I’ve always wanted to be good with wood working; my all time favorite show Breaking Bad has a scene about how one of the main characters Jesse built a very nice box for his wood working class (and sold it off for drug money, but that’s irrelevant), and since watching that I’ve been intrigued to do the same. Here is my journey of going from near-zero wood working experience to the creation of a functional and decent-looking box that isn’t quite perfect, but considering the circumstances I am very proud of.

I chose the expert level assignment, but not only because I wanted the additional challenge and creative freedom in making the box, but also because I had to improvise provided the fact that there were no large pieces of plywood left to do the beginner or intermediate assignment. So I ended up conceptualizing a crate utilizing the thin wooden slabs in the workshop, and using the one large piece of plywood I could find for the base of the box.

To keep the slabs suspended I luckily found pieces of scrap wood about 1.5 x 1.5 inches that I could use as square pegs for the corners of my crate. I cut them down to about the same size (11 1/2 inches) in order to keep the box 12 inches tall but because of rough edges, and me failing to use the belt sander correctly, I ended them sanding them down a bit too much in an attempt to keep them the same height, so my box ended up being about half an inch short because of this. (I was using the belt sander for way too long before realizing the platform was at a slight angle, angling the ends of the pegs)

With all of the pieces cut to ample size with the help of a lab assistant and a lot of patience, it was time to move on to assembly. I originally planned on using the Kreg Jig but it was nowhere to be found when I looked around, and I was worried it might fail to work with the pegs as they are not wide enough, so I stuck to the normal drilling and screwing routine. Below are some of my failed attempts at figuring out the Kreg Jig before it got lost.

Here are pictures of my clamping and assembling:

Some problems I ran into when drilling holes and screwing:

• Splintering of wood, did not ruin the wood but I glued the cracks to ensure stability

• One of the planks of wood were a bit too short to stay between the pegs so I had to use some “unconventional wisdom” and keep it propped up with a piece of cardboard and glue it together.

• Uncooperative screws…

Overall this assembly was an arduous process due to the nature of how many pieces I was putting together and dealing with the problems listed above. Once everything was assembled I finished the wood with the handheld machine sander and a couple layers of clear coat as I wanted to keep the authentic look of the wood. The final product does not look perfect due to some minor misalignments, differences in wood, the problems listed above, etcetera. I am however happy with the final product as it stands as a testament to the productive weekend I spent building it, and to my progress as a wood-worker.

Total cost:

About 12 total hours of prepping, cutting, assembling, and finishing.

32 total 2 1/2 inch wood screws: about $19 for 100, $19*32/100 = roughly $6.08

About 23 inches of a 2×4 wood plank for the pegs: about $4 for 96 inches = $0.96

(Hard to find good values here) 13*12 inches of 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch wood for planks: about $1.17 per 12 inches = $15.21

16×16 inch plywood: about $36 for 12*4*12*8 = $2

Total cost is about 12 hours and $24.25. If these prices are accurate which they might not be, I should probably save the time and buy a box from Target next time.