Easel to frame

My husband decided to let one of his easels go. It was missing a part or two, and wasn't very sturdy.

I salvaged the bolts and wing nuts from it, and decided to save the wood from the legs.

One of the children had asked for a small frame for their artwork, so I used some of the wood for that. Last year we bought a very nice old Craftsman miter box from a friend trying to dispose of a dead relative's estate, and I wanted to get better at using it.

This miter box has a guide for the saw that lets you suspend the saw above the work while you fiddle with things. I figured out the release for the angle adjustment, and after that had no trouble cutting accurately.

Assembling the pieces was a bit of a challenge, though. My husband has some right-angle clamps that I thought would help, but I couldn't find them. I had trouble finding the nails, too, thanks to certain children who have been working on projects of their own. The nails are also from some old guy's estate.

I ended up nailing the pieces together freehand, which was not fun, but it came out well enough. It could use a coat of paint.