Scrap wood crates

Since my initial plan to use plain 1x4s for baseboards didn’t pan out, I had a bunch of 6 footers laying around as scrap in the garage. Granted they were pretty nice scrap, but still scrap. I didn’t know what to do with them until I was coming home from work late last week and saw the horrible mess that had become our garage shelves. The idea of slapping some crates together seemed like a good idea, and a quick glance at the scrap bin said I had plenty of material around. So I snuck some time while the Bears were on to throw some together. 

Okay, that looks like it could work.

Sizing them up with some other scrap looked good, and since the garage shelves are 17” deep then I had dimensions to work from. 5 6-footers meant I had plenty to chop up, I was shooting to get three crates out of everything.

Lots of cutting, lots of noise w/the kids napping.

These were pretty nice scrap to be working with so things came together pretty cleanly. There were some off joints on the first one since I used two other scrap pieces for the front and back but they were still sturdy.

Hmmm, I don't think I planned those bottom kregs too well...

Thank goodness I had the other scrap too, b/c I ended up with enough to have bottoms and sides for three crates but only front and back for one. The other two got other scrap, and even got nails instead of screws b/c I ran out of those too. Nothing like going into a project and finishing with what you find lying around.

Glue and two nails, good to go.

It’s not like these crates are going anywhere, so as long as they can hold what I put in them and keep them semi-organized we’re good to go. These will help on the organization front but the shelves themselves probably need a second or third look at how to get cleaned up.

Jeez, an hour's+ work and barely a drop in the bucket.

But now all the random tools I’ve got for specialized jobs like painting, drywall, and tiling all have a specific spot, which sounds like it would be pretty important to staying organized.Hopefully I can finish the fireplace without buying any new tools.