The Lumber Cart
After doing so many projects, I had accumulated quite a collection of scraps, cut-off and spare pieces. They were basically piled up along the side of the garage, and laid over my stack of fire wood.
This wasn't sustainable, and it really sucked when something tumbled behind the boards. It was also not a good way to keep the boards clean on their edges. I needed a storage solution.
As with many of my projects, I had seen posts on woodworking Facebook groups showing the lumber carts others had made. Most were fixed to the wall, or were mobile but quite large. I needed something mobile, and smaller. My organization of the garage is different in the summer and winter, which is why mobility was important.
I found the plans for one I liked, which I thought I could customize for my dimensions.
I needed that cart to be a bit shorter, so instead of 4 vertical sections, I would have only 3.
The initial challenge for me was the size of the plywood boards. I needed them to be cut by Home Depot (the closest supplier for me) so I could fit the sheets in my van comfortably. Before that happened, I actually sat down and drew up my own cut list and plans to maximize my board use. This needed to be done beforehand, so that I could tell HD where to make cuts. They only needed to make a few of the major cuts.
The entire build involved only 3/4 inch plywood, screws and glue. That simplified the shopping, and helped keep the supply costs down. I needed only 1 tool that I didn't already have - a pocket hole jig. I bought the least expensive Kreg jig (they are expensive considering they are only molded plastic - probably made by the Lego company). The pocket holes were necessary so that I wouldn't be screwing into the ends of plywood boards, which has no strength. While shopping for the Kreg jig, I found that Kreg screws were unreasonably priced. They are simply washer-head screws with a smooth shaft near the head. Luckily, HD had alternatives available for a much lower price.
The first step was to cut all the boards to their final dimensions. My jigsaw shredded the plywood, so I needed to use my circular saw (I did not yet have a table saw) This posed a challenge, as I really needed the cuts to be accurate in order for the parts to fit together. I needed to make a circular saw sled, which would help me keep my saw cutting straight along the long plywood boards. I used the plan featured in Izzy Swan's video. The best part was the addition of sandpaper under the jig to keep the jig stable. I still used clamps, but the sandpaper helped when clamps couldn't be used.
I used the router to make Dados (trench cuts where other other boards would fit into) and rabbets (notches at the edge of a board where another board would fit). That was an adventure and a learning experience. I got quite comfortable with the router doing this.
Once the cuts were done, I needed to start assembling. This was complicated, because the cart was almost the same size as my work table, and was very heavy. The horizontal shelves were assembled first, with glue and pocket holes. I then sanded all the edges to make them smoother to the touch. The vertical slots were then assembled. Once that was done, I asked my wife for assistance in assembling the parts because of their size and weight. The parts fit reasonably well. One thing I will say, the cart is very very sturdy. All the joints are doubly held (glue and screw) and the joints are all dados and rabbets, increasing the strength of the glue, because multiple surfaces are in contact.
The casters I had initially bought for my work table came in handy, and were used on the cart! It isn't mobile without wheels.
I left the cart for 12hours so the glue could dry and then loaded it up with the lumber on hand. It made cleaning the garage much easier too!
Final dimensions of the cart are 4ft long by 2ft deep. With the casters, the cart is 53" high.
Project was completed November 8, 2020.
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