This took way too long, and isn’t as cool as I’d hoped, but it seems very functional. I’m pleased.
There’s not much room in my apartment… this is as good as this shot gets. This is exceedingly tall. I may have mis-estimated the height. It’s almost (but not quite) too tall for me, and I suspect Alex will have trouble with it :(. Oops.
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The top. I got a cutting board for it, which seems like a good idea. I’d probably chop stuff on my nice shiny finish and mess it all up. FYI, the cart took a few hours to make, after I drew up a plan and got the lumber. The finish took over 2 weeks (rub on urethane, clean up the brushes and rags, wait half a day, do it again). Also, I messed it up pretty bad and had to go back and redo things a couple of times.
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My “hang stuff on hooks” system on one side of this thing. I am fairly happy with myself for realizing that the hooks might snag me if they pointed outward. The hooks were a little bit of an afterthought, but I think they worked out well. The board that holds them is in the place I originally planned to put fold-up expander leaves. Screw that. This was enough hassle.
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And the other side. Too bad my awesome T-Fal frying pan isn’t in focus, nor my somewhat-blackened wok. From here you can see the bottoms of the silverware inserts I stuck in the top. This thing holds about half the stuff I had cluttering countertops and cupboards. I love it!
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Speaking of the shiny top… buncha very thin coats of spar urethane. Silverware inserts are clearly visible. Cutting the 4 1/2″ holes was a sticky challenge, until I realized I could use the router attachment for my Dremel, put a spiral-cutter bit in it, drive a screw into the center of the future hole, and wire the screw to the router housing. Voila! Hole! And beautifully round and regular, too.
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Coolest part: Shopping cart wheels (half supplied by Squidley). Try not to notice that I messed up the homemade steel brackets; I’ll fix those eventually… The wheels came from shopping carts buried and mangled in an old streambed here in South Texas and (from what I understand) the bottom of a waterfall in Ontario. A less scrupulous person could have gotten nicer, newer ones from any of the 200 shopping carts littering my neighborhood. People! Take the friggin’ carts back! Cochinos…
After this experience, I could do a much better job on another one. However, I don’t want to. I don’t want to think about this project again, except to enjoy the fruits of my labors. Next project: Solar still. Glass has been purchased. Plans are being tweaked, and hardware is in the mail.
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