After learning the basics of woodworking, we were tasked with making a simple wooden box. I began by selecting the type of wood I will use for the box. I chose plywood over MDF because of its strength. Furthermore, it would be harder for me to add any artists feature on the MDF because of its uniformity. After selecting a plank of plywood, I divided the wood into five sections for the five faces. I left a gap of about one millimeter between each cut to account for the thickness of the saw blade.
With the help of a lab assistant, the five pieces of wood were cut successfully. The table saw sliced through the plywood like butter.
My next task was to assemble the wood pieces. Securing two pieces at 90 degrees using a corner clamp, I drilled two holes for the screws on the outside face, and used a large drill bit to recess the screw holes. It was difficult finding the right sized drill bits for the screws, as the OEDK seems to be out of 3/16 inch bits. I ended up using a 1/8 inch bit, and luckily, the wood didn’t crack when the screws were tightened.
I repeated this step for each corner piece, but I resorted to securing the wood with multiple clamps for the bottom piece since the corner clamp cannot hold the box. The rough structure of my box was done!
Looking over the box, the large silver screws were unsightly. Therefore, I decided to make some wood putty using some sawdust and wood glue. It was tricky mixing the glue and sawdust as the sawdust just tended to stick to the outside of the glue. After final mixing them together, I smeared the paste over each of the screws.
Still, the box looked rather bland, so I thought of a way to add character to it. Using a belt sander, I heavily sanded each side of the box near the bottom. This resulted in the box having a slightly curved shape when viewed from the side. An unexpected consequence of sanding the plywood was that the top layer of the wood was removed, revealing the underneath layer of wood with a different color. I was very pleased with this accidental discovery as it made my box have a unique appearance.
Next I routed the edges of my box. The top four edges were easily routed and had a smooth appearance. However, an issue I encountered while trying to route the sides was that the screws are too close to the edge. It would end badly if the high speed router bit hit the screw head, so I decided to use multiple small passes with the router to safely route the edges. I finished my box by manually sanding the edges to smooth any imperfections.
Cost analysis: The total layout of the five pieces of plywood just fits on a 2ft x 2ft sheet ($9.09). I used a total of 8 screws ($1.18) to hold the box together and a sheet of sand paper ($3.06) I assumed that I’m renting the router, table saw, and belt sander($10/hr, 1 hour each). I spent about 4 hours on the box and used about 1 hour of lab assistants’ time (5x $15). Thus, the total cost for the box comes down to $118.22.
References
https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Woodworker/Hourly_Rate
https://www.homedepot.com/c/tool_and_truck_rental#powertoolrentals
