Scrap Wood Project: DIY Mini Pie Safe

Welcome back! Football season is here and fall is knocking on the door, at least here in Michigan anyway. As sad as saying bye to summer sunshine and boat rides can be, we can look forward to the wonderful foods that usually accompany the cooler weather, especially the desserts. This weeks build is inspired by the upcoming pumpkin season which so happens to be my favorite kind of pie, so I built a Mini Pie Safe from scrap pieces of wood from previous projects. The only thing I had to purchase was the screen, which puts a price tag of 8 dollars on this build. Here is how it turned out…

The Build.

I started with measuring the typical size of a pie pan which is 9 inches in diameter. From there I took a piece of 1 x 12 for the base and 1 x 12 for the top. I ripped a piece of 2×4 to (4) 1 inch by 1 inch at a length of 33 1/2 inches. I nailed them to the side of both 1 x 12’s, flush with each corner. I then fit in two more 1 x 12’s for each shelf and nailed it in to the sides, placed a level on the shelf while nailing the shelves in to ensure that are level. Once the frame was built, I fit in 1 x 1 on each side to make the all sides flush.

Once you have the frame built paint the wood, because the next step would be laying in the screen (Jeep-Jeep!).

Once the piece is dry lay the screen in place and starting from the top left and working your way down, keeping it screen taught, staple it down. (when you cut the screen to fit into the piece, leave a few inches on all sides and cut it down afterwards). Once one side is down from top down, work the same direction (top down) on the other, this will help prevent bubbling. Repeat this step on two other sides. Once each side has a screen stapled, I covered the stapes with strips of 1 inch by 1 1/4 inch, and nailed it to the frame.

For the door, I essentially built a picture frame and stapled the scree on the inside of the frame. Then I installed hinges on the top and bottom of the door, and hung the door on to the pie safe. I put a hook latch on the top corner to keep any unwanted little hands from getting into the pie safe. The last step I cut a  1  1/2 inch dowel to 1 inch for the legs.

That was it, again it was all scraps that I ripped down, very rustic and cheap. So if you are like me and cut a piece of wood and put the scraps in a bin or box thinking that you will need it for something and really never use it, here is a good idea to get rid of some of the smaller scraps and gives you an excuse to bake more than one pie. Let me know what you think. Find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks.