ThIS BOX ROCKS
But its gonna cost you…
Material Costs:
- 8ft 1×4 lumber (2.5) – $4.38/piece, $10.95 for 2.5 pieces (Lowes.com)
- 8ft 2×2 lumber (1) – $3.38 (Lowes.com)
- Nylon Rope (2 ft) – $76.78 for 100ft, $1.54 for 2ft (Lowes.com)
- 3/4in brass couplings (4) – Free, from OEDK part bins
- Acrylics paint (3x3in) – Negligible
- Total – $15.87
Work Cost
My partner and I spent 2.5 hours on assembling the box itself, 1 hour of cumulative sanding and staining, 0.5 hours painting the strawberry, and 1.5 hours attaching the handles. A total of 5.5 hours between the two of us. Woodwork in Houston costs an average of $17/hour, which would make the labor cost 93.5
Total cost: 109.37
First thing we did was cut the wood. After that we used the orbital sander to take out the large bumps. Then we assembled the pieces. Here are some action pics:
Left- routing the sides of the box. Right – clamping down the vertical 2x2pcs in order to attach them to our sides.
After sanding, we used one coat of a dark mahogany stain.
While Izzie prepped the handles, I painted a strawberry on the side, Im really happy with how it came out.
The paint dried really quickly because it was acrylic so we could get right into handle making. We drilled 3/4in holes into the top slat of the short sides, and stuck our rope through.
After the rope was pushed through, we used a heat gun to ensure that the ends of the rope wouldnt fray, but more importantly not pull back through the holes.
And with that, we had finished the box.
Most of the assembly went off without a hitch, except for a few tear-out issues we had with the power tools. While we were in the assembly phase, screwing in the screws led to some long splinters breaking off. We solved this with wood glue, and tape. The other issue came when we drilled the holes for the 3/4in couplings. When we reached the bottom of the 2nd hole we drilled, it tore out a large piece of wood. We were unable to wood glue this piece back on, and instead gave it a coat of stain. This makes it hardly noticable.
Even with these shortcomings, both of us are really happy with how it came out, and are excited to use it this term.
