This create definitely gave me a lot of problems, mostly due to my ambitiousness, as I really set out to make a really cool crate, but unfortunately I fell a little short in my opinion. But, regardless, I think I took a pretty good shot at it. To start off, I wanted to create a design using a outer and inner post design, with my planks being sandwiched in-between them as seen below.
To accomplish this goal, I first planed all of my planks and two sides of the posts to have flat edges to lay the pieces flush against each other. After planning, I used a rounded router to put a nice rounded curve on not only my planks but my posts as well.
Finally, the last piece I had to prepare was the plywood base for my box. To prepare this, I outlined the final design of my crate and then used a jigsaw to cut off all the material that I wouldn’t need. I also sanded down this edges of the base to let it be a little more curved and pleasing.
Finally with all the pieces prepared, I started assembling the crate by screwing the post and frame to the base board from underneath as I attempted to counter sink the screws. I noticed that the post that were secured by only one screw were very wobbly, and so to fix that I used finishing nails to secure the post and keep them from wobbling. That being said I experiences a lot of splintering in my wood and I had a few nails that I was unable to put in correctly.
Finally I tacked the boards onto the middle post using finishing nails, and while they were they I secured the boards to the post using screws. One problem I had was that as I tried to make the boards smaller because they didn’t fit originally, I went a little too far and they were now too short, but I just made it work the best way possible.
One thing that was a major problem was that I messed up when putting in a finishing nail, and so one of the boards came out crooked, which made it look not as good.
Finally, I think that if I could do this project over again, I would be more precise with my measurements and planning to get the most accurate measurements and practice my drilling and hammering so I don’t make as many mistakes. I also wanted to add a light stain to the box to compliment the bark I had left on one of my post, which I left as an aesthetic choice.
Costs:
- Screws: 36 screws at $2.24
- Finishing Nails: $2.10 for a pack of 50
- Wood: Roughly 15 dollars worth of lumber
- Labor: 10 hours at 15 dollars/hour, $150
- Total: $169.34
