Noah B Woodworks

I ran to the hardware store yesterday after work before returning home and picked up a small metal handle and four sets of stainless steel bolts, nuts and washers. I was on daddy duty yesterday afternoon so I tricked my preschooler into going outside. I kicked the soccer ball and she retrieved it, and in between retrieves I drilled the holes for the stainless steel bolts. Once my wife returned home from work I did the leather work for this case in a hurried and rushed fashion. I had around an hour to do everything. I created two buckles to hold the lid shut, and that is pictured below. These work, but would benefit from a small piece of leather to hold the strap down, like you’d find on a normal belt buckle.

It’s hard to see in the picture that I took yesterday, but there are leather straps that hold the rods in place inside of the case. The color of the leather straps match the color of the case so the one that wraps around the middle 3D printed insert blends into the stained cherry wood background. I 3D printed little knobs onto the 3D printed inserts on either end of the case for the smaller leather straps to attach to. This fastening method works well and I am able to turn the case on it’s side to carry the case. The internal leather straps are important because when you’re packing things up on the ice, things get tossed around, so I wanted the rods to be very secure inside of the case.

All that’s left to do is put a healthy coating of oil onto the sides to provide a bit more water resistance and maybe add little leather rings to the leather straps to help contain the straps when they’re fastened inside of the buckle. For all intents and purposes though, the case is ready for use. The weather is supposed to be terrible this weekend, and I’m fairly certain that there will only be a few more weekends of ice fishing left in the season. The case might get maximum 3-6 uses before the season ends, but it will still be good to have for storage this summer.