This box project took quite a long time to make, but I am very proud of the result. I began the project by drawing out my vision in order to calculate the amount of material that I would be needed. Because I wanted my box to have a more rectangular look, I decided to make my crate dimensions 16x12x12. I cut 9 pieces of the 4×1 planks to 14.75 inches (this accounted for the wall thickness) and I cut 6 pieces to 12 inches in length. I also obtained some thinner (~2in) planks which I cut to about 11 inches long. These would be used for the internal support of my crate. After I had all of my pieces cut, I used the planar to smooth out the wood before assembly. I also used the round router to cut round the top edges of my crate. Looking back at the process, I wished I had waited to used the router until after assembly as that would have given me a more polished look especially in the corners.
I decided to begin my assembly process by assembling the longer sides of my crate. I used multiple clamps to ensure that the pieces of my wood were flushed and straight. I started by screwing in the bottom side piece to both internal supports. Once clamped, I used a drill to drill a hole through both planks that were to be screwed together. Then I used a countersink drill bit to prepare the wood and ensure a cleaner flushed look. Then I finally used a 1.25in wood screw to secure the pieces. I decided to only use one screw on each plank for a cleaner look. I considered doing an internal screw instead for the sides, but decided against it as the internal supports were oriented in a position that would have been too wide to pierce with a screw. To assemble the middle and top side pieces, I used a third piece of wood as a spacer to allow for even gaps between the planks. I then repeated the process for the other side.
It was now time to put the sides together and assemble the bottom of the crate. This was a challenging endeavor as I did not want to use wood glue for this project. The bottom pieces that connected to the sides would be supported properly by a bottom screw into the internal support, but I was very worried about the middle part. I decided to put some screws diagonally from the side in an attempt to join the three bottom pieces. I had to do this process twice because the first time, I angled it too much and it lead to a piece of my wood breaking off. However, once I used a longer screw and made the angle a bit more parallel to the planks, the method worked great.
Once I had the long sides and the bottom of the parts done, I could assemble the short sides. I considered these sides as the front and back of my crate, so I wanted them to be the most presentable. For this reason, I decided to screw these parts from the inside. For extra support and a more flushed look (as the wood looked a bit warped), I used two screws for each plank. Also, I decided to make some handles for my crate. To achieve these handles, I first drew the outline of what I wanted the handles to look like using pencil, and then used the jig saw to cut it out. I used a file to round the edges, and lastly 120grit sandpaper for a smooth finished.
As I had assembled the box, I noticed that, even after I took care to ensure the material was flushed before screwing the pieces together, not all the pieces were perfectly flushed. For the pieces that were sticking out a little bit, I decided to used the sander to sand it down as much as possible to get a more flushed look, and for those that had a bit of a gap, I was glad that the gaps were not easily apparent from the exterior of the crate. Finally, I used the chamfer router for the bottom edge of the crate. I really liked the look of the chamfered edge especially around the corners. I was glad I decided to do this edge at the end of the assembly process.
For the finishing steps, I sanded the entire crate multiple times using increasingly smaller grit sand paper for a smooth finished. I then used a wet paper towel to clean the excess off before applying danish oil to the crate. I initially wanted to stain my crate, but I was not able to find a color that I was happy with (they were all too dark for my liking). I then saw the danish oil on the table and remembered that my dad used oil on some of the wood projects that he had done in the past, so I decided to use it for my crate. I added the danish oil following the instructions on the can, and I loved the result! It added beautiful contrast between the natural wood pattern while providing protection against humidity and water. Although this project took a very long time, it was worth it because I now have a beautiful crate.
I spent about 9 hours working on this crate. Assuming a $15/hr rate, the labor cost of the crate is $135. I used 17.1 ft of 4×1 wood planks which is about $4/8ft this amounts to $8.5 in wooden materials (I am not counting the inner supports as I used scrap wood from the OEDK). A pack of wood screws is about $10. However, I used only a few screws compared so I can assume that the cost associated with the screws was $1. Since the tools used all were shared from the OEDK, I am going to ignore the cost of the tools in my calculation. Finally, the cost associated with the danish oil (~$10/can) is also about $1 since I didn’t use that much. Therefore, the overall cost of the crate is $145.5 with the majority of the cost coming from labor costs. If we remove the labor costs, the crate would come out to $15.5 which is not too bad for a crate. (All material costs were estimated from the Home Depot website.)
