Pallet Wood Fish Caddy

I have always admired and loved wood work projects done by several members in this site.Unfortunately we did not have much space in our flat.Now that we have moved to a bigger house, I decided to try out my first wood work project.

From the time we moved to our new home we were desparately looking for a nice bath caddy to buy. All of a sudden I saw my Jimmy (fish) in our pond,and the idea came up to make this fish caddy which turned out to be really nice.You can see my Jimmy above.

My husband has most of the tools as he repairs stuffs at home.I have always seen him cutting and sanding stuffs in the cellar. so it was a bit easy and my first experience was not so difficult.

Paper or bristol board

Pencil or Marker

Scissors

Measuring tape

Ruler - option

Carbon paper

Pallet wood

1/4" wood pieces -2(length 26")

Wood paints of your choice

Paint brushes

Wood preservative

Water proof wood glue

Screw nails

Screw driver

Tools

Table saw

Sander

Jigsaw

Clamps

Measure the width of the bath .It is 29 1/2".

Spread a big sheet of paper and draw a nice looking fat fish to the measured size of the bath.

The length of the fish is 29.5" and the width in the middle is 9.5"

Mark the fish into three parts,body,tail and head.Draw the eye and mouth.

**Sorry about the blue colours as my roofing sheet is blue to protect the direct sunlight and all the photos taken under this place turns blue :(

Using the table saw cut some wooden pieces for the body of the fish.The thickness of the pallet wood is 3/4". cut Cut them a bit longer than 9.5" for the middle.

Trace the head and tail to the wood. Since my pallet wood width is not enough, I cut two pieces for the head which will be glued together. It is advisable to cut the head in one piece of wood

Cut the tail and the two head pieces.

Sand all sides of the wooden pieces including tail and mouth.I used the clamps to hold the bigger pieces with out moving

Place the wooden pieces on top of the paper fish and draw the shape around the body and number them.Cut the extra wood from both ends. Trace the mouth and cut .Here is my little cleo watching the fish to grab.

Once again sand the cut edges

Paste the two head pieces with water proof glue together. Let it dry completely

Spray wood preservative to both sides to all the wooden pieces.let them dry completely for a couple of hours

Paint the two bottom wooden pieces.

You can also skip this step and paint once and for all.But I found it easier to paint one side and attach the rest

Place the head and tail apart. ( wrong side) Place the bottom two wooden pieces over the fish head and tail on to the wrong side. The length from head end to tail end is 29 1/2" ( bath size) Mark the gluing area and paste the two wooden pieces .

Now nail them together as shown above.

Turn to the right side and place the wooden body pieces accordingly on top of the blue wood.Make sure to have equal spacing.Mark with a pencil and glue the wood pieces in exact place.

Sorry about these images (1 & 2) which is upside.I could not get it to the right psition. :(

Once the body is fully dried turn it to the wrong side and attach the screws as shown above.Now the caddy is tight and hardy to use.

Give a full blue wash on the wrong side.Choosing the color is up to you. My choice is BLUE

Teal blue is one of my favourite color.I have used a darker blue for the wrong side and teal blue with a lighter blue mix for the body.Teal blue /yellow black for the eyes.Orange for the mouth.

What do you think of this Pallet wood fish Caddy?

As a first timer I am really proud of my self to do this,and I am so happy to have a self made Fish caddy for our bath.Look forward for more wood projects in the future.