Simple Crates

[WV Sawmiller]

   I noticed we have an awful lot of canned goods just sitting on open shelving downstairs at risk of getting knocked off and broken so I decided to make some simple crates in which to store them. I took an old cardboard box the quart jars came in as a guide for my measurements. I found it was about 11.5" X 15.5" X 8" so I grabbed a couple of 8' long dry 1X8 spruce boards off my stack, ran them through the planer to knock the rough off one side then cut them into 12" lengths on my RAS. A while back I made a bunch of 3/8" X 2" X 8' long strips when I was edging some 8/4 poplar. I stickered them and they dried real quick. I am finding they are handy and will cut and save some more in the future. I just set my SimpleSet on 1/2" and start edging rough 8/4 stock. I cut 10- 18" strips for each of the 8 crates I planned to build. I pre-drilled the ends of with a long 1/ 8" bit. I allowed for 2 screws on each end of the 4 strips on the bottom and one screw on each of the 3 on each side then started assembling them using 1-3/4 torque head screws (Probably overkill but there will be a good bit of weight for each when there is a dozen full fruit jars in them.) I laid the 1X8X 12 inch pieces parallel and screwed the 18" pieces on the outsides leaving a 12" X 16" X 8" inside dimension perfect for a dozen jars. I finished 4 today and will likely finish assembling the rest tomorrow. They are light but look to be strong enough to do the job.


 Finished crates with empty canning jar box on the side. I should get myself a router and cut handholds in the ends but that is for future planning. If I were making a lot I should also invest in an electric or air stapler for attaching the strips to the end boards.

[Ruffgear]

This is a good idea, I like these, are they stackable?

[lxskllr]

They look good. A couple years ago, I got my daughter a bunch of crates to pack her jul gifts in. I bought them unfinished, and stained them. I figured it would help moving with school and life, and could be stacked sideways for shelving. Wood crates are classic. I wish stuff still shipped that way  :^)

[WV Sawmiller]

   I had not thought about stacking them but there is no reason you could not stack them. I filled up 2 of them mostly with honey a few minutes ago. My bees have been dead many years but I probably have all the honey we will need the rest of our lives. It does go to sugar and we have to reliquify it in a hot water bath before we start using a new jar.

    These are just made from Spruce and Poplar so they are light weight but still plenty strong.

[Don P]

I got a request after a cardboard box fell apart going to the basement full of freshly canned jars. I haven't kept count but have probably made and sold about a hundred.


 

[WV Sawmiller]

Don,

   I thought about making some for for the summer to take to flea markets with me. I can also fill them with assorted blocks for the kids to play with. 

   I like your hand hold making set up there. Is that as router or drill press on a jig? I made some before with a 1" auger and a jig saw but they were awful ragged compared to yours.

[Don P]

That's a forstner bit in the drill press, I think it is a 32mm (from cabinet hinge work). I made a jig that the end panel rides along fore/aft and stops it left and right. The forstner lets me chomp it many times to waste out as much as possible. I then take a piece of 3" widex1/2" this wood cut to length that just fits inside a 3x21 sanding belt and I clamp the panel in a vise and clean up the flat parts of the hole then a 1" dowel wrapped in paper to clean up the round ends. I route everything with a 1/4" roundover bit then sand with a 1/4 sheet sander. They are not a get rich item but something I do down in the shop on stuck inside days. Michelle takes them to the farmers market.

I just snagged some pics from the farmers market online website of a few more things I've got on there.
This is another one, these fit those black plastic transplant flats ~5x12x24"




Then she wanted some to display different small quantities of maters and peppers so I slotted the sides and dropped in dividers in a few.



 


Then some folks wanted some for serving trays so I made a few out of nicer wood. I think my favorites were out of sassafras and thuja, light and pretty, the oak was too heavy.




I've made a few dozen berry buckets, kind of fun but no way you're going to make minimum wage with these :D. The "hoops" are leather lacing in a tablesawn kerf, glued in then sanded flush. The handles are hickory bent on a form when green then let them dry. They are attached with copper rivets and roving washers trimmed then hammer peened inside.
5/16" stock cut at a bevel on the miter saw, bottom crozing is a 1/4" router bit and jig, beech works good for bottoms. Tape them together in a big arc face down, flip over glue and then wrap them around the bottom in groove and force wire hoops over them to clamp, then the sanding begins! I've got the last 10 or 12 down in the shop in progress using up the last of the parts, just too much time in them but would probably be a good IA shop project.





All of this is miscuts and scraps.

[samandothers]

You guys do great work!  I wanna be like y'all when I grow up.

[WV Sawmiller]

Sam,

   I wish I had access to your high end markets there at Charlotte. I'd be out at the Farmers market peddling crates and benches and such. Maybe I could stop by and pick up a load from Don then drop them off with you on my next trip down and you could sell them for us to the folks there who have more money than good sense.

Don,

   That's nice work! On your handholds do you just cut them out with the forstner bit with multiple cuts then hit them with your 3X21 inch belt sander? I'm not following how you sand them. Do you just hit it with the end of the sander on each side? Do you have to do any hand sanding on each side or anything?

   You are putting a lot more finish work on yours than I do. I thought I was going all out just planing one side. Looks like you planed, sanded and stained all sides.

   If you don't mind me asking - what are you able to sell a crate sized for a dozen quart canning jars. I see a lot more wood in your crates than mine and I know they are stronger. I built mine just for use and less for show. Your sanding and finishing will also make them easier to dust and keep clean than the rough strips I use.

[lxskllr]

The crates I got looked a lot like yours WV. American made, but from a company(can't recall the name, but I believe they were from New Jersey), and sold at craft stores. I paid $10. Minimally finished. They were smoothish, but not fine sanded. Just a plain pine crate.

edit:
They might have been on sale at $10. Can't remember. Stain goes a long way making them look nice. Quick and easy to apply, and would raise the value I suspect.

[Don P]

I didn't explain my "rasp" very well. I don't use the sander on the handholes, just the 3x21 belt with a thin slab of wood inside to make a flat tight sanding file, usually 60 or 80 grit.

For the farm beater crates I don't doll them up that much but the ones for sale get a pretty nice job, most are repurposed for other things than my stated use, like the plant trays becoming serving trays. Whenever Jeff gets his engine out of my shop it has several carbs a generator and multiple spare engine parts in a canning jar box, it isn't that purty.

I started out selling any box for twenty bucks and a bucket for 35. I'm up to 25 and 50 and sales have trickled off but I've pretty much saturated the local market. Yes wallyworld and those places have also undercut that market but they are pretty rough IMO. Like I said you aren't going to get rich but it's mostly spare time and scraps. I noticed in the pic of the stack of boxes you can see a pair of end panels being clamped face to face with a handscrew, vise and a couple of C clamps in the background. I glue and staple those together, the trays are trim screwed. I made one other size box, haven't done it in awhile, a 30 dozen box. Eggs go to stores and restaurants wholesale in cardboard cases of 30 dozen. Those cases hold either thirty of the one dozen egg crates or the flats of eggs, industry has made that modular so the same case holds either one. I was helping out the market and driving the truck from farm to farm picking up stuff one evening a week and then heading down to Boone where a bunch of us met up that night. Then a semi went down to the cities the next morning. The cardboard cases cost our growers $2 each and were one trip boxes, they are already having to buy egg crates, that all adds up fast. I made up a bunch of those 30 dozen crates and they would come back the next week, I'd then pick up eggs and drop off empties on my trips, there was a little shrinkage but most of them came back and went round and round. They also made great kindling crates. I would stuff them with thin rippings of fine kindling all cut to the same neat length stood on end and stuffed the crate full for $40, kindling and crate. A lot of the sticks would have been great for kid craft stuff. The lady that worked at the local store marketed them for me, she got a cut. I've kind of gotten busy and have let that slide, the store has changed hands, but winter time she would often say bring me a few more.

Oh, so there was one night in Boone, a pickup truck I didn't recognize is at the dock and I hop out to help him unload and it is slam full of shitake mushrooms. I mentioned that was the most mushrooms I'd ever seen. He said "this is my third trip today". He had recently bought out a grower and had to move that gentleman's mushroom logs over to his place. He said what he learned was that the way they bring them into flush is to thump them. He had made 3,000 logs bloom by moving them. He allowed that he was going to learn to enjoy mushrooms right often for the foreseeable future :D.

[WV Sawmiller]

Don,

   Thanks for the detailed explanation. I gather you do or I may try taking my 3X21 belts and slide through the handhold and use a couple of sticks or dowels for handles to smooth the edges.

   Your prices seem very reasonable to me looking at the amount of material used to make them and the time and equipment to manufacture them. I can certainly see people repurposing them.Now if you could age them the sky might be the limit on what them city folks would pay for them. :D

lxskllr,

   I think you got a bargain on your crates. I would say my crates would take approximately 5 sq ft (bf if 1" stock) lumber. I currently use 28 screws which would be cost prohibitive at those prices. They could be made quickly if I mass produced/cut the lumber and assembled with long staples and an air/electric gun. That would mean making a couple of simple jigs and even if HF tools were used it would take a couple hundred $$ worth of equipment to start up manufacture. 

[Don P]

Yup, you got it just figure the best wat to get sandpaper on a stick through the handhole to smooth it. Clamping the panel in a vise lets me bear down on it with both hands and remove material faster, then round the edges with a router and finish sand.

One other thing I've never gotten roundtuit. Stencilling things on them. I think I could sell more if I made up some stencils with the farmers market logo, or Winchester, or Grayson Egg Company, etc on them and painted up the end or sides. People like brands or graphics. Doc's laser burner would be another way to do it, I've got no idea what those cost nowadays.

[thecfarm]

I only a need a few of them crates.  Well I think only a few. ;D  I need something to carry the jars down into the root cellar. Back up is not bad,most times 2-3 jars only come up at a time. I have a shelf to store the jars on. Need another shelf too. Well shelfs with an "s". ;D

[samandothers]

Howard,
You are probably right about the market here.  I have never ventured out to the local farmers markets just some produce stands that are just that, produce.  
I wonder if a spindle sander could be used on the hand holes?  Might make quick work of them, though I have never used one.

Don,
Are your buckets glued with a wire around them?  What helps them hold their shape and seal?

[WV Sawmiller]

Sam,

  We often hit the big farmer's market when we come to see out daughter. From the prices we'd really be better off to just go to the local Harris Teeter half a mile from her house. There is another small but busy market we often visit over near the camera shop which my wife also visits. Maybe I can just make me up a truck load and bring down on the next trip. We have a new granddaughter due the end of next month or early March and they can use some help looking after our 2 y/o grandson so I see several upcoming trips. If nothing else I could cut out the parts and assemble them there with my grandson's help. :D That should keep us both occupied.

  I finished the other 4 crates today and ran out of screws. I made one similar for my grandson's toy blocks and used 2" finishing nails. Did not need pre-drilling but they did not hold well in that soft spruce so I went back and added the screws.


 
Crate full of assorted toy blocks.
  My wife saw the first four last night and asked if they were for her. She had me put in shelves a couple weeks ago now I guess she wants crates to organize what goes on them. She first said they were too heavy till I had her pick one up and she realized how light they really are. There just ain't no satisfying them. : :

[Don P]

That's the main complaint I get from the boss on mine. I like to make heavy end panels and then 1/2" thick sides and bottoms, mainly so fasteners have some bite. Usually on crates I'm shooting full crown staples. I too tried trim nails and wasn't happy. I might try thinner sides and the skip pattern one of these days but I kind of like them as is and in pine they really aren't that heavy.

Sam, I tried wire, cord, wood for the hoops and didn't like the look. I went down to the local leather shop and got some lacing. once the bucket is glued together I set the blade about 1/8-3/16 deep on the tablesaw and set the fence then run the bucket crossgrain over the blade turning it for each side creating a groove around the bucket near the top and bottom. Then run glue around into the groove and hammer the leather lacing in pulling it tight as I go. when it sets I belt sand it flush to the wood, looks good and does strengthen them quite a bit. I don't consider them liquid buckets although I did finish a couple with clear epoxy for wet use and they are watertight. 

[btulloh]

I might try some ringshank siding nails with the coil nailer.  Seems like they might work.

[WV Sawmiller]

   BTW - When I think of a crate I think of a wooden, sometimes other materials, box with slats for sides and possibly bottoms. I think of solid sides as boxes. I think the purpose of the slats is to reduce the weight and in some cases to serve as a type of cage for animals where they can breathe. FWIW.

[Don P]

Learn something new every day . I had always used the terms interchangeably.

[petefrom bearswamp]

I like the thought of this project.
I think I'll try a prototype after I finish my 2 live edge benches which are taking a lot longer than I had planned.
May be add the crates/boxes to my other get rich project of Adirondack chairs which didnt pan out.
The parts for those are gathering dust in my pole barn.
My projects always start out with high hopes, but I am much better at the building than the marketing.
So much to do so little time to do it.

[terrifictimbersllc]

I whip out crates like that whenever my wife wants to give someone a gift box.  Use 5/16 pine for slats.  I staple them with 1/4" galvanized crown staples if in hurry or use 1-1/4" coated sinker nails into pre-drilled holes if I want a finer look. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   They are handy and actually fun to make. I spend more time cutting out the materials than assembling them. I need to invest in some more equipment like a drill press or air stapler/nailer. I only use one drill and have to keep changing bits where with an air stapler I would not even need to pre-drill.

   I made a bunch more slats today out of tulip poplar. It is quick and easy to cut and a use for small scrap logs. Just cut into 6/4 or 8/4 flitches then edge on half inch drops to get 3/8" strips. Even if there is a couple feet of wane/runout you can still salvage 12-18 inch strips that work for your crates. And they air dry real quickly being that thin.

[coalsmok]

I build something similar out of scrap 2x4 ripped into 1/4" or so thick strips. Usually around 16" long with an appropriate sized solid board for the ends. Glue and nails as I am not assembling enough at once to fire up the air gun.
Have a lot of jars to store and thought I needed to come up with something like this. Thanks for the dimensions. Now just to find the time and materials at the same time

[WV Sawmiller]

   Okay, I decided to try some other fasteners and bought a handful of 8 penny box nails at our local hardware store and a few dry wall screws with Phillips heads which are much cheaper than the torque head type I have been using. I got another 8' spruce 1X8 down, planed it smooth, cut it into 8 1X12s then cut up the rest of my dry 2" X 3/8X 8' strips. I have another batch drying which can be used in a couple months I'd say as they dry pretty quick.

   I drilled the pilot holes in the strips with a 1/8" bit and nailed together with the box nails and I really liked the way they looked and they seem plenty sturdy. I did find the 1/8" bit was a little bigger than the nails so on the other 3 crates I used a slightly smaller bit and like that better.

   I checked and it seems I am taking about 10 minutes to drill the pilot holes and assemble a crate. This time could be cut considerably if I were making a lot and set up some jigs (Basically just a solid box the size of the inside dimensions), used a drill press to drill multiple pilot holes at the same time, etc. This time could be reduced even more if I used an air gun with staples and no pilot holes.  My next step it to figure out a fast and easy way to cut handholes in the ends which would make the crates much easier to handle.