mpats
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Ok, I'm not sure if this is the correct place for this, but I think it's probably the most relevant section.
There's a bit of a story behind why I made this, it has it's origins in our family history and involves a Christmas tradition betwixt my brother and I. Indulge me if you will by reading our tail, or go straight to the pictures and wonder about my motivation later.
As with most of these things it started out fairly innocently with a bit of extra tape or an extra layer of wrapping paper applied to a present. Then with a fairly small, physically, gift being wrapped and wrapped then wrapped in subsequently bigger boxes with various bits of helicopter to make the whole thing quite heavy. The last effort from myself utilized copious amounts of speed tape (2" metal tape), duct tape and masking tape which caused him no end of frustration.
He did get revenge the following year by using plaster cast material (he's a vet) as an outer wrapping layer.
There's a general unwritten rule that additional tooling can't be sought from elsewhere in the household. I don't mind admitting my fingers were rather tender after peeling of that stuff!
Alas changes to the way we do Christmas mean you only buy for one other family member, add to that the house move and work needed on the garage I hadn't, until now, had the wherewithal or reason to put my latest dastardly plan into action.
Cue the birth of he and his good lady wife's first child, a lovely boy called Magnus. Most people would simply be happy for them, for me it meant plans could be put into motion.
As with many things the struggle is what to buy for the happy parents, not so for me, I knew it was a nice bottle of whisky my dearest brother would be receiving (insert evil smiley laugh here)!
So every day after work for the last 7 days (shift work) i have been squirreled away in the garage for a few hours coming up with this contraption.
The bottle in it is for demonstration purposes. Today I sallied out and procured a reasonable bottle of our countries finest export.
This was the wrapped in some minion wrapping paper and some card to "protect" the wrapping paper. The tape wrapped around the card, and vertical up the card is in no way* to make it harder for him to find out what is contained withing.
*may not be 100% accurate!
The treasure was then placed inside a protective bubble wrap bag and placed inside the device.
There some bubble wrap under the lid to stop it rattling round.
Lid on, locking bars in and padlocks fitted! Alas, some dastardly fiend has constructed it in such a way that both padlocks will need removed before the locking bar can be removed, and both locking bars will need to be removed before the lid can be removed. I can't think who might have done that
Different padlocks on the other end to make it more of a challenge.
Now, being as I'm not a complete monster, I have of course procured for him, from Amazon, a lock pick set (same one I have) so he might master the skill of lock-picking and gain access to his present.
And here it is, all safely wrapped up and ready to be given to him this weekend when we are away with friends at a cottage we are renting in the lakes.
I don't mind admitting I really am rather pleased with myself. I will be the first to admit the welds are really not the best (I might have got on easier with mig but don't have it yet) and the thing is more of a work of art than it is exercise in precision engineering. But I'm happy with the bead blasted finish, and the "rustic" nature of it appeals to me.
Needless to say I shall probably be sniggering like a small child the whole weekend. I suspect our friends who will be there will also get a rather large kick out of it. I look forwards to his frustration.
There's a bit of a story behind why I made this, it has it's origins in our family history and involves a Christmas tradition betwixt my brother and I. Indulge me if you will by reading our tail, or go straight to the pictures and wonder about my motivation later.
As with most of these things it started out fairly innocently with a bit of extra tape or an extra layer of wrapping paper applied to a present. Then with a fairly small, physically, gift being wrapped and wrapped then wrapped in subsequently bigger boxes with various bits of helicopter to make the whole thing quite heavy. The last effort from myself utilized copious amounts of speed tape (2" metal tape), duct tape and masking tape which caused him no end of frustration.
He did get revenge the following year by using plaster cast material (he's a vet) as an outer wrapping layer.
There's a general unwritten rule that additional tooling can't be sought from elsewhere in the household. I don't mind admitting my fingers were rather tender after peeling of that stuff!
Alas changes to the way we do Christmas mean you only buy for one other family member, add to that the house move and work needed on the garage I hadn't, until now, had the wherewithal or reason to put my latest dastardly plan into action.
Cue the birth of he and his good lady wife's first child, a lovely boy called Magnus. Most people would simply be happy for them, for me it meant plans could be put into motion.
As with many things the struggle is what to buy for the happy parents, not so for me, I knew it was a nice bottle of whisky my dearest brother would be receiving (insert evil smiley laugh here)!
So every day after work for the last 7 days (shift work) i have been squirreled away in the garage for a few hours coming up with this contraption.
The bottle in it is for demonstration purposes. Today I sallied out and procured a reasonable bottle of our countries finest export.
This was the wrapped in some minion wrapping paper and some card to "protect" the wrapping paper. The tape wrapped around the card, and vertical up the card is in no way* to make it harder for him to find out what is contained withing.
*may not be 100% accurate!
The treasure was then placed inside a protective bubble wrap bag and placed inside the device.
There some bubble wrap under the lid to stop it rattling round.
Lid on, locking bars in and padlocks fitted! Alas, some dastardly fiend has constructed it in such a way that both padlocks will need removed before the locking bar can be removed, and both locking bars will need to be removed before the lid can be removed. I can't think who might have done that
Different padlocks on the other end to make it more of a challenge.
Now, being as I'm not a complete monster, I have of course procured for him, from Amazon, a lock pick set (same one I have) so he might master the skill of lock-picking and gain access to his present.
And here it is, all safely wrapped up and ready to be given to him this weekend when we are away with friends at a cottage we are renting in the lakes.
I don't mind admitting I really am rather pleased with myself. I will be the first to admit the welds are really not the best (I might have got on easier with mig but don't have it yet) and the thing is more of a work of art than it is exercise in precision engineering. But I'm happy with the bead blasted finish, and the "rustic" nature of it appeals to me.
Needless to say I shall probably be sniggering like a small child the whole weekend. I suspect our friends who will be there will also get a rather large kick out of it. I look forwards to his frustration.
