Wooden Garbage Can Plans

A wastepaper basket with a lot of good ideas thrown in

Toss out any notion that simple construction makes for a less-than-elegant project and build this stylish wastepaper basket. The tall stance and gently tapered sides are inspired by old maple sap buckets, and the Baltic birch plywood and stripped-down construction are a nod to Scandinavian design of the 1960s.

Top image: Baltic Birch is the aristocrat of plywoods — a layered sandwich of thin veneers that’s strong and lightweight with clean edges that don’t need disguising.

Four of a Kind
Begin by cutting four 13″ x 19″ blanks from 6 mm Baltic birch plywood. Sandwich the four pieces together with double-sided tape, so you can cut all the sides at once. Lay out the tapered sides by measuring 1/2″ in on the top, and 3″ in on the bottom. I free-handed these cuts on my bandsaw about 1/16″ outside the lines, then cleaned up the edges on a jointer. You could use a tablesaw, but you’ll need to fashion a jig to cut the tapers. Pop the pieces apart and drill finger holes in two of the pieces using a 1″ bit. I used a Forstner bit, and backed up the plywood with some scrap stock to ensure a clean cut.

Playing the Slots
To mill the single dado on the inside face of each side member, I used a tablesaw with the blade height set to half the thickness of the plywood and the fence set at 1/2″ from the blade. If one face of the plywood is better than the other, mill the dado on the bad side. Make one pass along the edge of all four sides, then adjust the fence a bit and make a second pass. Cut a test scrap at the same time, so as you continue adjusting the fence you can determine when the slot is the right width. Run a bead of glue in each slot and assemble the sides, being careful, of course, to keep everything square. To clamp everything tight I used surgical tubing stretched around the bottom and four lightweight bar clamps for the top.

No Math Skills Required
To make the bevelled edges on the bottom and the bottom blocks, use the assembled sides as an angle gauge. Set the whole assembly on the tablesaw bottom end down, and adjust the angle of the blade against one of the sides. Now set the fence 7″ from the blade and cut the four edges of the bottom. With the fence repositioned 1/2″ from the blade, run a small scrap of hardwood through it, still set at the same angle, and cut the bottom blocks from this piece. Drop the bottom into the assembled sides and it will settle into the right location. Nudge it around a bit to make sure it’s flat, then flip everything over (friction should hold the bottom in place) and affix the bottom blocks with some glue. Masking tape will hold the blocks in place until the glue dries.

Pistachio of Raspberry?
Add visual interest to this project by finishing the inside surface only. I custom mixed the pale green milk paint for the this project, but other colours are equally handsome. Stick to pale shades’they work better with the light wood.