Cranberry Crate

Cranberries are part of our heritage (hence the website name), from skating on the cranberry bogs, to free cranberry juice in the drink machine at the bank. Grandparents still receive crates of fresh cranberries. We got one of their recent crates and made a replica (using rough sawn pine wood salvaged from a pallet). We used galvanised nails, unlike the original, and drilled some of the holes to prevent splitting. The stencil on the original is illegible, but Grampie has another box which is clearer and the stencil reads T & B Co. Our stencil was made by cutting a cereal box with a box cutter, then stapling it to the ends, then spraying black paint from a can. We chose the AB brand (from great grandfather blacksmith James... the "A" is not known to stand for anything), plus the year (2009). A. did most of the nailing and thinks of the brand as her initials.

The original pallet wood was the right width for the four bottom staves (3 1/2 inches; 89 mm). The three staves per side were ripped with a table saw to 2 1/4 inches; 70 mm. The length of the box is 21 1/2 inches; 546 mm. Staves were already ripped to the right width (7/16 inch; 12 mm). End pieces needed to be thicker (3/4 inch; 19 mm) and came from an old shelf, ripped to length on the table saw (14 1/2 inch; 368 mm X 8 3/8 inch; 213 mm). The left over worked for the handles, although the original has handles a little thicker (16 1/2; 420 mm X 1 3/8 inch; 35 mm). Also needed for the outer supports: 1 inch; 25 mm sticks from the 7/16 inch; 12 mm stock. Two pieces 16 3/8 inchs; 416 mm; Four pieces 8 3/4 inchs; 223 mm.

The bottom staves go on first, evenly spaced and flush with the edges (2 nails each end). Next go the side staves, evenly spaced and flush with the top, and with the bottom of the bottom staves. Next go the sticks to support the sides (flush with top and bottom; three nails each). Then the sticks to support the bottom (flush with sides; four nails each). Then the handles (three nails). The points stuck through a bit so we angled these in (stronger anyway).

If we were really keen, we could buy an authentic cranberry crate label to glue on the end, see http://www.thelabelman.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_82&products_id=7146&osCsid=138973cbdb13578ff429da8c984465f0 Judging by the labels, crates came in 1/2 barrel and 1/4 barrel sizes (a barrel is 36 English gallons, but only about half that size for the cranberry barrel, see below). Our crates must be half barrel. Some labels specify 50 pounds. Wikipedia lists dimensions for a specific cranberry barrel (this came from US Congress in 1915):

• US barrel for cranberries 5,826 cubic inches (~2.71 bushel / 95.47 litres)
  • Defined as “length of stave 28.5″, diameter of head 16.25″, distance between heads 25.25″, circumference of bulge 58.5″ outside measurement; and the thickness of staves not greater than 0.4″.”^[1] (≈ 724mm, 413mm, 641mm, 1486mm [Ø ≈ 18.62″/473mm], 10mm) No equivalent in cubic inches is given in the statute, but later regulations specify it as 5,826 cubic inches.^[2]