Learn the art of box making from one of the foremost experts of the craft. Through Doug Stowe's decades of experience, you'll learn the basic techniques to get started, as well as more advanced ways to approach finely crafted boxes.

Project after project, your skills will build, and you'll come to refine your work, asking how can processes could be simplified and how can finishes be improved. Throughout the book, Stowe offers this advice: Repeat yourself. Repetition leads to refinement, and refinement leads to success.

Though it's not necessary to build the projects in this book in any particular order, they are arranged by the level of difficulty. As you grow in confidence working through the projects in this book, use your imagination and ask a few questions: What if this box were made in that wood? What if that joint were used on this box? What if the lid had more overhang? What if I made it larger, or smaller? The question "What if?" will challenge and engage you as a box maker for years of adventure.

Winner of a 2008 Golden Hammer Writing Award.

Introduction

A Simple Lift-Lid Box
Prepare the stock
Mark and cut the box sides
Fitting the box bottom
Assembling the box
Add keys to the corners
Making a lift lid
Final touches

A Rustic Treasure Box
Cut the parts to size
Cut the corner joints
Make and fit the bottom
Assemble the box
Add a lid
Prepare for final assembly
Attach the hinge

A Sliding-Top Pencil Box
Prepare the stock
Cut the joints
Rout a groove to house the bottom
Make the bottom panel
Groove the sides to accommodate the top
Assemble the box
Fit and shape the lid
Install the lid stop

A Stationery Box with Hidden Splines
Prepare the stock
Miter the corners
Fit the raised panel
Cut the hidden-spline joinery
Prepare the inside before assembly
Glue up the box
Cut the lid loose from the base
Make and assemble the base frame
Add pulls to the box
Install the tray supports and lid keeper strips
Make the sliding tray
Sanding, finish, and final assembly

A Lap-Cornered Box
Begin with book-matched stock
Mark and cut the lap-corner joints
Assemble the sides
Make the lid and base
Shape the lid and base
Finish the box

A Fold-Out Jewelry Box
Prepare the stock
Miter the sides
Cut grooves to house the bottom panels
Make the top panel
Shape the sides
Sand the interior
Assemble the box
Cut and install miter keys
Cut the lid and levels apart
Make the support arms
Make the rear support
Make the dividers
Sand, finish, and assemble
Hinge the lid
Cut and install a lining

A Jewelry Box with a Sliding Tray
Prepare the stock
Cut miters for the lid and base
Fit panels in the bottom and lid
Cut the top and bottom panels to fit
Assemble the sides and lid
Make the top panel
Cut the slots and install the keys
Rout a finger grip
Making a sliding tray
Make the dividers
Ease hinge installation with a flipping story stick
Install the hinges
Final finishing steps

A Dovetailed Box with a Wooden Hinge
Cutting dovetails starts with tails
Assemble the box
Build a frame-and-panel base
Make the lid
Install the hinges
Finishing touches
Index

I began making wooden boxes in 1976. Aside from the pleasure I found in making them, they served a very practical purpose. Boxes kept me busy between commissions and allowed me to explore designs and techniques without making a large investment in time or materials. Since then I've sold thousands of small boxes through craft fairs and galleries.
I can tell you from personal experience that developing the skills you need to accomplish your best work won't happen overnight. There is a difference between knowledge that you get from a book and skill that takes residence in your own hands. For skill to develop you will need to pay attention, not only to what is told in the pages of a book, but to what the tools tell you: the sight, sound, and feel of their operation, what the wood shares of its own nature, and what your own hands and body tell you of motion and movement.

As your skill develops, you'll begin looking for greater challenges. But don't rush the process. Take your time. Many of the best things that happened in my own work came through repetition of the same simple tasks. Watching carefully, I began to notice things: when cuts could be made more accurately, how processes could be simplified, where finishes could be improved. These things don't come in a rush. Slow down, savor the process, enjoy the special scent of each species, and take time to feel and enjoy the texture of its grain. At the risk of repeating myself, I offer this advice: Repeat yourself. Repetition leads to refinement, and refinement leads to success.

Though it's not necessary to build the projects in this book in any particular order, they are arranged by the level of difficulty. As you grow in confidence working through the projects in this book, use your imagination and ask a few questions: What if this box were made in that wood? What if that joint were used on this box? What if the lid had more overhang? What if I made it larger, or smaller? The question "What if?" can challenge and engage a box maker for years of adventure. It has for me, and I hope it will for you as well.