I got to make a new friend in this class by getting to work with Mia Mapula! It was an out of the blue question, but it created an awesome experience because neither of us has worked with wood before, so we got to learn all the “dos and don’ts” together. And, spoiler alert, an amazing box that is so smooth was born:) I can see how this is a valuable skill as there are so many things we can create to put in a home and being skillful at this technique can help anyone save money.

Step 1: Deciding to request pre-cut wood, attempting to assemble, and then having to cut anyways

In reality, we asked for pre-cut wood since we were both not confident enough to cut all of the wood ourselves. Having said this, we started right away and both found problems from the start. Mia took a shot first at the project and attached two pieces of wood a bit wrong because they were not flush together. I then proceeded to try and drill both of those pieces together and ended up drilling too big of pilot holes (5/16 instead of the 1/8). We were happy that we both made these mistakes earlier in the process because the pieces were not usable and we had to cut wood anyways, so I ended up cutting some new 14.5″ and 12″. We needed 2 pieces of the 14.5″ and 1 piece of the 12″, but I was wondering if it would be good to have a layer of similar wood rather than mix and matching, so I cut 3 pieces of the 14.5″ and 2 pieces of the 12″.

Step 2: Sanding and assembling the layers (for real;))

To start with the process, I would sand the 14.5″ and 12″ pieces from 60 grits to 320 grits to create a smooth surface on the wood to give us the best chance for starting with a smoothness rather than us starting from start when the crate is already assembled. While I did this, Mia started on the crate layers by attaching the pieces of wood together and countersunk all the screws so they do not protrude out. We ended up assembling 2 of the 3 levels before having to utilize the wood I cut. Later, we assembled our third and final layer of the crate, but since the wood was different, it was not in uniform with the other layers. That’s when Mia went to the wood shop to route all the layers to look similar to the new layer (creating an amazing symmetry).

Step 3: Sanding and assembling the crate

Next, we sanded all the sides again (in the order of 60, 120, 240, 320, and 400 grits) and then assembled the crate! While I continued to sand, Mia would measure the width and length of the inside of the crate to determine what would be the correct calculations for us to put a bottom floor in our crate. Then, I would go to the sanding belt to try and get the bottom pieces to those measurements. This ended up being a longer process than I thought since I would sand, try and force it into the bottom layer, it would not fit, and then I would sand and rinse and repeat the process. Finally, it would fit and we both were very excited about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we began attaching the pillars to the bottom layer to have a foundation for building upward on the crate. We ended up utilizing the small clamps provided by the OEDK to try and have the pillars flush to the corners of the crate to try and decrease the possibility of gaps being present. The original pillars we had were rotten, so I cut more of them in the wood shop.

To try and ensure the levels had an equal pocket of air between each one, we tried the trick of placing extra pieces of wood between each layer. We continued with this process until all three layers are assembled and done! Later, we sanded the entire crate up to 800 grits to try and really gain a smoother finish.

Step 4: Post-processing and here is the finish line! Time to reflect:)

To finish our crate, we applied Linseed Oil as the liquid finish and became done! It was an awesome finish to our project and we realized a lot of ways we want to improve our wood working skills for next time. One is to try and ensure that each piece is sanded evenly because we realized that there were some gaps still even after the finish, so it would be nice to pay attention to that finer detail. In addition, we would probably have practiced more on each technique before applying them to our project, such as drilling, countersinking, sanding, and cutting the wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both learned a lot about wood working and its practice as well as how to use all the hand tools. In addition, it was pretty cool to be able to make something ourselves that we normally would see being sold in a store (we could totally make it professionally one day;)). Lastly, we also learned about how precise each step has to be for it to look like it has no blemishes.

Step 5: Time to see if it was worth it!

We worked for around 9 hours on it and would have used up around 24 feet of 1×4 lumber with how many pieces we used of the 12″ (8 pieces) and 14.5″ (12 pieces) and around 6 feet of the 2×2 pillar lumber (7 pieces). The equipment rental would have been at $30 per hour and the labor would have costed $15 per hour. Therefore, by looking at Home Depot for the cost of the 1×4 wood ($10.65), 2×2 wood ($3.55), equipment rental ($270), labor ($135), Linseed Oil ($10.29), and screws ($5.98), we would have spent $435.47 on this project. With more experience, I think we could make it for less money in the future!

1×4 wood: https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-in-x-4-in-x-8-ft-Furring-Strip-Board-687642/203461000

2×2 wood: https://www.homedepot.com/p/2-in-x-2-in-x-8-ft-Furring-Strip-Board-Lumber-75800593/304600525

Linseed Oil: https://www.amazon.com/Sunnyside-Pure-Linseed-Quart-87332/dp/B0149KTEPS/ref=asc_df_B0149KTEPS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309777797660&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9559318715443437245&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027614&hvtargid=pla-571472184701&psc=1

Screws: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-8-x-1-1-2-in-Yellow-Zinc-Yellow-Zinc-Flat-Interior-Wood-Screws-50-Count/3037667?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-hdw-_-ggl-_-LIA_HDW_126_Fastening-_-3037667-_-local-_-0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyOuYBhCGARIsAIdGQRMkwwitC_d34qBEpumF6jClLPhU3_VKnvsu4DpFx07_md67QEzdtVkaAvpuEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds