Water Karabitsu

Another Japanese Chest

July 2006

Explanation

After completing the Wine karabitsu last summer and using it successfully at Pennsic, I started looking for an excuse to make another. More than wine, the thing we drink most at Pennsic is water. Most Pennsics are very hot during the day, and it's important to stay hydrated if you don't want to pass out. Between coffee in the morning, water all day, and tea or soup at night, Sharon and I go through more than a gallon a day.

The tap water in the campground is mineral heavy, which we're not really used to, so we wind up buying gallon jugs of water at the Coopers' store. These are reasonably priced, but the expense adds up over the week we spend up there, and we don't really have any place to store the jugs once we get them back to camp.

Well, "didn't have any place" anyway. Now we have a wooden chest that holds six gallon jugs of water. Our local supermarket chain sells these jugs in boxes of three, so I made the karabitsu able to hold two boxes. It's actually able to hold two boxes themselves, not just the jugs, but that's somewhat less picturesque.

As you can see, this is also a 4-legged karabitsu instead of the six-legged karabitsu I made last time. I didn't think six legs would be necessary, really. This also removes the need for the ring pulls, as the ties can just thread through the legs.

I made sure to buy enough decorative rope this time, too. The rope for the handles actually goes all the way underneath the chest. I tested, and the rope is strong enough to lift the chest, even when it's full of 48 pounds of water.

If I make any more of these, they're going to be big enough to replace the Rubbermaid totes we use to store most of our stuff. It would be cool to be able to get rid of those things. making them out of wood would also make it possible to have some dividers and holders inside the box.