Scavenger Chic

Pirate Treasure Chest DIY

• By Joan
• May 31, 2023
• 7 Comments

Pirate Treasure Chest DIY

Last week I showed you three ideas for a pirate treasure party that was held for my 5 year old grandson Felix.  I was asked by mama, Mollie, if I could provide 5 boxes for a pirate scavenger hunt she was planning.  One of the boxes was the lavender thrift store find that I showed you last week.  For three of the boxes I used what I had on hand.  But this last box had to be special.  I wanted it to look like a true pirate treasure chest.

How hard is it to make a treasure chest?  Now that I’m finished, I must say, not hard at all.

For your treasure chest you will need a 1 inch thick board about 3ft x 2ft or enough scrap wood to be the equivalent.  Of course you can make your box larger or smaller depending on the amount of pirate booty you have.  I was told my box (or boxes) should be large enough to hold ring pops,  crazy straws, slime and blow up swords.

This was going to be the largest of the boxes.

Draw the cut lines for your box directly on your wood.  The sides of my box are about 17×12.  The box ends are about 12×12″ before tapering in the ends.  The taper is about 1 1/2″ at the base of each end.

I’m using a bowl to mark the cut line for the rounded top. These are 12″ wide at the bottom of the arcs, the same width as the top of the end piece.

Ready for cutting. Use a jigsaw, circular saw or table saw to cut out your pirate treasure chest pieces.  Save some of the scrap to use on the domed lid.

Use nails or screws to assemble the lower portion of the treasure box as shown.

Cut strips of 1″ pieces of wood about 1″ wide, the same length as you made the front and back of your treasure box (17″).

Use finish nails to attach the strips of wood to the  semicircles creating a domed top. Great time to use a nail gun if you have one.

A couple of old T hinges  attach the lid to the box.

If you have some old worn rusty handles, this is a great time to use them.

A vintage lock plate is used to dress up the front of the box.  

I hot glued  leather straps to the top of the pirate treasure chest.  This is just leftover leather from when I cut up my old purse. The strips weren’t quite long enough to go over the entire top without using the seams of the purse.  I made sure the seams were all in the back of the box and tucked into the splits of the wood top.

With slats of wood painted black, I trimmed out the treasure chest.  These are slats from an old wooden shutter.  Mark and cut to fit.

The slats are also nailed on with a nail gun and finish nails.

The entire box has been completed with the exception of the bottom.  We can’t have our treasure booty leaking out everywhere.  We definitely needed a bottom.

Cut a piece of thin plywood slightly smaller than the bottom of the box.  You don’t want the edges of the bottom of the box peeking out.

Stain your base with a color that complements or closely matches your treasure chest making sure you get the sides.  Nail into place.

The vintage lock plate was cut in half and screwed to the box.  An old screw eye is inserted thru the lock hole.  I didn’t have the key to this lock so I was waiting to use it when it would be used solely for decoration and could be locked permanently.  You’ll notice the box doesn’t actually lock but it looks like it does.

If you do want your lock to actually be pirate proof, look for a hasp lock and screw to the lid and base..

The cut ends of the rounded treasure chest top were stained to match the rest of the box.

If you like, add a chain to the inside to prevent the pirate treasure chest from opening too far.

The leather straps were finished with upholstery nail tacks that I already had on hand.

The pirate chest is hidden and waiting to be found by all the pirates with their treasure maps.

As always, stay inspired.