Wooden Beer Crates

[musicbymark]

Awesome! I'm jealous.

I wasn't criticizing any methods, just pointing out end grain butt joints alone (w/o rabbets or nails) are not considered nearly as strong by prof. cabinetmakers or glue companies, esp. for normal PVA glues. Half of the veneers in plywood ends are LONG grain.

Box making is a separate hobby of mine for years. If I do try box joints, I might kick myself & be in the shop for a week straight! Miters w/ Birchply would be challenging. These boxes look super - wish I were done.

Good point about making top & bottom same .25" dimensions/thickness; the added durability of .25" & convenience of same width grooves (in lids & bottoms) outweighs the weight saved by making lids 1/8" (.125").

Has anyone else discovered VIRGIL's rootbeer swingcap bottles? 3.2" width (close enough to combine w/ old Grolsch 3.05" at base), and I like them much better.

Mark

 

[philjohnwilliams]

I didn't even think to look to Lee Valley! Those are perfect. We're ordering up a bunch today!

Glad I could help. Those should look very nice on your cases.

 

[dfess1]

Take note that I've updated the dimensions for the 22oz parts. They were originally short by .25" in length. So, you could only fit 9 bottles in using the dimensioned lumber I have in the cut list. If you have already cut this using the old dimensions, just use the cardboard dividers from your current case, then all 12 will fit until you're able to make them up again. Sorry about that.

 

[PapaBearJay]

This has been a most interesting thread, I look forward to seeing what else you come up with!

 

[dfess1]

We have a few in our club that are also into wine. They've asked for some crates to hold wine on its side. We'll get to those after the new year. And possibly some 6 pack holders.

 

[DanaDana]

This looks fantastic. I need to remember this to see if I can trick a woodworking friend into making some for me!

 

[Disintegr8or]

I built a few wooden crates for my bottles.

I sized them so that (4) cardboard six pack holders would fit in them for the bottles instead of making the dividers. That way I can grab a sixxer out of the crate and go if I want to.

 

[Concho]

I've made a few changes to the design with most the credit to a buddy of mine (thanks Mike). This is a crate for my dad for christmas. It's not finished yet but here it is for right now, I'll post the finished project later.

 

[yewtah-brewha]

I wanted to do a similar box, the only addition I would do would drill 12 holes in the bottom so I can dry my bottles after sanitisation. Thanks for the cut list and instructions. How much is a sheet of the birch? I was going to use osb and paint it, but if birch is cheap enough I might use that.

 

[Concho]

Finally finished (got off my rear). Just got to figure out how to put my label on the lid.

 

[Cache22]

I'm glad I stumbled across this thread ... I have been looking around for a durable solution for beer crates (with dividers) but hadn't found anything I liked yet. These match what I want for bottle crates better than any of the ideas I had thought up!

Thanks for the detailed write-up. I haven't done much woodworking for about 15 years, so I had been hesitant to try to design and build something on my own; this gives me the perfect project to make something extremely useful and get some practice for the other projects further down my list!

 

[dfess1]

I wanted to do a similar box, the only addition I would do would drill 12 holes in the bottom so I can dry my bottles after sanitisation. Thanks for the cut list and instructions. How much is a sheet of the birch? I was going to use osb and paint it, but if birch is cheap enough I might use that.

The baltic birch I used is furniture grade. around here it comes in 5' by 5' sheets. Best price I have found is somewhere around 35-40 for the .5" and 25-30 for the .25" sheets.

 

[Spinrathen]

Very nice.

 

[GALLOWAY]

#galltag