Thinking about making a desktop humidor out old basketball floor boards

[Kerosene Lounge]

Long story short, I like building crap out of scrap/old/free wood. I've thrown together a bunch of tables, foot stools etc and those ammo can humidors. Several years ago, the city tore down the old high school and built a new one. I know a guy who went in and ripped out a shitload of the tounge and groove gym floor before they demolished the old school. The guy with the wood has never done anything with it, other than sell a few boards to myself, who built a replica "gym floor" for a basketball coach who won a sectional several years back. I think he was thinking people were going to get all nostalgic and want to by souvenir scrap pieces of wood from him at a huge mark up.

So I was thinking of putting together a humidor, of good size, and essentially making the outer shell out of the basketball floor. I know its not very "decorative" or fancy wood, but I think it would look pretty damn awesome. Plan on getting to work on this once its no longer freezing balls in the garage.

anyone a) build a humidor from scratch and b) if you did, issues that you had that I might want to keep an eye out to look to avoid. Mainly with not being able to maintain a steady RH and stuff like that.

Thanks
T

 

[marshall9779]

I would think as long as you seal the joints and then line with cedar you should be fine. Cool idea.

 

[itchylove]

I think that will be a pretty sweet looking humi!

 

[AlohaStyle]

I think the ball bouncing on it will affect the cigars too much...

 

[SeaGarr]

I started to out of an old chest I had. It had been outside for years.

I understand a lot of humidity is lost through the bottom of a humi (don't know how really), and anything on the floor is subject to temp changes, so I raised it. Then on the inside I made the floor able to support 8lbs of kitty litter.

Anyway, I was about to line it with cedar, when I got distracted and simply placed three 120ct humis inside it. Low and behold, the humi in a box system works like a charm in that the temps and RH are more consistent than I have ever seen - even in the fall when temps change and barometric pressures shift and what have you.

Note kitty litter on the bottom keeping a stable environment outside the humi.

I'll finish it one day - but this is really working well for now.

 

[ZippoGeek]

That will look pretty cool! Be sure to post pics!

 

[ItsBarbarino]

I started a project like this a year ago, and gave up after realizing the cost, since I also had to go in on tools as well.

One thing that I can suggest from the hours of research h I did, is to seal the hell out of it on the inside. How thick is the wood? Maybe build a box out of mdf or plywood. Use 3/4 for the top so it is heavier, you want that thing to shut . Line the outside of that with your basketball stuff. Line the inside with shellac or glue & some kind of vapor barrier. Seal it up as a box, airtight. Now cut the "lid" off.
Spanish cedar goes in, pressure fitted. Then reattach the lid.

 

[TreySC]

I like the idea. I'm with ItsBarbarino you want to build the actual box out of something else and finish it with the old wood. Keep us posted sounds interesting

 

[sofc]

Love the idea.

I would cut a basketball, glue/shellac it so it holds its shape, put a hinge in the back and put that on the humidor (either as ashtray or to hold accessories)

 

[Kerosene Lounge]

I started a project like this a year ago, and gave up after realizing the cost, since I also had to go in on tools as well.

One thing that I can suggest from the hours of research h I did, is to seal the hell out of it on the inside. How thick is the wood? Maybe build a box out of mdf or plywood. Use 3/4 for the top so it is heavier, you want that thing to shut . Line the outside of that with your basketball stuff. Line the inside with shellac or glue & some kind of vapor barrier. Seal it up as a box, airtight. Now cut the "lid" off.
Spanish cedar goes in, pressure fitted. Then reattach the lid.

I like the idea. I'm with ItsBarbarino you want to build the actual box out of something else and finish it with the old wood. Keep us posted sounds interesting

My "source" for spanish cedar has a 3 car garage, that is his woodshop. I was planning on doing the majority of the work at his place. My initial thoughts are to construct the "body" of the humidor out of a 1/4" thick cheaper wood, then apply the gym floor boards over the top of all of it. The gym floor stuff is both tongue and groove, and there are for lack of a better term....slots.....on the bottom of the boards. almost like rails. No clue why, but I'm sure its got something to do with making the floor more flexible or something like that.

I have a leftover piece or 2 from several years back that I can snap a pic of. But the lack of a flat surface I fear would have a negative end result, if the main body of the humi was constructed out of the floor boards. Im also thinking about sanding the wood down to get the old poly off the wood and refinishing it so it looks a bit less dull.

Great input fellas, exactly what I'm looking for!
T

 

[ItsBarbarino]

My "source" for spanish cedar has a 3 car garage, that is his woodshop. I was planning on doing the majority of the work at his place. My initial thoughts are to construct the "body" of the humidor out of a 1/4" thick cheaper wood, then apply the gym floor boards over the top of all of it. The gym floor stuff is both tongue and groove, and there are for lack of a better term....slots.....on the bottom of the boards. almost like rails. No clue why, but I'm sure its got something to do with making the floor more flexible or something like that.

I have a leftover piece or 2 from several years back that I can snap a pic of. But the lack of a flat surface I fear would have a negative end result, if the main body of the humi was constructed out of the floor boards. Im also thinking about sanding the wood down to get the old poly off the wood and refinishing it so it looks a bit less dull.

Great input fellas, exactly what I'm looking for!
T

You're on the right track. Popular Mechanics I think did a humi build video once upon a time, I'll see if I can find it in my build notes... That was how they built it; they didn't have a "shell" as you will, but constructed an airtight box, then used a band saw to lop off the top, creating the lid.

Seems like you got the main points though. Don't skimp on the plywood; get a nice birch plywood, furniture grade. What size are you looking at, 100 count?

 

[Zigarro]

I thought about building one once out of Bois d' Arc; 18 x 15 x 8" with a tray. Then I got a wineador and gave up on wood. My only advice is go BIG.

 

[Kerosene Lounge]

minor update......
Our boy's basketball team won the sectional, so I threw together this little wall hanger for our coach.

Posted it to give you an idea as to what the wood looks like. Haven't given up on the idea of doing a humidor. Just waiting for it warm up in the garage to get cracking on this.

T