Wet Canvas Carrier

9" X 12" Wet Canvas Carrier

made from scrap pine lumber

I'm tired of placing a wet painting in the car trunk or on the floor of the car and hoping like heck something doesn't fall on it or it flips over. I decided it was time to get a wet canvas carrier. I went online looking for one and found that they run around $60 for a 9" X 12" model....with that I wandered down to my garage to see if I had any scraps of wood to just make one...I did so I headed off to Ace Hardware and bought the needed hardware, hinge, hasp, handle and feet...the last two aren't neccesary but cool to have. Cost was about $10. This was based on a box built by Jim Serrett but for 9x12 panels. After a fun afternoon spent in the garage building it I can give you 50 reasons to build your own. Note....a table saw helps immensely.

A wet canvas carrier is basically a box with strips of wood inside used to keep your paintings seperated while transporting them. I made my box to carry wet panels made from 1/4" masonite that are covered with canvas. This is what I normally paint on. You could make your box to carry whatever you paint on. I'm pretty sure that Ray Mar panels are thinner so you'd have to adjust the spacing for that if you paint on Ray Mar panels.

The box was made from a sheet of 1/4" scrap wood for the sides, bottom & lid and 3/4" for the ends that have the strips glued and nailed to hold the panels. If I did this again I would have made the top out of 3/4" because it would have made nailing on the hinge and hasp a lot easier. I took a wide sheet of wood and thined it down to 1/4" thickness and then cut the strips for the inside first. The strips are cut wider than 1/4 so it will make it easier to get my fingers on the panels when removing them from the box. It is also better if these are wider so your nails or brads have plenty of room to go through the wood strips without splitting them.
The piece of wood with the divider strips is 3/4" thick and 4" wide. The length was cut just over 12" long to allow for panels not cut exactly at 12". Once you build these two ends you then put in a panel and that tells you how wide your sides will need to be cut. To get the length of your sides you just add the thickness of your lid and bottom to the length of these end panels. My ends were just over 12" so I add the bottom (1/4" thick) and the top (1/4" thick) and you come out with just over 12, 1/2".

Sounds technical but once you build your end panels with the thin divider strips everything else is just measured off of that. It is a lot easier to build it than it is to describe it. Fun project.