In this project, I will be constructing a crate, similar to an old apple crate, but with a focus on the post-processing and finishing aspects of the development process. This includes routing, sanding, staining and oiling or varnishing.
Requirements and Planning:
The OEDK has a dovetail jig that, to my knowledge, has never been used. I intend to use that for the corners of the box and learn a new tool in the process!
The box must be 12x12x16 inches, and since I’m using dovetails, I’ll need the full length for each piece and will do 3 “levels” deep. For the floor I’m thinking about using two 1×6″ sections and 2×2″ corners to tie everything together. Therefore, the materials I’ll need are as follows:
- 16″ 1×4 – 6x
- 12″ 1×4 – 6x
- 11 1/4″ 2×2 – 2x
- 15″ 1×6 – 2x
- Dark walnut stain
- Beeswax finishing oil
Building IT!
The first step is to cut all the wood to length. Performing all the cuts of the same length at the same time assures they will have uniform length to 1/64″ or better.
I also ran all my pieces (and a extra pieces for testing) through the planer to get them to uniform thickness.
Using this Harbor Freight routing jig allows me to cut evenly spaced fingers and slots into the pieces of wood. This took several hours of work to get right and I ended up having to use my own bit because the OEDK does not have the right router guides. However, following a youtube tutorial allowed gave the basic setup and sped the learning process up a lot.
The router leaves a lot of chips and loose fibers on the wood, but some sanding and filing to get a good fit yields really pretty joints.
The floor and upright pieces are cut and the corners routed to give it a finished appearance.
After lots of sanding that doesn’t affect the appearance but contributes immensely to the final look and feel of the product, the wood is ready for stain.
I stained the pieces before assembling them so that I could get everything uniform and wouldn’t have to worry about the corners.
Some beeswax and orange oil to give the crate a slick finish and an amazing smell completes the project!
Thoughts and Reflections
I’m really happy with how this turned out, especially since I was pretty nervous about the quality and feasibility of the dovetails initially. If I had to redo it, however, I would do a few things differently. First, I would use the correct router guide instead of trying to do it with a bearing on the shaft of the bit. This caused an immense amount of headache, and I ended up having to cut each dovetail twice because the bearing was two wide to cut the slots correctly. This also meant that a lot of the joints are much rougher and looser tolerance than they would have been otherwise. I also would have stained each piece of the joint a different color to make the dovetails pop more.
Cost Analysis
| Item | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 8ft 1×4 | 2 | $3.55 × 2 = $7.50 |
| 10ft 1×6 | 1/3 | $15.98 / 3 = $5.33 |
| 8ft 2×2 | 1/2 | $3.55 / 2 = $1.78 |
| Feed-N-Wax Beeswax | ~1/20th of one bottle | $9.98 / 20 = $0.50 |
| Dark Walnut Stain | ~1/20th of one bottle | $19.94 / 20 = $1.00 |
| Labor | 8.75 hours* | $15/h × 8.75 = $131.25 |
Materials cost: $16.11
Labor Cost: $131.25*
*Much of this time was spent learning the tooling and cutting test pieces, not the actual product.
