Stories

The Humble Apple Box

by Mahlon Kriebel (Grandpa)

Everyone has had an unpleasant experience with an old apple box. There are thousands around because no one throws them out. They are used for many uses. And not relating to apples. For example, standing on an old rickety box to reach a top shelve, only to fall through the bottom slats and drop the retrieved vase. Or, while schlepping a heavy load of books, the top grip breaks and… My worst experience was being bit by a recluse brown spider which was hiding in an old Yakima Indian brand of apple box containing some of my great granddad’s buggy tools. No, the spider was not that old. At the very least, you have all suffered a splinter from the rough-cut slats.

Kati has been planting a one third acre garden to furnish vegetables over the summer to eight families. Niko used their new three foot rototiller, new to them anyway, to break up grass sod of a stand of grass they sowed last year and the last year garden patch. Therefore, Kati needed apple boxes for her produce. And not old ones but bright new ones of red fir freshly milled by Niko with his refurbished Mity Mite mill. Last year they had twenty logs delivered and he has been milling logs for the shed to house the mill. This mill is another story for later. Because the lumber was to be used for boxes he selected one log of eighteen inches in diameter and sixteen feet long. This log weighted some 2000 pounds. Surly enough log to mill slats for 18 boxes. Not eight because with 8 customers, Kati needs 16 for the weekly produce with a box exchange. And a couple extras. After much consultation and computer work, they agreed on a design which would be functional, practical to build, sturdy and eye catching worthy of transporting vegetables lovingly grown in natural quail manure, pesticide and herbicide free. As per last year, Kati will rely on a flock of turkeys to glean potato bugs, earwigs, and caterpillars of all types. She will also depend on their trusty dog to keep deer away. This garden is not fenced!

Back to the box manufacturing. Their final design calls for 6 slide slats of 3/8^th stock 3 inches by 18 inches, 3 bottom slats selected knot free for strength, 6 end pieces of ¾ stock, 3 inches by 12 inches. The bottom, middle and upper sections are held together by four corner posts leaving precisely a ¼ inch gap between slats. This next statement will be hard to believe but Niko needed the whole log to mill the raw lumber slats. We planed the wood and then I sized the pieces. We generated about 100 pounds of shop shavings and saw dust which will be used in our nursery (but yet another story). Before assembly, two of the end pieces were selected for strength for the handle slots. After measuring hand sizes, Kati selected a one inch Forshner bit to drill the two holes in each end piece, then used a sabre saw to make the slot. About 104 nails were required for each box. Much discussion occurred after constructing the first trial box. For aesthetics Niko decided to use a small ball peen hammer which set the nail head neatly into the freshly milled wet wood. However, he needed about an hour for the prototype. Then I remembered from my youth that young people could make 20 cents a box. A sobering thought. A nail gun was suggested but they cost about 450 dollars. A staple gun is only about 40 dollars but nails look better. The affect is important. Thus, no gun was purchased. Now, you may think that it is easy to nail an apple box together. Not so, any way for this design with the corner posts. The bottom, middle and upper sections are nailed first. Do you know what to do when a slat tends to split? I guess not. Well, place the nail head on an iron piece, strike the point to blunt the nail point. The point will not force the grain apart to split the slat because the flat nail point shears through the wood making a hole. The fore corner posts are nailed into the bottom section corners. Short box nails for the side slats, longer nails for the box ends. The freshly milled wood is green, so it is relatively easy to nail against a braced board. But the corner slats are not braced. Here we apply Newton’s Laws of motion, conservation of energy and action equals reaction. A four pound hand sledge is held against the post while nailing the slats and ends to the post. But, I only have two hands, one for the hammer, one for the sledge. Thus, the nail must be started first and the post offers no resistance. “Darn,” exclaimed Kati, “I just bent another nail.”

Kati’s exclamation reminded me of Frank Henson, one of Dad’s carpenters.
Frank was blind in his right eye which makes nailing a difficult process. “Kati”, I asked, “do you know why there were so many ‘one eyed box makers up to the 1970s?” “No,” was her response as she nursed her bruised finger and said, “I hope I don’t lose my finger nail.” I continued, “when I was young, and in earlier times, nails were made of very hard steel. They were brittle and when the hammer struck the edge of the nail head, it sheared off a quarter moon piece of steal which would strike the wood with such force that the sharp projectile could rebound and hit the nailer in the face or eye. The federal government passed a law requiring nails to be made of soft steel. Thus, they bend and do not break!” “Oh,” she replied, thought for a second to continue, “why not just wear goggles?”

Now you understand why new boxes sell for 40 dollars apiece. And these are usually made of pine. Not red fir. Kati’s boxes look great. She even used a hand router to round the hand holds and sand paper to break the edges. Not stenciled nor branded as yet.

Author Mahlon Kriebel (Grandpa)

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