Carver's lap box

[tackeiser]

I'm looking for a pattern for a box to use while carving anywhere that I don't want to have shavings all over the floor. Like in the living room, or wherever my wife is so I don't have to go to the shop and miss being in her company. I envision one with a lid, perhaps side panels that fold out, and a grid on the bottom with space below for shavings to collect. Anyone know of a pattern for something like that?

don't know about a box, but have seen a carvers apron with somekind of band in the bottom so you can flip up the band and it forms a kind of pouch to catch shavings.....can't think offhand who sells them, check with Rick on here from Lil Shavers......

The quickest lap box is a slotted bread board.

[Bandaid]

Sometime ago I ran across a pattern for a lap tray that utilized wooden dowels for the grid. As I remember the dowels were about an inch or so off the bottom and ran parallel for about 3/4 of the length of the box. The other end was left as a tool tray. I was unable to find the link but hope this gives you the idea.

tackeiser,
A fella in our carving club made some lap boxes with 1x 1 and 2 x 1 for 3 sides of the framing and 3-4' wide board contoured to fit the belly on the side that fits next to your belly. He made them about 18' square, depending on how wide of an area we needed to fit between the arms of our our recliners.). He rounded over the top edges and screwed a thin plywood or plastic piece to the bottom. I adapted my box by putting velcro (the fuzzy part) on the inside edge of the box that fit next to my belly, and made an extra wide, but shorter version of bib apron out of heavy denim that I put the rough side of velcro on. So I can sit down with the box and I drape the sides of the apron over the arms of the chair. When I finish, I just fold over the sides of the apron onto the box to contain the chips and take it outside and dump the chips. I even made a little stand up frame with holes drilled in it to fit inside the edge farthest away from my tummy so that I can put the tools in it and keep them out of the chips and out of my way while I'm carving.

I hope you can understand this description. It works and unless I'm roughing out a carving and really slinging chips, it catches about 95% of the mess. But then, no one cleans up after me but me! The bib apron helps keep your clothes and the chair 'chip free.'
Donna T

[Callynne]

I made a portable carving desk (well actually, the hubby and son made it....hey, smilies aren't working...bummer!!), it fits across the arms of my recliner so it might be bigger than you want but maybe you can get some ideas from it. There's a picture of it at

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=4055528

It's in the Portable Carving Desk Album. The only thing I've changed about it is the small piece of vinyl hanging down, it was too small and too slick, chips kept sliding off of it! I replaced it with a larger piece of upholstery material that runs from side to side, works perfectly and really keeps the chips on the desk.

I do most of my detail carving and painting out in the livingroom setting in my recliner, the rest of the time the desk sets on a table in my work room, that's where I do my roughing out so it doesn't matter if the 'chips fly'!

Hope this helps give you some ideas! Callynne

Another idea is to take a tv tray and cut a small hole in the bottom in the area that will be 'the top' and hang a cloth bag from it. As the chips pile up you just brush them over to the hole and into the bag.

I found this idea online but think the hole on this one is too big.

http://www.carverscompanion.com/Ezin...r/TVTable.html