Reclaimed crates

21 photos in Des Moines and West Des Moines, Iowa added

Our garage had this giant, plywood shelving system that was just taking up room, getting in the way, and not really providing much value... So, I decided to take it apart, but instead of throwing away all the plywood, I thought it'd be fun to use it as stock to make some reclaimed storage crates. I'm not really sure what to fill them all with, but it was a fun little exercise in mass production... And a fun way to use nearly every tool in my shop.
  • The old garage shelves
  • Doors ripped into 9.5" strips to use for the sides of the boxes
  • Cutting the sides to length
  • Sides cut to make a bunch of 12x12" and 12x18" boxes
  • Cross cutting the rest of the doors into 12" strips to use for the bottoms.
  • Box parts
  • First cuts made for my dados
  • Finishing up the dados (with my "zero clearance" tape insert to prevent scraps from falling down into the saw)
  • Dados cut
  • Drilling handles
  • Handles cut out with the jigsaw
  • Assembly time
  • Glue n clamps
  • First box done
  • A few more boxes done
  • I used all of my scraps to make lids
  • The jig I made to speed up lid assembly
  • Lids!
  • Snug fit on the 12" boxes
  • 18" box
  • Wound up with 18 boxes. 9 of each size