David Hickson's List: Wooden Boxes

Maker of handmade decorative wooden boxes - good site to get inspiration.

This firm makes custom wooden boxes of a number of styles, sizes, and purposes. This is another site that provides lots of inspiration.

Steve Smith Boxes - wide variety of creative boxes offered by this maker. Another site for ideas and inspiration for box making.

This young Brit outlines the process for making a very nice decorative box using purpleheart for corner blocks that double as legs.  The box is assembled using biscuits.  Really good step-by-step demo that can be adapted to other designs. He uses methods that are different from the videos featured elsewhere on this list since he does not have mitered corners.

A quick video that outlines a method for making a box out of alternating stripes of two different colored woods. 

this youtube video describes a way to make a simple rabbeted box with a lid.  Although the video shows using plywood for a simple storage box, these methods can be used with fine wood for a more decorative, box, also.  

Jordan Crawford demonstrates the method for getting a four-corner grain match for a small decorative box, with mitered corners and using tape for the glue-up.  

Narration-free video about making a simple wooden box.  Yikes - this guy never heard of the 3-inch rule - don't follow his example if you want to keep your fingers safe on the table saw!  However, he demonstrates keyed mitered corners and a rabbeted lift-off lid.  Don't glue the bottom panel in the way he did, though - wood movement will bust the box apart over time. 

Part 2 of Tom's videos shows how to separate the top and bottom using the tablesaw and how to use a tablesaw jig for cutting the corner key grooves (He calls them splines, but they are actually keys). Tom uses a flush-cut saw to trim the keys.   He also shows a method for inserting a wooden lift handle into the lid. The box making part of the video is done by 7:00.  

Laney Shaughnessy shows how to make a simple, small, square box with keyed mitered corners and a lift off lid.  Steve's method produces grain match across all four sides, but at only three corners. Note Laney's use of push sticks, eye protection, and hearing protection.  He also shows how to make a miter key joint and how to ebonize wood (for black keys).  Steve calls the keys "splines," but they are actually keys, not splines. 

Part 2 of Laney Shaughnessy's demonstration.  He makes a simple jig for cutting the triangular keys (which he mislabels "splines"),  and cuts a chamfer on the bottom edge as a design feature, plus making the lid and finishing. 

At about 8:00 Laney includes video of a kickback incident he had on the tablesaw - a good safety lesson!  He's lucky it did not pull his fingers back into the blade!  

This is Doug Stowe's website.  Doug is the guru of small decorative box making and has produced many videos and books on the subject.