I was very excited to start this project, but I did not anticipate how much time it would take.

I decided that I would be working on my own crate, but following the instructions given.  I began by creating a plan of what I needed and then cutting my wood.  I cut the frame and support pieces on the miter saw and then put the support pieces through the planar.

After I had my plywood base, wood pieces for the side of the crate and the 4 2×2″ supports, I put together three frames for the sides of the crate.  This was stressful because the pieces of the frames didn’t always meet perfectly and the large drill bit I used instead of a countersink bit ripped up the edges of the wood on multiple pieces.

I battled with the router for a good hour before being able to cut.  We struggled with a lab assistant getting the router bit to the correct height. Once we settled on a cut, I routed the edges of the frames to make sure that I still had a corner and a square interior, but the exterior edges were smooth and rounded so that it was comfortable to carry.  I then sanded all of the pieces.

Next, I attached the bottom frame piece to the base plywood and then attached the 2×2″ frame supports.  With the base and supports in place,  I used 4 popsicle sticks for spacing and attached the middle and top frames to the crate.  Maneuvering the drill to support the crate was very difficult, and ensuring that the screws did not hit other screws in the crate was a bit tricky.  I also struggled with getting the top two frames on the crate because they were super snug.

Now that assembly was complete, I sanded, and then sanded some more.  Once done sanding, I stained the crate with the dark walnut stain and let it dry overnight.  I was not the best at staining and made a mess of my hands even while wearing gloves, but the drip marks weren’t super noticeable after the box dried.  Using paper towels, it was also difficult to reach all of the crevices with the stain.  As a result, there were several points on the crate that didn’t get fully stained.  The next day, I applied two clear coat layers and left it to dry again.

Cost Analysis

Note: I estimated the cost from Lowe’s for each of the materials.

Wood: 1 2×2″ piece ($2), 2 1×4″ pieces ($10) = $12

16×16″ Plywood base: $6

Screws: $10

Machinery rental: I estimated the cost using a maker-space monthly membership at $125

Stain: $9

Clear coat: $5 for a whole bottle, I estimated $1 for what I used

Labor: $25/hour x 12 hours = $300

Total cost: $467

Overall, this crate is extremely expensive, mostly in time.  If I were to repeat this process, I might be able to be more efficient, however, it would still be a time consuming process.