Hello!! I’m so excited to share my box with you 🙂 This Box is so sturdy, I can stand on it with confidence! I like it a lot because I put a lot of time and effort into it and I’m excited for the value it’ll bring to my common space in my quad. I normally like working with people but I wanted to keep the box for myself so I am a loner for this.

Step 1: Cut Wood

The first thing I did was cut the wood in the woodshop. I found this aspect to be the most challenging because accuracy is key to a good box and I had to pick the best wood possible. I measured for the following dimensions:

• 9 x 14.5” long pieces of 1×4 lumber
• 6 x 12” long pieces of 1×4 lumber
• 4 x 10-11” long pieces of 2×2 lumber

I had to triple check the accuracy on my first cut, before putting a piece of scrap wood to act as a guide for my other cuts. Here is a picture of my cutting the wood:

Step 2: Making Outer Rectangles

Once I had all of my wooden parts, I couldn’t wait to start assembling so I did that next. I am a very results driven person so I liked seeing progress. I essentially lined up the corners for 3 rectangles with the angle clamp, drilled a pilot hole, drilled a countersink hole, and drilled in the wood screws. After I finished assembling the 3 outer rectangles, I cleaned up after myself (yay so responsible!!).

Step 3: Routing and Sanding

After I finished constructing the outer layer of the box I noticed the edges were harsh angles so I put it to the router to make a more curved finish for the user’s grabbing pleasure. I also used the orbital sander with 60 grit paper to create a smoother finish.

literally me sanding, this is not from the internet because I forgot to take a picture of me with the orbital sander…

Step 4: Adding the bottom, assembling box and sanding more

I used 3 of the 1 x 4 pieces of wood on the bottom of the box and fastened them using the same pilot hole, countersink hole, screw method as the rectangles. Once the bottom was added, I put on the 2 x 2s and used them to help connect the large rectangles. I also sanded and filed the box kind of continuously to prep for the staining and make it the best it can be.

Step 5: Staining and Varnishing

Now that I had an actual box complete, I got to add the aesthetic features. I added a dark stain because I feel like it’ll look nice in my room. I stained it, let it sit for about 5 minutes, then wiped off the stain and let it dry for a day outside. When I got the stained box, I found a little spider!! I removed the spider and added little touches of stain to missed components. Once everything was dry, I added a layer of linseed oil to varnish the box and help it be more durable.

Cost Estimate:

• 8ft long 1×4 lumber (2.5 pieces) – $4.38/piece is $10.95 for 2.5 pieces (Lowes.com)
• 8ft long 2×2 lumber (1 piece) – $3.48 (Lowes.com)
• Wood Screws (46) (12 for bottom, 24 for rectangles, 12 for attaching rectangles) – $7.12 (Lowes.com)
• Stain (1/8 of container) – $1.13 (Lowes.com)
• Linseed Oil finish (4 oz) – $2.48 (Amazon.com)
• Labor (6 hours at $10/hr) – $60

Total Materials: $25.16; Total Cost with labor: $85.16

Here is my final box yay!! I can’t wait to use it after this semester.