We had a request from our friends with Mr. Tibbs' Trading Company to develop a prototype for a 1920's shipping crate. This is our first attempt!
The material we used for this crate is some reclaimed pine that we got off of some wooden pallets. Since the boards came off pallets, none of them started at the same width, so Bryan ran them through the table saw to cut them down to 3 inches. He took a quarter inch off one side of each board and then flipped them over to finish cutting to the desired width. This also helped joint the edges to create a tighter fit.
Next, we squared up one edge to give us a clean starting point to measure from.
The first set of six boards were measured and cut needs 17 inches each. These were for the face of the box and the back of the box.
The next set of six boards, were 12 inches each. These were for the sides of the crate.
The next four boards we cut were for the top of the crate. They were inset into a frame. So we measured and cut these at 15 and 3/4 inches.
Next, we sanded all the boards for the crate. We started with some 80-grit paper just to knock off some of the roughness. When people handle this crate, we don't want them to get splinters, but we still want it to feel weathered and kind of antique.
When you break down pallets, you don't always get the same exact kind of wood. So what we chose for this project was something we had the most of which was a weathered pine. However, we didn't have quite enough for this project. So, for the bottom of the crate, we chose some old fence pickets.
Next, we took a piece of wood and cut it into two framing strips to tie our planks together for the bottom of the crate. We also cut framing strips for the short sides of the crate and the corners of the lid.
It's always exciting to finish cutting all the boards and seeing a project start to come together! We began by assembling the bottom panel of the crate. We joined the boards together with some wood glue. Then, we glued the framing strips down, and fastened them down with 18 gauge brad nails.
Next, we assembled the side panels in the same fashion by gluing together the planks, then tying them together with framing strips.
Then, we glued and nailed the side panels to the bottom.
At this point, you have a structure that I think looks kind of like a bed frame. To complete the bottom portion of the box, we glued and nailed the front and back planks onto the frame.
To assemble the lid, we glued the four planks together and attached framing strips. Then we fastened planks around the four sides of the lid.
Before we attached the hardware, we applied a coat of spray lacquer to add a protective finish.
The hinges we used for the box are two inch by one and 3/8 of an inch. You can get these at any of your local hardware stores. We also used a set of two draw catches. These come in a variety of finishes. Both the hinges and draw catches used for this project are in a brass finish.
This was the first prototype for Mr. Tibbs' Trading Company. They did appreciate this box, but it took a couple more tries to get it just right. Keep following us to see what happened along our journey!
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