them to 1/2".  I edge glued the 2 blanks together, then kissed the
  top and bottom with my 18" wide Delta drum sander.
-saw 45 degree joints on 4 box sides
-use table saw to cut the 3/16" wide groove for the Luan bottom
-glue and clamp up box. Make top about 1/4" bigger in both directions to
  allow stock to edge route the top to the sides
-edge route the top to exactly match the sides
-using a 3/8" round-over bit, rout the external corners

-table saw box lid, but set saw just a little less than the 1/2" thickness.  Use a
  razor knife to separate the box

-install 2 hinges and front latch from Ace hardware
-make and install handle. I used red oak for the 2 end pieces
-Burn name and date on the bottom. Burn in saw outline on the top

Finished Wood Case

Closing Thoughts

This box for my son turned out very nice. I like the burned in outline of the saw on the top of the case.

=================================================