Boxes & Crates

It's a pleasure building with strip wood, it's very easy to work with and the end results come fast and look great!

So far today I've been experimenting and testing different processes for making a large factory full of these crates... that happen to be perfect for the pumpkins my wife bought for me nearly 6 months ago! They were just waiting for the perfect scene and now I've found it.

As I work on the video tutorial I've decided to provide you all with a short written tutorial on the process with a few pictures and as a 'Patron' bonus the template that I use will be able to be downloaded over on Patreon.com

But don't worry if you're not a patron because I'll add a link to download the template for these crates once I finish filming the video tutorial.

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BUILDING CRATES

​First off you'll need some scale lumber, I used Midwest Products Scale Lumber for this project and the parts used were:

• #8001 - Scale 2x3 used for the base of the crate,
• #8002 - Scale 2x4 used for the sides of the crate and the vertical supports on the inside of the crate,
• #8016 - Scale 4x4 used for the crate feet that raise it off the ground.

​Using a template makes it much easier, you can draw a template using pen and paper however for more accuracy you can also draw one using Photoshop or a similar program which is what I did.

Template for sides

Slats template for base

Next it's just a matter of preparing the strip wood and laying it down over the template, if you wondering how to make laying the strips down much easier without them moving at the slightest bump or breeze then I suggest watching the pallets tutorial video, the spray adhesive is used in the same way here to add tackiness to the template.

I use super glue to attach the vertical beams, wood glue will work and most craft glues will work as well however you want to be sure they are water proof once dry because if you apply the wash over everything once the crate is assembled it may fall to bits!

Using a sharp knife I then cut at the spots shown in the image below to separate all four sides of the crate and trim away the excess wood from the very edges of the template.

This is easily done using the 'Chop-It', also if you aren't already aware... you can get 10% off your Micro-Mark order by using the promo code 'boulder'.

You should be left with four pieces like shown below and then it's just a matter of glutting them together to build up the main box structure.

The crate is then positioned and glued to the base section and again using the 'Chop-It' I carefully trim the excess overhang away.

We're almost finished... Now all it needs are some feet which are made using the 4x4 scale strip wood and cut into very small piece before they are super glued onto the bottom of the crate.
You can now sand the edges if required to neaten up the crate and have everything perfectly flush.

As for painting, you have many options but what I've found easiest and yields the best results is to simply dip the entire crate into a heavily diluted cup of india ink and water. ​

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I hope you managed to pick up a tip or two and be sure to stay tuned to my YouTube channel, I have just started filming the video for this tutorial so it should be released quite soon.