Some Days You Just Have To Say, "I'm Going To Build A Scottie Dog!"

                                                      First, sketch out the general idea

This year one of my New Year's resolutions was to sculpt something. Well, I have had the idea of building a Scottie dog bench/nightstand/side table rattling around in my head since I saw something like it in a magazine a few years ago.

Today, I decided I was going to kill two birds with one hammer, and build the Scottie dog dealio, figuring it would not only take one of my many lingering ideas out of my head, but also qualify as a sculpture, thus fulfilling the aforementioned New Year's resolution.

Yes, yes it does. Creating anything in the shape of something is technically sculpture.

                   Second, draw the idea on some scrap CDX and get busy with a jigsaw

After I sketched out an approximate idea of what I wanted the Scottie dog to look like and came up with what I thought were appropriate dimensions, I drew up a materials list. 

I would need:

1 piece of 1/4" scrap plywood or CDX for a template
1 eight foot by four foot sheet of 1/2 inch plywood for Scottie dog parts
1 eight foot 2 X 4 for the support struts
94 1&1/2" 8d bright finish nails
12 2" wood screws
Wood glue

As luck would have it, I had all of that on hand in the garage. All of the tools I'd need were there, too.

 Using the CDX as a template, draw two Scottie dogs on 1/2 inch plywood and cut them out

Since the Scottie dog was fairly rectilinear, it was easy to sketch out using a T-square and an angle. After cutting out the template with a jigsaw, I used it to trace two Scottie dogs onto the 1/2" plywood, then cut those out with a table saw and the jigsaw.

         Next, you have to measure and then cut out all the other parts of the Scottie dog

Using the table saw again, all of the pieces that would connect the two sides were cut from the 1/2" plywood. I also cut the 2 X 4 into the pieces needed for the support struts.  

              Side one nailed to the bottom of the legs and small struts added for support

Now that all the component pieces were ready to go it was a simple matter of nailing them all together.

   Use a quality wood glue on all contact surfaces to ensure the Scottie dog stays together

Every surface that contacted another was given a liberal application of wood glue.

       Drill pilot holes for the nails - it'll save you from the headache of splitting plywood

As plywood is notorious for splitting when nails are driven along the grain into the sandwich layers, pilot holes were drilled about 3/4's of the length of the nails.

                Add the other side and start filling in the shape of the Scottie dog

I like to work from the bottom up, so the bottom of the legs were attached first. Note that the 2 X 4 pieces that the support struts will rest on are also added at this time - much easier to attach them to the sides before building up too much of the Scottie dog. 

              Almost done - notice the two support struts under the top of the Scottie dog

The last piece to be attached is the top - the Scottie dog's back if you will. The supports are already screwed in place, so it just needs to be fitted in and glued/nailed tight. 

                Still need to add wood filler then sand and paint...but it's structurally finished!

There she is! What a beaut, eh Clark? Of course I still have to use wood filler to fill in the seams and then sand and paint, but that's for another day.

This took about six hours to accomplish. Not too shabby for my meager carpentry skills. There are a few things I would tweak if I build another one - miter edging all the component pieces, maybe adding hinges to the top to make it usable for storage, or possibly adding a drawer. 

Hah! Who am I kidding? I'm happy just to have gotten this much done.

Disclaimer: If you want to build one of these, please be careful! Power tools, especially power saws, are very unforgiving. Watch your fingers at all times - keep them away from blades!