To build my box, I first spent about an hour planning out the lengths of wood I was going to cut. This process took me longer than I really expected because this was one of the first times I’ve planned out how I was going to build something and I wanted to be really sure my calculations were correct.

I originally planned to use 12, 15.25” 1x3s for the sides and 4.5 16” 1x4s for the base. When I got to the woodshop, I realized that we didn’t have any 1x3s, so I switched my plan to use 1x4s for the sides. Ultimately, this was only a minor pivot because it just made the slot gaps between the sides a little smaller.

I went to the woodshop with Aditi, and we spent about an hour measuring and planning our wood cuts. Then, a lab assistant helped us to cut our pieces with the miter saw.

Over the week, Kenzi and I decided to pair up to finish this project. She worked on sanding some of the pieces.

Since this week was really busy for me, I had to take the project home for the weekend.

When I got my pieces together to assemble them, I noticed that the cuts were pretty uneven. I figured out which was the shortest plank that I planned to use for the sides, then cut the rest to match that length. Next, I assembled the sides using a nail gun.

After the sides were assembled, I used a router to round out the edges. I did not use the router on the inside of the bottom layer so that the base planks could line up flush against the side. Next, I used the orbital sander to sand the inside and outside of the sides of the crate. After everything was smooth I measured my base pieces again to make sure they would fit within the assembled sides. Then I used the saw to make each base piece even and fit within the inner edge of the side boards.

I used the nail gun to attach the base planks to the bottom side square. I put 3 nails into the short sides of each base board.

This was probably the most difficult part of the assembly. I had two nails shoot through the bottom of the box because I was aiming the nail gun at an angle instead of straight. To fix the nails, I had to hammer them out and sand the broken parts back down.

Next, I attached the supports to the base and the first side layer. I used 2 nails on each side of each support and one nail through the bottom of the box. Next, I measured the supports to see how tall my box would be. I realized that the height was about a half-inch too tall, so I used the table saw to take off a half-inch from each support and make the height of the box 12”.

Next, I attached the next side layer. I used a piece of 3/4” scrap wood to be a spacer while I lined up and nailed in the 2nd layer. I repeated the same process for the top layer. Finally, since the nail gun left some small holes, I used wood putty to cover the holes and make the box have a smooth finish.

To post-process the box, I used a dark walnut stain that matches some other furniture I have in my house. Overall, I spent about 5.5 hours working on this project. I spent about 1.5 planning and measuring the wood cuts, an hour actually cutting the wood, 2.5 hours assembling the box, and 0.5 hours staining the box. With an hourly rate of $15/hour, the labor cost for this project was $82.50. I used 3 1x4s and 1 2×2 for lumber materials. With an average cost of $4.50 per 12 ft plank, I would have spent about $18 in materials for this project. Since I had the wood stain, wood putty, and nails from other previous projects, I did not include them in the overall cost. I also did not include the cost for additional reusable equipment, including the saws, nail gun, and sanders. In total, the cost of materials, labor, and time for this box is about $100.50.

If I could do it again, I would focus on making sure I was holding the nail gun straight and consider adding a routing pattern to create a bigger gap for a handle between the slots. I had a fun time building this box!