First Coolidor - Need advice on trays/dividers

Click this link Click or go to page 3 for the update.
I'm looking for suggestions on trays/dividers. Thanks in advance for your input!

So I finally had some free time now that the holidays are over and got the chance to finish sanding and putting together the new coolidor!

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on how I should seal the slight gap around the lid.
Per your suggestions, I went with a 1/4" rubber/foam weather stripping with an adhesive backing and it's working great.

I found that the hardest part of this project was sanding the SC boards down so that everything fit nice and snug....since the interior of the cooler was not perfectly square to begin with, it was impossible to take exact measurements and cut the boards square....so needless to say, quite a bit of hand sanding was needed to make everything fit.
Below are a few pictures of the (almost) final product....I just need to season it, add some beads+hygrometer, then fill it up with cigars.
(Also somewhere down the road, I want to do a design with old cigar bands and either attach that to the lid or to the front of it. Look close and you can see a few small screw holes where there was a horseshoe and star attached on the original cooler.)

outside

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Comments

bandyt09

Use the weather stripping as it will do the job just fine.

jr_p951

That thing looks great! You could leave that out and the wife wouldn't beat you up over a bright white ice chest sitting in the corner of the room. I do not have a cooler and haven't had to deal with the gaps. I just wanted to comment on how good that cooler looks. Do they sell these online? Can I ask the price?

90+ Irishman

Gorgeous brother!! Really excited to see how this ends up, congrats!!!

Rhamlin

Good looking cooler brother. I would go with the rubber weather stripping.

bdmauk24

Nice purchase. I agree, weather stripping should work just fine.

jgibv

jr_p951:
That thing looks great! You could leave that out and the wife wouldn't beat you up over a bright white ice chest sitting in the corner of the room. I do not have a cooler and haven't had to deal with the gaps. I just wanted to comment on how good that cooler looks. Do they sell these online? Can I ask the price?

Haha, yep that's exactly why I got it. It looks good enough that the wife will let me leave it out and I don't have to hide it in a closet or something.

It's a little pricy for a cooler but I got it on sale at Tractor Supply for $100. Even at that price I figured it would still be a better deal than spending $300-400 on a small cabinet unit. You can find it online here. Also, for anyone interested, the inside dimensions of the cooler area are approx 21" width, 12.5" length, 12" height

And IMHO the horseshoe handle and star on top were a little too country so I took them. They came off real easily and luckily the screws weren't that big and the holes are barely noticeable.

jgibv

Also, thanks guys for the input on the weatherstripping. I'll definitely go that route. I'll post some pics in a couple weeks once it's all finished.

CvilleE

This will look very nice....thanks for sharing....gives me an idea for a living room piece my wife could deal with as well...

james40

That looks great bro. Nice purchase and good luck sealing it up and have fun filling it up!! Make sure to post pics once it's complete.

Krieger

definitely man-cave material right there. I like that alot. I know what I want for Christmas. lol my poor 300 count humi is almost packed full.

jgibv

Updated the original post. See above.

Russ55

Nice, looks more like a humidor than a cooler now.

Salem

That is REALLY nice!!

jgibv

Thanks Russ and Salem. I wanted something cooler sized, but it had to look good sitting out in the man cave and this was certainly a lucky find since I had never even heard of anything like it before.
I probably didn't need to completely line it with cedar but the inside was a steel liner and the outside wood is pine, so I was a little nervous about the pine scent getting in and mixing with the cigars...having it completely lined with cedar should prevent that though; I can't pick up any pine smell now that it's finished.

joshvoigt

Where did you pick up the Spanish Cedar from?

stephen_hannibal

Dude thats pretty boss.

jgibv

I bought it from Woodcraft
I got it from their local store so they were able to cut it for me.....I know you can order online too if there's not a store close to you, not sure if they're able to do cuts if you order online though.

Rhamlin

Nicely done brother, are you gonna put some trim inside so you can make trays for it?

jgibv

stephen_hannibal:
Dude thats pretty boss.

Rhamlin:
Nicely done brother, are you gonna put some trim inside so you can make trays for it?

Thanks for the compliments guys, I appreciate it.
And yes I want to do something for trays/shelving, the problem is that the depth is now about a 1/4" too narrow to fit a standard sized tray.
My (soon to be) father-in-law recently retired from 30 years as an industrial tech teacher and he does woodworking in his free time; I'm going to have him take a look at it and see what he thinks since any trays or shelving would have to be made from scratch (probably by him).

I'd be happy to hear any comments or info on how to go about shelving and will run it by him to see if it's doable.

laker1963

Sweet piece of work. LOVE old wood.

The Kid

Nice ,,Thanks for sharing!!!

RBeckom

jgibv:
So I finally had some free time now that the holidays are over and got the chance to finish sanding and putting together the new coolidor!

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on how I should seal the slight gap around the lid.
Per your suggestions, I went with a 1/4" rubber/foam weather stripping with an adhesive backing and it's working great.

I found that the hardest part of this project was sanding the SC boards down so that everything fit nice and snug....since the interior of the cooler was not perfectly square to begin with, it was impossible to take exact measurements and cut the boards square....so needless to say, quite a bit of hand sanding was needed to make everything fit.
Below are a few pictures of the (almost) final product....I just need to season it, add some beads+hygrometer, then fill it up with cigars.
(Also somewhere down the road, I want to do a design with old cigar bands and either attach that to the lid or to the front of it. Look close and you can see a few small screw holes where there was a horseshoe and star attached on the original cooler.)

,BR>

Nice work. Ever think of building similar Coolidors for others?

jgibv

RBeckom:
Nice work. Ever think of building similar Coolidors for others?

Nope the thought hadn't crossed my mind. This was my first ever woodworking project and most of the hard work was done for me (the coolidor came pre-assembled and the cedar boards were cut for me when I ordered them) so all I had to do was fit the pieces together.

The only tools I used for this were a screwdriver, sandpaper, sanding block, hot glue gun and wood glue.

Shaun.Harrison87

Nice job bud, reminds me of the one I just did. Wife loves it cause its a great piece of furniture and fits in nicely

jgibv

Shaun.Harrison87:
Nice job bud, reminds me of the one I just did. Wife loves it cause its a great piece of furniture and fits in nicely

Thanks. I remember looking at some on here but I'm not sure if I saw yours or not. Is it posted somewhere on the forums? If so could you point me to it, I'd like to check it out?

RBeckom

jgibv:
RBeckom:
Nice work. Ever think of building similar Coolidors for others?
Nope the thought hadn't crossed my mind. This was my first ever woodworking project and most of the hard work was done for me (the coolidor came pre-assembled and the cedar boards were cut for me when I ordered them) so all I had to do was fit the pieces together.

The only tools I used for this were a screwdriver, sandpaper, sanding block, hot glue gun and wood glue.

If its your first project then I change my comment to extra-nice job.

Shaun.Harrison87

jgibv:
Shaun.Harrison87:
Nice job bud, reminds me of the one I just did. Wife loves it cause its a great piece of furniture and fits in nicely
Thanks. I remember looking at some on here but I'm not sure if I saw yours or not. Is it posted somewhere on the forums? If so could you point me to it, I'd like to check it out?

http://www.cigar.com/cs/forums/thread/385933.aspx

CAcigarguy007

I was gonna do one of these too, they look cool! Sportsmans guide has these and there are some discount codes as well if you look. If anyone is interested here is a link: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/guide-gear-rustic-cooler-57-quart.aspx?a=620048

CAcigarguy007

Oh yeah, if you put it in your cart and your not a member they will ask "do you want to join?" and if you say no they will give you free shipping and you can use the discount code on top. I did this with some ammo and got free shipping, $20 off, and my membership for basically free. Just a tip.

james40

Well done sir. That is beautiful and congrats on the upcoming wedding.