We started building the create by sanding our pre-cut wood. Working with Daniel, I sanded the narrow faces of each plank while he did the two large surface area faces. Both us of used orbital sanders and started with 60 grit sandpaper, working the surface until the pencil markings we drew along it completely disappeared. We noticed some imperfections with a few pieces of wood, especially one where an edge was not a 90-degree corner but rather more of a chamfer. For those, we decided to construct the box such that the blemishes would be most unnoticeable (e.g., facing them inside the box or making them the lower level of the create).
After sanding, we made the frames of the crate by using screws to join two planks perpendicularly. After securing the planks using a corner clamp, we marked two equidistant points on the plank, which we obtained by measuring 1 2/16″ down and up from the edges. To remove some materials where the screw would enter and prevent the wood from cracking, we used a 1/16″ in drill bit. A wider-diameter drill bit created the countersink. One mistake I made when countersinking was going too slowly, which peeled the wood rather than indenting it. Luckily, the three planks of wood forming the bottom of our crate fit perfectly with one of our wooden frames. Our method of securing the planks involved 12 screws: screws for each plank equidistant to each other and the edges of the plank.
For the pillars of the crate, we decided we wanted to make them thinner for two reasons: 1) the screws we had were not long enough to pierce too deeply into both the pillar and the frame, which could affect the strength of the create, and 2) we wanted the pillars to take up less volume within the crate. We sanded the pillar to half its orginal width, running it multiple times through the planer sander, incrementally decreasing the thickness setting each time. The arrows on the pillar helped us track from which side the sander was taking the material.
Doing some more equidistant point calculations, we marked each plank with where we would use a screw (two screws for each frame). We oriented the planks such that the thinner part faced toward the long side of the frame to maximize spatial efficiency, but one challenge we came across was that there was very little space for the drill itself. Thus, drilling the pilot holes and countersinks required very awkward postures.
With staining, we decided to create an alternating red and black pattern. We stained from bottom to top, covering and wiping each layer at a time. To prevent color mixing, we covered the layer below that on which we were currently painting with painter’s tape and covered the crate’s bottom with layer’s of paper towels. However, some black staining still got onto the red, unfortunately.
Here is the final product:
Cost Analysis:
Materials Cost
Wood:
9 x 14.5” pieces of 1×4 lumber + 6 x 12” long pieces of 1×4 lumber = ~17 ft 1×4 lumber
Unit cost of 1×4 lumber (1 in. x 4 in. x 8 ft.) = $0.44/ft
Total Cost of 1×4 lumber = $7.48
4 x 10” pieces of 2×2 lumber = 3.33 ft
Unit cost of 2×2 lumber (2 in. x 2 in. x 8 ft. ) = $0.44/ft
Total cost of 2×2 lumber = $1.47
Total cost of wood: $8.95
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Screws:
60 1 ½” screws used
Unit cost of screws (1-1/2 in.Connector Screw (100-Pack)) = $0.1428/screw
Total cost of screws: $8.57
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Stain:
Barn red stain used ~12 fl oz used
Unit cost of Rust-Oleum barn red stain (Rustoleum Woodstain Barn Red): $0.78/fl oz
Total cost of barn red stain: $9.38
Ebony stain used ~ 4.5 fl oz
Unit cost of ebony stain (Ebony, Rust-Oleum): $0.41
Total cost of ebony stain = $1.82
Total cost of stains: $11.20
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Total cost of materials: $28.72
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Labor Cost
9 h of work per person x 2 people = 18 h work total
Wage: $7.25/h (minimum wage in Texas)
Total cost of labor = $130.50
Equipment Costs
Membership to wood shop with all equipment (TXRX Labs): $90/month, business hours
Worked on box for 3 days
Unit cost of membership: $3/day
Total equipment cost: $9
Total cost of wooden crate: $168.22
