Wooden Plugs

I need to plug all those counterbored holes so they don't show, and to do that I'll be making them. What you see here is a bunch of pieces that are going to be glued together. However, I won't be using the 'end grain' for this, I'll be using the 'face grain'. Now this isn't much more work doing it this way, but I do have to keep all the pieces oriented the correct way while gluing.
 

Here I'm turning the plugs in my lathe down to 3/8". This worked but I could only do two or three plugs at a time. The reason for this is because the grain direction is weak this way. To help with that, I had to keep my work piece stubbed up so it doesn't break. Ask me how I know that???

After I had the diameter I needed, I used my hacksaw to cut the piece off. This worked well because my hacksaw blade is very thin compared to my parting tool, which is 1/8" thick. This saved material and I had more control by doing it this way, because the pine would flex so much.
 

I used one drop of glue, spread it around with that small paint brush and then tapped the plug in with my soft faced hammer. The next day I came back and sanded all the plugs with 80 grit and then 150 grit sandpaper. This was my first time doing this but it worked great and it was easy.
 

Seat Hardware

There is more than one way to keep little fingers safe so the seat doesn't fall on them. And I looked a lot of different types of mechanisms from cheap spring setups to elaborate gas pistons before I settled on this 'lid stay' (as they're called) or lid support is made by Sugatsune. This lid support has a soft closing technology to prevent slamming and can hold the lid open up to 105 degrees.

Once I read all the reviews I bought two because I didn't know if I'd need one per side of the seat or not. If I only used one, then I'd use the other for a second toy box.
 

Here are the instructions that came with the lid support. Depending on the way your lid is hinged determines where it gets mounted. After looking at both ways it can be mounted, mine is on the right (2 Inset flap). And with this being made in Japan, all the dimensions are in metric.
 

And sure enough, I had two holes in my seat support and two in mid-air. What I had to do was add a small block so I could utilize the four screws the bracket had.
 

Here you can see all four screws fastened down. However, if you look close you can see one screw split the difference between the two wood pieces. I don't think it's that big a deal so it's all good.
 

Here it is installed which was an easy task. However, once I opened the lid I quickly found out the lid and back hit each other and won't open past 90 degrees, so this is my fault forgetting this detail. The arm that you see should be straight and not at an angle while open. That means the lid only stays open a few seconds before it wants to close.

But the good news is the lid support works great because it slowly closes the lid and hardly makes a sound when it shuts fully.