This week in EDES 210, I built a wooden crate with my good pal Gabriel Witkop. This was my first time woodworking with power tools for a project, so I had a lot of fun. The final product was a 16″ x 12″ x 12″ crate that I’m quite proud of.

The first thing my partner and I did was cut our lumber down to the plank sizes we needed with the miter saw. The wood we cut our planks from was pretty heavily stained from a spill that occurred in the woodshop, which was a bummer but definitely not career ending! We made sure to measure the cutting length of the planks in between each cut using the original plank to ensure consistent sizing. Unfortunately, we were so excited to cut that I forgot to take a selfie with the miter saw!

Figure 1: 1×4 lumber cut to size

Next we used the planer to get our planks down to uniform thicknesses. While it was a relatively simple task, it was pretty satisfying to even out our planks.

Figure 2: Gabe having fun with the planer

During this project, I had the opportunity to get really close with my partner. You may think I’m talking about Gabe, but I’m actually referring to my new BFF, the orbital sander. I spent an absurd amount of time sanding down our planks to a silky smooth texture. My hand was numb from the amount of sanding that was done, but that didn’t make it any less satisfying! My friend oribital sander is very shy so he didn’t let me put a picture of him on here.

Gabe and I also cut handles into two of the planks. We created a cutting template with paper and then used a jigsaw to make a rough cut. We then used the rotating sander in the woodshop to smooth out the insides of the handles.

Figure 3: Cutting out the handles

The handle was Gabe’s idea, so now it was time for me to put my own twist on our crate. We took one plank and engraved “The Box” on it using the laser cutter. This engraving not only sets us apart from other crates, but serves as a reference to Gabriel’s favorite rap song “The Box” by Roddy Rich. He knows every word!

Figure 4: “The Box” engraved plank

After all of this prep, it was finally time to begin some assembly. We began by drilling together the 3 tiers of the box’s sides, each consisting of two 14.5″ planks and two 12″ planks. We used the angled clamp and the table clamp to hold the pieces steady while we attached each plank as seen in figure 5. We used a paper template so the screws could be alligned along the box. There were certainly a few hiccups in this process. For one, I got distracted talking with other students and drilled a hole into the wrong part of a plank! I attempted to cover the hole with some sawdust and wood glue, which actually worked pretty well (shoutout Ethan from the other section for the idea). We also had some occasional splitting in the wood, mostly from drilling too close to the edge of the planks on my first few screws. As a result, I had to begin drilling farther from the edges, which also gave the screws a bit of an asymmetrical look on one layer.

Figure 5: Setup for drilling

Once we had each layer complete, we took them to the woodshop and routed the edges using the table router, giving them a nice, even, rounded look. We also used the orbital sander once more to make the assembled planks flush with eachother. We then took the bottom planks and drilled them into the bottom layer, ensuring even spacing using dowels between the planks.

Figure 6: Bottom layer of crate with routed edges and floor planks installed

Once this was done, it was time for the final assembly! We put our 2×2 planks in the corners of the box and stacked our layers on top of scrap wood as seen in Figure 7 to set up for the last drilling segment.

Figure 7: Setup for final drilling segment

Once our box was fully assembled it was time for one more round of sanding! We went over the entire box once more by hand with 400 grit sandpaper.

Figure 8: Hand sanding the final assembly

As a finishing touch, we decided to apply tung oil to our box. While the effect was subtle, the tung oil really brought out some nice colors in the wood. Unofrtunately, the tung oil also seemed to highlight some imperfections in the wood such as tiny cracks, which were stained a dark brown color. The crate still looks awesome and I’m happy with the effect of the finish.

Figure 9: “The Box” pre-finish

Figure 10: “The Box” post-finish

Costs:

Raw Materials: (using Lowe’s online shop as a resource)

202.5″ of 1×4 lumber: ~ $12

40″ of 2×2 lumber: $5

46 1.5″ screws: $7

Labor:

7 hours spent in OEDK, valued at $10/hr (my OEDK lab assistant pay), with two people working brings the total labor cost to $140.

Machine Time:

We don’t have an accurate measurement of how much time we spent on all machines, but I think it would be fair for the OEDK to let us rent the machines for an average of $10/hr. This would bring machine time costs to $70.

Total Cost:

This would bring our box’s cost to a total of $234 to produce. Good thing Gabe and I were actually working for free, or this would be a very costly box! Overall I had so much fun working on this project. Over the span of a couple days, I got a lot more comfortable with tools I hadn’t really had a reason to use yet, which is exactly what I was looking for in this class. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Last used workstation