Prior to this project, I had worked with wood in a training session to build a birdhouse. In it, I used hand saws as well as hand held band saws to cut, and to fasten I used a combination of wood screws and common nails to provide a breath of practice. This did not include any practice in post processing or finishing, so I was incredibly excited for the opportunity to further my previous woodworking skills and develop new ones. I teamed up with Erick Morales to build an intermediate level crate. This would involve using pocket screws, multiple types of routing, and two different finishes.

Cutting
We carefully measured out the lengths of wood we would need to construct the crate and used the miter saw in the wood shop to cut. We were very careful with our measurements and were sure to take the width of the saw into account. This turned out to be completely successful, and we had no waste material because each piece was the exact length we needed or close enough that it could be sanded to fit our needs.

Sanding
In our first round of post-processing, we sanded the wood up to 120 grit, paying special attention to the imperfections in the wood. Some of the planks had deformations, missing material, or discolored surfaces that needed to be smoothened.

 

Pocket Holes
We used a Kreg jig to drill pocket holes to connect the perimeter of the crate. It took us a substantial amount of time to figure out how to operate the Kreg jig successfully because of how thin the wood was and due to key missing materials. After a lot of trial and error, we found a combination of Kreg jig settings, screw length, and drilling technique that allowed us to effectively fasten the wood planks to build the perimeter. We repeated this process three times for each of the three crate perimeter pieces.

 

Routing
We used the 1/4 in. radius rounded router bit that was already attached to the router for the edges of each perimeter piece. The routing was very easy and gave a consistent cut each time. For the corners, we tried a few different bits, some more successful than others, as the corners sometimes allowed significant amounts of material to be chipped away due to the direction of the grain—which we discovered on a test piece of course! Ultimately, to reduce the probability of damaging the crate, we went with a 45º chamfer piece. It was quite difficult to maintain the same distance during the routing, but with some patience and practice, we were able to produce a decently consistent cut on each corner.

 

Assembly
Now that all the pieces were routed, we did our final round of post-processing, sanding everything up to 300+ grit before assembling. We then screwed the four corner posts into the base and attached each permeter piece from the inside, spacing them out using scrap foam board in the hand tools area of the OEDK. To ensure the screws made it all the way through the thick posts, we drilled into the posts using a drill bit the size of the screw head enough for the screw to penetrate the perimeter board. We occasionally used clamps to ensure that the corner posts were flush with the perimeter. We ended by sanding any areas that were affected by the assembly as well as the top of the box, specifically focusing on the posts which rose slightly above the height of the top perimeter to make them flat.

 

Finishing
For the finish, we wanted to use two different types of stains, and we decided to split the box into two sections along the diagonal. Using painters tape, we stained one section and then the other. For the stains, we chose a cherry stain for one side and a black stain for the other. We had to be incredibly careful not to allow any overlap of the stain rather than carelessly painting it on like we could have done if we only chose one stain for the whole crate. I did not have high expectations for the outcome because a diagonal strain was a bit of an unconventional, and potentially unsuccessful technique, but to my surprise the outcome was both successful and visually satisfying. We had no issues using the stains; careful preparation and application was all that it took to produce a solid outcome.

 

Final Assessment

Overall I was very pleased with the final product. All of the assembly decisions we made were the product of a lot of trial and error, so the only thing I wish were different is the border between the two stains. I think in the future I will try to avoid having two stains meet at a border like this, but I did have to stop and appreciate how interesting the diagonal look turned out to be. I was very happy with the final product!

 

Cost
Lumber and screw price approximations are based on the Lowe’s online store.
1×4 Lumber (16 ft): $10
2×2 Lumber (4 ft): $3
Wood Screws: $8
Equipment: $0 (Shared resource)
Labor: ($15/hr for 12 combined hrs): $180
Total Cost: $201