Military Ammo Crates

I've always appreciated the artwork involved with the calligraphy of the Cyrillic script. In Farsi I understand that the language is built on root words that can be modified to represent things that are linked to the root words. Like orange can be quickly changed to apple with some tweaking. Anyway billboards I see on TV with script is more like artwork than advertisment. Learning that language would be a PITA.

GunnyUSMC said:

Thank you for your concern, but I have kids and ammo crates and the crates never made the kids sick.

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But have your kids had any ill effects on the ammo crates?

Seriously, we toss so much it's cool that in addition to just collecting them you are using some for re-purposing like the cool cabinet.
Just goes to show another interest under the umbrella "shooting related stuff".

I don't have access to any photos that I can post, but my wife and I decorated my 6 year old grandsons bedroom with an Army theme. I have built loft beds for all of my grandkids and my wife has decorated their rooms with themes that suit them. We looked for some ammo crates to build shelves and cabinets from, but didn't find anything at a price we wanted to pay. I ended up locating some weathered lumber and made replicas. I never thought about the wood possibly being exposed to dangerous chemicals so it is probably a good thing we didn't use them.

The room ended up pretty cool. We mounted peg board on the wall for all of his toy guns etc. The cabinets are all painted olive drab with lettering stenciled on them. We used military camo netting over the bed and he has planes and helicopters suspended from the ceiling with fishing line.

I have my grandfathers funeral flag (WW-1 vet) that was going to my daughter anyway. We put it up to display. My son will get dads flag (WW-2). Along with framed photos of 2 of his great grandfathers in uniform. My dad from WW-2 and my wife's from Korea. They both died before Joseph was born.

Speedo66 said:

Others with children may want to know more before they bring them into their houses.

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Shipping pallets--all the rage in the crafts movement--are at far, far higher risk. Since they are routinely re-used to haul all sorts of chemicals, and then wind up for sale (or sticky-fingered) and then sawn up, drilled up, and then just oiled. Don't worry about the leaky insecticides aor PCBs or the like--it's cut furniture.

DoD/DRMO guidelines are based on an absurdist premise that the world can be a zero-risk place.

There was a time, back when "barn wood" was really hip, that I'd go hit up the surplus docks at Ft Polk & Ft Hood & Bergstrom and pick up wooden crates of every type. That's because they were a decent knotty pine. It was a pain to have to pull all the fasteners, but after a pass through the surface planer and edged they made all kinds of cool furniture.

Buzznrose said:

.I would not put it past the older ones to be treated with arsenic (like pressure treated wood used to be).

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ACQ pressure treatment was brought on by California banning the use of cupric compounds in factory settings. Use of ACQ started in the 90s and ended in the 90s. The treatment was safe enough for the factory employees, but working the wood was a huge misery. Contact dermatitis was extremely common, as were chemical burns when working with the ground-contact treated material. (The need for triple-dip galvanizing or stainless steel fasteners did not help any, either.)
So, ACQ was replaced as quickly as a way to use borates could be brought into the industry.

Older military wood used paint to preserve the wood, along with old-growth tight-grain wood (which is naturally rot & bug resistant).

CapnMac said:

ACQ pressure treatment was brought on by California banning the use of cupric compounds in factory settings. Use of ACQ started in the 90s and ended in the 90s. The treatment was safe enough for the factory employees, but working the wood was a huge misery. Contact dermatitis was extremely common, as were chemical burns when working with the ground-contact treated material. (The need for triple-dip galvanizing or stainless steel fasteners did not help any, either.)
So, ACQ was replaced as quickly as a way to use borates could be brought into the industry.

Older military wood used paint to preserve the wood, along with old-growth tight-grain wood (which is naturally rot & bug resistant).

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Thanks for the info. I’m glad they are good to go.

Dynamite crates. I was going to post these the other day. Didn't get around to it.

His old place used to have empty metal blasting cap cans too. Even better he died with all of his fingers.

I love all your crate photos Gunny, those are really cool. I suspect the most dangerous thing about them is moving them around in your attic, I hate that ripping sound when a roofing nail grabs the scalp.

Damnit, now I have to find some with which to build cabinets on the wall behind the bar.

This is my only wood ammo crate.

I used to make and sell replica rifle cases. Winchester’s.....got good enough that you couldn’t tell the difference.

dh1633pm said:

Dynamite crates. I was going to post these the other day. Didn't get around to it.

View attachment 891629

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I love the candle sitting on top of the dynamite cases!

Isn't the wife sweet, you found a way to display my dyno boxes in the house. With a candle no less.

I guess the wood crates have their uses. I like the stack-able cart idea.

A few years back when one of the hurricanes was threatening the Houston area, I loaded up my truck with guns and ammo attempted to haul my most valuable stuff with me. The 50 cal ammo cans were about as heavy as I wanted to handle when hauling ammo out of my house. Some of the boxes or bigger ammo cans were more difficult to move.

I made my own wooden crate. Made to look like a ww2 crate. (Yes, its based off a video game)

Missing the original quarter by twenty wing-nuts.... but easily replaced........

1976B.L.Johns. said:

View attachment 893022

Missing the original quarter by twenty wing-nuts.... but easily replaced........

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Boy, does that one bring back memories of WWII era. Must have been about 1944; I would have been 7 or 8. Appliances (and lots of other things critical to the war effort) were very scarce and we did not have a refrigerator at the time.

Dad managed to get an ammo crate identical to the one pictured above. It had a galvanized metal liner (which, if memory serves had been sealed at the arsenal and the top cut out in the field). This crate served as a makeshift ice chest until refrigerators became available after the war. My job was to take my red wagon to the ice house and bring home a (25#?) block of ice daily. I guess they didn't treat wooden crates w/hazardous chemicals back then and happily, any lead residue from the ammo didn't seem to cause undue problems, either. Can't remember any warnings stamped on the crate such as "Do not use for food container" either, but that was then and this is now.

Regards,
hps

GunnyUSMC said:

Here’s another one that I have.

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Any crate that has dovetail joints always catches my eye. I like them the most.

I have another, not as nice but have not decided to post it yet. We will see, maybe tomorrow..............

There is another word for some of the joints we are looking at, but it escapes me.
I jumped the gun saying "dovetail".
A dovetail joint is fanned out like the bird's tail.
Yet, just the same, still admirable
Thanks for sharing!.