This crate definitely took a lot longer than I thought it would. I have a lot of experience with woodworking, as in my senior year of high school, I took a year-long woodworking course. However, the past two weeks have been very chaotic, so this project ended up taking a long time. In the end, though, I am really happy with how our crate turned out, and I am excited to use it to store the rest of my projects.
For this project, I partnered with Allison. Since I have used many of the woodworking tools before, we chose to do the intermediate-level assignment.
Measured 1×4″ Wood
Me and Allison chose to cut our own wood, so we started out by measuring 6 x 16″ and 6 x 12″ pieces of the 1×4 wood, adding 1/4” to each measurement to account for the width of the miter saw.
Cut 1×4″ Pieces
We then cut the 1×4″ pieces using the Miter Saw.
Cut 2×2″ Pieces
We then measured out and cut the 2×2 pieces also using the Miter Saw. We made them to be 13″ tall since we were still figuring out how we wanted to do the bottom of the crate.
Measured and cut out handles
We then measured and cut out the handles. For each component of the handle (ex: width at top, width at bottom, angle connecting top and bottom), we measured a couple of options and decided on what looked best. We chose to place the handles on the short sides of the crate because we figured it would be easier to carry that way. After measuring the handle on both planks, we cut them using the bandsaw. We took turns using the bandsaw, so I cut one handle and Allison cut the other.
Me using the Bandsaw to cut the handle
Cut out handles
Allison Routing
Allison then routed the edges while I started sanding. Since we chose to do the intermediate level for this project, we decided that we were going to do a different routing pattern on the very top and bottom of the crate compared to the routing pattern we used for the middle planks.
Routed Middle Planks
Difference between routed edges for middle planks (rounded) and routing for very top and bottom (flat)
Sanded vs Unsanded wood (look at the color difference)
To sand, I used the orbital sander, starting with 80-grit sandpaper. I then went over everything again with the orbital sander using 120- and 220-grit sandpaper.
Sanded handles
We then routed the inside of the handles. We sanded all of the routed edges by hand to get them nice and smooth.
Screwing crate together
It was then time to actually assemble the crate. We started by screwing together the base rectangle.
Bottom planks
We then cut out and sanded planks to form the bottom of the crate. We screwed these in to the base rectangle.
Filled countersink
We chose to countersink all of our screws and fill the holes using sawdust mixed with wood glue.
Fully assembled crate
We then attached the posts and all of the other planks. We countersank all of the screws and then plugged the holes. When attaching the planks to the posts, we discovered that one of the pieces was a little short, resulting in a gap in the corner between the two planks. We attempted to fill this gap using sawdust and wood glue, but it is still visible.
Plugged countersink holes
To plug the countersink holes, I originally took sawdust from the vacuum inside the OEDK. This was a mistake, since other people must have been vacuuming up different materials or types of wood, so the sawdust was a different color than our planks and made the plugs stand out. I fixed this after the first few plugs by getting new sawdust from the woodshop, but the first few are darker and stand out, even after staining. Additionally, we did not countersink deep enough for some of the screws, or we countersank too close to the routed edge, meaning that even with the plugs, there are still some spots where the screws are visible.
Final sanded crate (bottom view)
After this, we sanded the crate again, focusing more on smoothing out the countersink plugs and the bottom of the crate. We had sanded the bottom planks originally before assembling the crate, but they got super dirty from being placed around the OEDK.
Staining
We then finished by staining the wood. Me and Alison chose a darker color because we thought it looked better.
Finishing up staining
One downside of staining was that it really brought out scratches in the wood and areas where we should have sanded more. This is especially apparent near the countersink plugs, where we sanded right before staining.
And after this long process, multiple late nights, and hours of sanding. We finally finished. I am super happy with how the crate came out, and am excited to use it!
Cleaned up area (ignore my shadow)
This is how well we cleaned up after staining! We kept all of the wood stain on the cardboard and got none on the concrete.
Cost Estimate:
- 1×4″ pine planks: $19.48 per 10 ft (Home Depot)
- Used approximately 18 ft
- $40 for this project
- 2×2″pine: $9.62 for 8 ft (Lowes)
- Used approximately 4 ft
- $9.62 for this project
- Wood Screws: $16.48 for 100 (Home Depot)
- Used approximately 96 screws
- $16.48 for this project
- Wood stain: $8.98 for 8 oz (Home Depot)
- Used probably less than 1 oz
- $1.12 for this project
- Labor cost: $7.25 per hour (Texas minimum wage)
- Spent probably about 10 hours on this project
- $72.50 for this project
Total Estimated Cost: $139.72
The estimated cost of this crate surprised me, since $139 is a lot of money (basically a full eight hours of work when I am working for New York minimum wage!), and I have bought a similarly sized wooden crate from Michaels before for less than $20. This cost also did not include the price of smaller hand tools, such as sandpaper and drills, nor larger woodworking tools like the miter saw and belt sander. I do not have this equipment at home, so using it would normally also cost money to rent. Therefore, if I were to do this project from scratch without the OEDK equipment, it would have cost a ridiculous amount. This experience definitely makes me grateful for the OEDK’s resources provided to students, and I plan to take advantage of these resources throughout my time at Rice!
