The construction and post-processing of the box took me longer than expected. I started crafting the box on Thursday during the work day, but if I could go back in time I would start earlier. I found the construction of the actual box manageable, but the post-processing of the box is what I found most difficult in the project. I decided to have my wood pre-cut, because of all the other assignments and responsibilities I had outside of class to make my workload easier. Once I received all of my wood from Hayden and Luke, I began sanding them, starting with 80-grit sandpaper and then moving to 120-grit sandpaper to remove most major blemishes and splinters.
Once I completed the sanding I started to construct the box first creating the three rectangular boxes I needed for the structure. I used the corner clamp to mount the edges of the wood together and then I would use a pilot hole, countersink, and then use the drill to add the screws into the wood.
After that, I decided to use the router and two different bits to create two different patterns for my wood. I found this part to be the most difficult, because of the alignment of the router. I had to do multiple test trials for it to come out somewhat how I wanted. In this entire project, I probably spent the most time routing just for trial and error in order until I got it right.
After I finished routing I attached the 3 planks at the bottom clamping it to the table. Once I did that I turned the box over and attached all 4 poles to the box. I then slid one of the rectangular boxes I created over and used two spare plancks I had to create equal spacing before screwing them in.
After doing that I repeated the process and screwed everything together. It took some forcing and sanding the poles a bit to get them to fit, but I was eventually able to get them fitted and screwed properly.
Finally, I began sanding down my box to make sure I got rid of all the splinters and to help fix my alignment issues with the router to make it look better and more presentable. Once that was done I decided to use a mahogany gel-based stain for my crate to achieve the color I wanted. I did multiple cycles and for each cycle, I had to let the stain rest for 2-5 minutes before applying a new stain over the older one to really get a rich color for it.
I spent about 10 hours working don’t his project. Assuming a $18/hr rate, the labor cost of this crate is $180. All parts that I used came supplied free from the OEDK. I estimate that the materials used for this project including the wood, screws, stains, and sanding paper come out to around $20. Removing all of the labor costs the crate itself would only cost $20.
