This week’s story? The crate. What is it made of? Wood, metal screws, sweat, and blood.

Best decision I have ever made? Worked with a partner to make this crate.

Worst decision I ever made? Keep reading.

Step 1: Make bad decisions that you will definitely regret later 

Asma and I got to work on Tuesday. We decided to get the full experience and cut our own wood. The crate needed a total of 15 pieces of wood. We thought that cutting wood would be the hardest part but honestly, we got the hang of it pretty quick. We planned on cutting 9 of 14.5″ x 4″ x 1″ planks, 6 of 12″ x 4″ x 1″  planks and 4 of 11″ x 2″ x 2″ lumber.

Mistake #1: We overcompensated a little too much for sanding, so we measured more than 14.5″ or 12″ for all the planks resulting in uneven plank sizes.

We then used the planar to plane the wood, the jointer to make the edges even, and then the router to round all of the edges. The rounded edges made the wood look really nice, and we were really proud of it. However…

Mistake #2: We rounded all the wood planks and did not think to leave 3 straight for the bottom planks.

These mistakes were something that we did not realize were mistakes until much later when the assembly of the crate had begun.

Step 2: Spend hours and hours sanding the wood

After we had our very beautiful wood, we needed to make it even prettier. The circular sander was our best friend in this case. It is recommended that we start from a lower grit and work our way up to smooth it out. Using the hand-held sander, we smoothed out some of the splinter edges and other blemishes. It’s pretty awesome how much of a difference the sander can make. Sanding took a while, I sanded all the planks with the 80 grit, and Asma redid them with 120 grit. They also looked much lighter in color. While sanding we noticed that one of the planks had a crack on the edge (picture below), so we used the help of wood glue, filled in the gap, and left it overnight with a clamp.

Whew! That was just day 1. The thing about sanding though, every time you think you are done. You aren’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3:  Start assembling the wood but realize you can’t 

Day 2: All the wood was sanded and ready, so far so good. We can finally start assembling right? No.

Remember mistake #1? We overcompensated for the wood, well so now we realize we did not need to overcompensate so much and the planks were all uneven in size. This now resulted in us trying multiple other machines to fix our mistake. The journey to fix mistake #1 was much longer than we imagined it to be, but fun nonetheless and we ended up trying many new machines and tools.

1. Try sanding the edges to a standard size (14.5″) using the belt sander. Did not work because it took way too long and we had to sand off about half an inch
   

   Using the Belt Sander

2. Hand saw. Nope. Also took far too long and it did not really cut through the wood
   

   My failed attempt at hand sawing

3. The band saw + belt sander. BINGO!!
   

   Using the Band Saw

Asma had used the band saw before, and it worked really well. The electric saw cuts the wood while we guide the wood through. Not surprisingly though, we faced an issue. Our cuts weren’t straight, and that was because of our lack of experience in using it. So, we sanded the edges down using the belt sander until they were kind of, sort of straight. In doing this, we cut some of the wood planks smaller than 14.5″. All of them still weren’t even, but after many trips to the band saw and belt sander, we got them pretty even.

Step 4: Don’t screw up the drills

Alright, it was finally time for the assembly! The strategy was to assemble the 3 square tiers of the crate first, the bottom, the middle, and the top. Then assemble the bottom 3 planks to the bottom tier square, screw the 4 lumber pieces to the inside corners, and lastly measure out uniform gaps and secure the top 2 square tiers. As taught in class, we used the corner angle clamp to join two of the planks together to form a perfect 90-degree corner. The longer piece of wood went on the inside and the shorter was the outside from which we drill the hole through. There were 2 holes to secure the planks together (one at 1.5″ from the bottom and another at 3.5″ from the bottom). We used the power drill and the 1/8″ drill bit to drill the holes and a 1/4″ drill bit to counter-sync the screw. The same procedure was followed for all the corners at all levels (3 levels and 12 corners). We used the bottom tier as a reference to make sure the top tiers were the same length. That was the end of day 2. Only the tier assembly took place but we planned on finishing the rest the day after. It took a while, only because we spent a while fixing the sizes of the wood planks to get them to the right size

 

Step 5: Back to the cutting.

Yes, we enjoyed the cutting but not enough to redo it. Remember mistake #2? Yeah, so since the bottom 3 planks were rounded edges, they did not fit together too well. So, to fix it we went back to the wood shop and cut 3 more 14.5″ pieces, ran them through the planar and the jointer. Of course, we did not round them. It took less than 15 minutes this time around! It was a proud moment. This also required us to sand the planks again, and we finally got to start assembling the bottom of the crate.

We drilled 3 holes on the long sides of the plank, and 2 holes for each plank on the shorter side. 5 rulers created uniform spacing on each side for the middle plank. After the bottom was in place, we screwed in the 4 lumber pillars to hold the other 3 tiers in place. The holes were drilled on two corners of the pillar to ensure it was sturdy. To even out the spacing for the other two tiers, we used two big even blocks and put in between the tiers.

Using the table clamp, the pillars were clamped to the side of the box to make sure that they touching. However, one of the longer planks in the middle tier was too small and the screws came off! Just when we thought we got the hang of this.

At this point, Asma and I were ready to tackle any and all issues that came our way. Asma recommended that we glue a piece of wood onto the end of the plank to extend the length. While that was drying, we sanding the whole box again to get rid of the extra splinters from drilling.

Step 6: Stain the crate red and somehow manage to stain your arms and shirt too

With one of our middle planks missing, the staining process started. We went with the red stain. As shown in class, we started to stain and waited 5 minutes before wiping it off. We made sure to get the edges and the cracks, and it ended up looking really nice. At this point, the last plank was dry and ready to join the rest of its friends. We stained it, let it dry, whipped it off, and attached it. However, the stain did not stick to the part where we put wood glue, we were a little disappointed but it looked better than it would have if there was empty space there. We also managed to get the stain all over our shirts and arms.

 

But whew! We finished! We definitely encountered many issues but Asma and I worked together really well to sort them out and come up to solutions. Lessons learned? Do not overcompensate too much for the planks, think through the whole design before making your crate because no matter how simple it seems there are design criteria that you need to think about. Wear old clothing when staining. Wood glue will cover up your mistakes (sometimes), and a team is better than no team! Of  course, we also learned how to switch the drills bits out like a pro, the wood working tools, processing a single piece of wood to make it look aesthetically pleasing, and how important measurements are in all projects.

Step 7: Calculate the costs

Materials:
9 + 3 of 14.5" x 4" x 1" planks 
6 of 12" x 4" x 1" planks 
    Total = 20.5' x 4" x 1" @ $8.73 / 8' x 4" x 1" = $22.37 
4 of 11" x 2" x 2" planks
    Total = 3.7' x 2" x 2" @ $3.55 / 8' x 2" x 2" = $1.64
Total cost of wood = $24.01
24 screws for all corners 
18 screws to secure bottom
24 screws to secure pillars
    Total = 66 screws @ $9.97 / 85 pieces = $7.74
Total cost of screws = $7.74
Box of 8oz wood stain = $6.98
Total cost of stain = $6.98
Appliances:
Appliances used: plannar, jointer, router, band saw, belt sander, circular electric sander, 
hand sander, power drill, corner clamp, table clamp
Membership for the MakerBarn in Houston which provides access to all such appliances and a 
space to work  = $60/month for 2 people 
Total cost of appliances = $60
Labor:
09/06 = 3 hours
09/08 = 4 hours
09/09 = 6 hours
    Total = 13 hours of labor x 2 people @ $7.25/hour = $188.50
Total cost of labor = $188.50
Final Total Cost of this crate (not including tears, sweat, blood) = $287.23

Cost References:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Grip-Rite-9-x-2-1-2-in-Star-Drive-Bugle-Head-Construction-Screw-1-lb-Box-212GCS1/207200494 (screws)
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Varathane-8-oz-Red-Mahogany-Classic-Wood-Interior-Stain-339733/305501979  (stain) 
https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-in-x-4-in-x-8-ft-Premium-Kiln-Dried-Square-Edge-Whitewood-Common-Board-914681/100023465#overlay ( 4" x 2" x 8' wood)
https://www.homedepot.com/p/2-in-x-2-in-x-8-ft-Furring-Strip-Board-Lumber-75800593/304600525 (2" x 2" x 8' wood) 
https://www.minimum-wage.org/texas#:~:text=Texas'%20state%20minimum%20wage%20rate,workers%2C%20and%20other%20exempt%20occupations (Houston minimum wage)
https://www.themakerbarn.org/memberships/ (MakerBarn)