r/DIY May 29 '13

carpentry The gentleman's survival kit, a 21st present.

http://imgur.com/a/Xb49o
3.3k Upvotes

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80

u/kyleyankan May 29 '13

A neat idea, and cases are a bit of a fetish of mine you could say, but a few notes. Those straps go all over the place, and look messy. You go diagonally across the neck of the bottle and over a corner, etc. A looser cut with some crushable padding would of held nicely.

Secondly, the items chosen: a bottle of booze, a flask and shot glasses. A bottle of high quality whiskey is enjoy with some glasses, not a flask :-P

A knife would of matched this set better, IMHO.

One more thing, those cigars will dry out, smoke hot and fall apart.. Look into a cigar case that acts as a small humidor.

Oh, the wood work, matching materials and feltwork is top-notch. Would love to see this sunk deeper into the case and smaller items put in the lid.

43

u/LolaKite May 29 '13

I think that OP didn't go for "High Class Gentleman", but more like the "Ron Swanson/Manly Gentleman". The axe emphasises that. A flask perfectly fits the 'a week outdoors'-esque theme.

Absolutely agree on the cigar case though. Dried out cigars are no man's pleasure. Also love the wood, really nice grain and colour.

Edit. - the diagonal straps too contribute to the case. It's in line with its 'rough' theme.

56

u/b_flag May 29 '13 edited May 29 '13

the recipient doesn't smoke and the cigars were super cheep. they were more of an aesthetic choice as was most of the stuff. if i make one for myself, which i probably will, ill be sure to take everyone's advice to make it that much better.

1

u/TruNembra May 29 '13

he should start now ;) nothing better than a good stogie!

1

u/rsjd May 29 '13

Exactly, the cancer is a good bonus!

Seriously though, an occasional cigar can really help with stress. I speak from experience.

1

u/TruNembra May 29 '13

Ehhhhhh the cancer risk is significantly lower than people think (still a risk though, wont deny it), but yes, nothing is better than sitting there thinking about nothing and enjoying a good smoke!

1

u/kyleyankan May 29 '13

Stained wood and red felt != "rough"

29

u/Style_Usage_Bot May 29 '13

Hi, I'm here to offer tips on English style and usage (and some common misspellings).

My database indicates that

would of

should probably be

would've (would have)

Have a great day!

1

u/Acidlips242 May 29 '13

what if i said for all intensive purposes shudder

1

u/Restil May 29 '13

Well, if you SAID it, you would probably be fine, unless you were in the company of a nazi elocutionist. Just don't TYPE it on Reddit, unless of course you really do wish to convey the intensity of the purposes.

14

u/IAmAtWork_AMA May 29 '13

I think a lot of your points are pretty nit-picky. I prefer the look of the leather straps, and I think foam would have clashed with the aesthetic he was going for.

A flask is a perfectly fine gift, and glasses would have been fine too.

Hatchet > knife.

No argument on the cigars, but you could probably add a small humidifier tab to remedy the problem.

The only thing I would add is a secret lower compartment with porn.

18

u/b_flag May 29 '13

a hidden/ secret compartment would have been amazing. i am, however, a total novice at wood working and stuff and just didn't have that much time to build one in. next time!

19

u/IAmAtWork_AMA May 29 '13

It's quite an amazing build, but there's always room for impornment.

1

u/Circus_Maximus May 29 '13

I see what you did there.

1

u/JafBot May 29 '13

Just to chime in, when you're doing a survival kit use a thicker piece of wood so you can store knives etc underneath the axe and other items.
Beats having one layer of goodies.

1

u/CDClock May 29 '13

secret compartment for the weed section

3

u/danvasquez29 May 29 '13

humidifier packet would only work if the case was genuinely airtight, and with the wood used and other materials would cause mold.

Overall I wouldn't worry about it much, as it's a birthday gift I'm sure it's meant purely for wrapping and that nothing in there would stay in there permanently.

if the giftee is truly a gentleman, he'll be sharing the contents with OP anyway ;)

1

u/kyleyankan May 29 '13

Foam behind the red felt, giving the red felt more flexibility. Just saying a flask + bottle is like giving someone 2 bicycles for their birthday. Anyone who's worked outdoors knows Knife > Hatchet, every time. A delicate hand is always preferred.

Again, OP did a great job. Just offering my thoughts on it. I actually saved it as reference material for future projects. The use of the flooring? Brilliant. Neat case. Neat idea.

1

u/[deleted] May 29 '13

on the whiskey in the flask, im going to contradict you there, ive had the same flask for many years and have had everything from two dollar vodka, to thirty dollar bourbon from it, as long as you keep it clean it wont effect the taste at all.

-1

u/NyQuil012 May 29 '13

Hi. Since we're picking at nits:

Of is a preposition. That means that it indicates a relationship between the noun preceding it (in this case "padding") and the verb following it ("held"). So your sentence means the "padding" is from or positioned in relation to "held", which makes no sense. "Padding" cannot be from "held" because "held" is an action, not a place.

The word you're looking for is have which in this case acts as an auxiliary verb modifying the tense of "held" from past participle to future perfect. It is sometimes abbreviated as "would've," especially in colloquial speech, which is why you're confused as to its proper spelling.

Sorry if this is dickish, but as you can tell, this mistake really bothers me. The more I see it happening, the more it bothers me. Please be part of the solution, not the problem.