Oh My Manger!

The festive season is upon us. Markets, carolling and Christmas parties abound. Noah has been given the role of a sheep in his school’s nativity play (much to his annoyance, he wants to be a dinosaur) and the school has asked parents if someone has a spare manger or wooden cot that they can use. Me being a people pleaser and wanting to help his school where I can, I volunteered to build a Manger for them. We have spare wood around, a day without any plans and two children who I knew would enjoy spending time outside with me helping to build something special.

When starting a new project, I always begin by drawing and planning what I want to build. With the manger, it is a simple design, two x’s connected with wooden slats at the top. I used Noah to base what height to make it and one of Isla’s dolls to decide the size of the basket. I calculated the angle needed for the ends of the crosses and the rough length of each piece using trigonometry (I know, I never thought I’d use it after school either). Isla loves to help with this part so I usually have to read my notes through her colouring.

I found some unused 38mm x 63mm CLS and used my compound mitre saw to cut the ends to 37.5 degrees and cut each to length with the same angle at the top. After this I marked the centre of each piece of wood and drilled a 3mm hole through it to provide a pivot point. By screwing 2 pieces together I was able to adjust them until they sit correctly on their angled bases then marked on each piece where the other crossed it. This was to create a lap joint to strengthen the ends and make it overall more stable. To create this joint I used my compact circular saw to make several cuts halfway through the CLS between the marks I had made. After this I used a chisel to remove the unwanted wood and smooth the joints. Noah had his small hammer to assist and was content hammering everything insight (I had to draw the line at out glass door!). Once the lap joints were finished, I fitted the wooded crosses together and redrilled the centre holes to make bore holes, countersinking one side for the screw head to easily recess into. Bore holes are holes that are larger than the screws that will be going through it. They are used to make two pieces of wood screw together tighter, as the screw does not grip the first one but bites into the second and the head of the screw pulls the first tightly into the second the more the screw is turned.

Now I needed to find a suitable piece of wood for the cross bar to connect the centre of the X’s so we raided the spare wood pile. I found a piece of piece left over from a previous project that was perfect. I recut one end on the mitre saw to ensure it was perfectly square then cut it to length. I then drilled a pilot hole into the centre of each end and screwed the crosses onto it to create the base frame.

For the bars for the basket, I once again raided the spare wood pile and found a surplus rough sawn fencing board from building our fence at home. I decided on thinner cross bars so got out the table saw and trimmed the board down to 45mm wide strips. Isla was incredibly cross that she wasn’t allowed to help with this part and instead had to watch from the doorway, babies and big saws do not mix. She came out once it was all cut up and helped me sweep up!

I used the mitre saw to cut the strips of wood down to length then drilled 2 holes at either end to fix the strips to the manger frame. I countersunk the holes to allow the screws to easily be hidden below the surface.

Now it was time to sand. First, I used my belt sander to remove the roughest parts of the wood and round all the edges then my detail sander to smooth all the wood and refine the edges and corners. Finally, I hand sanded everything to make sure it was completely splinter free and the cuts and edges were nice to touch. Isla spent this time sat on out back step using a piece of sandpaper to draw on.

I wanted to give the manger an aged, rustic look so decided on a dark oak wood stain followed by a coat of exterior varnish to help protect the wood from wear and tear. The kids know, if I’m wearing latex gloves, they have to stay away and not touch what I am doing. So, while I stained the wood, they played on the trampoline together and built a castle of rocks. It’s wonderful working and hearing the kids laughing together. I stained all the wood once but the CLS was a bit lighter than the rest so it has a second coat to deepen the colour. I used a paintbrush to paint the stain on, let it sit for a few minutes the wiped off the excess and let them dry. Once it was all dry, I moved the wood inside as we were losing light and varnish sets better at warmer temperatures.

Time management as a parent is a skill in itself. To make sure all the wood was varnished and I would be able to assemble the manger that night to take to Noah’s school today, I had to coat 2 sides of each bit of wood before I cooked tea so that it would dry, then before the kids went to bed, I needed to do the other 2 sides of each piece to allow it to dry as I got the kids to sleep. Finally, I was able to screw everything together while the kids slept. That’s right, using a drill and impact driver a floor below the kids and they both slept right through it. However, while assembling I realised, I had forgotten to make the pieces for the ends! Luckily, I had made a spare side strip and with careful measuring and cuts I was able to make 2 slats for each end with 2cm to spare! I touched up the cuts and drill holes with stain and we were finished!

Noah and Isla both tested the manger out this morning. I am so happy with the results; it looks great and is incredibly sturdy and strong. Noah’s teachers were really pleased when I handed it over. Luckily, it’s not heavy so can easily be moved around for the nativity and rehearsals. Being able to built something for Noah’s school that can be used year after year has really been enjoyable and made me feel like I accomplished something good this week after so many things didn’t go as planned. I only hope now that Noah doesn’t think it’s his role to lay in the manger for the nativity, only time will tell!