Potato storage box

[Eric Brown]

Actually it's got two sections, one for potatos and the other for onions.
It's also designed to be a step stool.
It's made of cherry about 3/4" thick.
The middle is attached by sliding dovetails.
The ends have halfblind dovetails.
The two bottoms are FDA approved polyethylene with 1/4" holes.
Overall it's about 20" long. The bottom is 11" wide, the top 10".
The trapizoid shape is to help with stability when stood on.
The holes in the bottoms, back, and end handholds, are for airflow.
In addition the top is slightly raised by felt cushions for a gap.
Bandsaw was used for resawing. Hand sander used for finishing.
All other cutting, shaping, dovetailing was done by hand.
Comments welcome. Eric

Potato2.jpg Potato3.jpg Potato5.jpg

[Bryan Wuest]

Eric,
That is a great looking box with nice details. I especially like the dovetails. However, you may want to rethink the onions AND potatoes unless you plan to use them quickly. If they are stored together too long, they put out a gas that causes the both to rot. Since the separate bins are not overly large, your potato and onion supplies will most likely be small so you should be ok. Just something to be aware of.

[Eric Brown]

I looked into the rotting issue a little bit and decided to try a center divider that went all the way to the floor.
Normally we only get a small bag of potatos and two or three onions.
We don't usually don't have that much at any one time.
Easy cleaning was also a consideration for the bottoms.

One thing I failed to mention in my original post was the finish.
I used butcher block oil on the inside and a high gloss
wipe-on polyurethane on the outside.

Thanks for the comments. Eric

[Bryan Wuest]

Normally we only get a small bag of potatos and two or three onions. We don't usually don't have that much at any one time.

With those small quantities you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Smart idea on the butcher block oil. Another food safe option is Mineral Oil, It's only about 2 dollars at Wal-Mart.

[Bill Huber]

That's a neat idea, I guess now I have something else to put on the list to build.

I like the bottom and the woodwork looks really nice, great job.

[Rick Prosser]

That is pretty cool

I especially like that it is designed to be used as a step stool in addition to storage.

Dovetails....someday I gotta learn to do those...

[Ron Bontz]

Pretty good idea. Now I'm gonna have to make one. Thanks for posting it.

[Norman Pyles]

That's about the nicest tater box I have ever seen.

[Marv Werner]

I've never seen a "tater" box, so that means this is THE best one I've ever seen.