How to Build a Wooden Packing Crate

Wooden crates have become outstandingly popular as trendy furniture pieces to decorate any room in your home. You can buy them in any supply store, home improvement store or décor center for storage or simply to add a personal touch to your rooms. If you are in mood of creating your own wooden crate, it is pretty simple and, what’s more, fun and cheap.

However, there are wooden crates for shipping from motorcycles to wines which are really expensive in case you've looked into wooden crate manufacturers near me. But if you are a DIY person and are familiar with carpentry work, it is cheap and accessible. If you want a wooden packing crate to store fragile items such as wines, glass, antiques and don’t want to risk any damage there’s no need to shell out money. What’s more, they can add a shabby chic image to any room in your house.

As you don’t need any special skills nor special materials or tools, DIY projects and crafts are for everyone. Wooden crates for packing breakables are very simple to build and inexpensive, you just need a creative mind and willingness.  

Supplies and tools

• 2 sheets of plywood (one for the base and the other for the cover) cut to the desired size of the finished box.
• 6 long plywood slats for the sides and 6 short plywood slats for the ends or a similar inexpensive plywood product. Pine and cedar are generally your budget buys, for instance. Wood boards are perfect for heavy duty crates. They will be stronger and durable.  
• Wood glue or common nails
• Hammer
• Saw table
• Sandpaper
• Miter saw or any other kind of saw

Planning

Sketch out your desired dimensions of the crate beforehand so as to have in mind how big it will be. The size is quite important since it will depend on what you need to pack.

Measures

Instructions will be based on the following measures to pack a big product, but feel free to adapt them to your needs. The finished height of the wooden crate will be:

• 30 inches high
• 17,5 inches long
• 5/8 inches think
• 6 30 inches slats for the front and back of the crate
• 6 16 ¼ inches slats for the sides of the box
• 2 sheets of plywood for the bottom and the top of the box.
• 4 2x2 14 ¼ inches square trims.

Instructions

Step 1

Unless your hardware store has already cut the boards for you, you will have to go to a saw table and cut the boards carefully to your desired size. It is recommended to cut them just a little bit longer since you will sand them down later.

Step 2

Sand the boards down on all sides to make sure all the edges are smooth.

Step 3

Fit the tongue and groove boards together for the back, front and sides of the wooden crate.  Glue boards or nail them.

Step 4

Line up the tongue and groove boards on the plywood for the base and place one of the square trims on top of it. Attach the tongue and groove boards to the square trim with glue or nails. Repeat the process on the other side of the panel.

Step 5

Attach the front and back of the crate.

Step 6

Turn the frame upside down to add the plywood base.

Step 7

Pack the object you want to deliver or ship in the crate

Step 8

Attach the plywood on the top and nail it. Now, the packing crate is ready to be delivered.