Fine Woodworking Magazine Boxes 2022

GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES Whether you are just embarking on your woodworking journey or have been making furniture for so many years that your house won’t hold even one more chair, a wooden box is the perfect project. As unassuming as it may seem, a box will give you a chance to learn or perfect almost any woodworking skill you can think of. Want to practice dovetails? Try a dovetailed box, like the tea box in this collection. Ready to perfect your miters? Any number of the boxes shown here will help you hone this skill. Bandsaw skills need exercise? Throw caution to the winds and develop your design eye with a beautiful bandsawn box. Ready to unlock the secrets of perfect veneering? Check out the stunning examples…

FineWoodworking.com/boxes Visit our website for everything you ever wanted to know about designing and making boxes. Plus, become an Unlimited member to access our extensive archive of articles and videos. VIDEO Michael Cullen’s two-walled bandsawn box Sit back, relax, and watch woodworker Michael Cullen make one of his beautiful bandsawn boxes, in less than five minutes! VIDEO How to create a textured finish with a wire brush On his wenge tea box, Fine Woodworking editor and creative director Michael Pekovich reaches for a tool not normally found in the arsenal of most woodworkers, a metal barbecue grill brush. VIDEO Video series: Veneering basics In this three-part video series, woodworking teacher Bob Van Dyke demonstrates basic veneering techniques including softening, rough cutting, seaming, and glue-up, while preparing a period-appropriate book-matched drawer front.…

AMY COSTELLO Provo, Utah Amy was enrolled in an independent study course on carving and marquetry at Brigham Young University when she made this tea box. It was inspired in part by a Designer’s Notebook in Fine Woodworking in which several furniture makers designed their own tea boxes. It was also a chance for Amy to explore an interest in mandalas, traditional Hindu and Buddhist symbols. ELM, WALNUT, AND EBONY, 9D X 9W X 3½H CRAIG JOHNSON St. Paul, Minn. The yellow birch used in Craig’s sliding-lid box was reclaimed after years spent underwater, having been lost by loggers more than 150 years ago in a local lake. The box features hand-cut dovetails and a hand-carved recessed pull, and is finished with shellac and beeswax. YELLOW BIRCH, 7D X 11W X…

Some years ago I decided to make a box for my wife, Barbara, to hold some of her favorite pens. My design was inspired by the memory of a simple wooden pencil box with a sliding top that I had as a child. To me, boxes are a beautiful expression of what working in wood is all about. Of all the things I make, nothing else holds as much mystery or evokes as much curiosity as a box. I loved making that box, and I’ve since made many more, in a variety of woods and sizes but all hewing to the same basic design: thin parts, mitered corners with slender splines, and a snug but smoothly sliding lid with a carved fingerhold. Cut narrow grooves and tiny miters Because the…

I build a lot of furniture—often complex, exacting pieces carefully mapped out in scale drawings. Some years ago I began making bandsawn boxes as a way to relieve the tension of working on such long, demanding projects. The boxes are quick, requiring no measuring, no joinery, and almost no planning. They welcome creativity, opening a door to limitless variations of form and embellishment. And most of all, they are fun. I can grab a piece of scrap, make a fast pencil sketch right on the wood, and work freehand at the bandsaw to create a box in no time. I’ve always admired Shaker boxes, with their combination of good form and minimal material making a container that is lightweight, strong, and elegant. My goal with bandsawn boxes is similar: to…

I first made this box several years ago as part of a series for an exhibition organized by the Crafts Council of Ireland called “Of Colour in Craft.” Artisans in various disciplines were asked to make pieces that used color prominently. I chose to make identical boxes in 10 species, each a different color. Boxes are a great vehicle for exploring design ideas in a series (see “Designing in matched sets…” p. 33). Small and simple in form, they can easily be grouped to create an arrangement with a strong character of its own. Making boxes also is a good way to spend time between bigger projects, to use leftover wood, or to make gifts. This square, dovetailed box is half as tall as it is wide, with a drop-on…