How to Make Wood Boxes
Book Cover
"Box-Making Basics: Design, Technique, Projects"
by David M. Freedman

The Taunton Press, Newtown, CT, 1997
Softcover, 144 pages, $19.95
ISBN 1-5658-123-2

Order Box-Making Basics from Amazon.com
(Amazon reviewers give it 4.5 stars out of 5)

"Highly recommended for personal, school, woodshop, and public library woodworking reference shelves." - Wisconsin Bookwatch

Box-Making Basics includes the following tips and techniques:

  • Elements of good design
  • Selecting wood and preparing stock
  • Finishing
  • Cutting, gluing, and reinforcing miter joints
  • Ideas and techniques for making spectacularly decorative lids
  • Installing slot hinges, pin hinges, and butt hinges
  • Alternative joinery: butt joints, rabbet joints, finger joints, and dovetails
  • Frame-and-panel lids
  • Installing lid supports
  • Making interior dividers and trays for jewelry boxes
  • Lining a box with suede, suedecloth, or velvet

Box-Making Basics features step-by-step instructions on how to make 16 handsome boxes designed by the author and two other professional box makers. Projects include:

  • Jewelry boxes
  • Pen & pencil box
  • His & hers ring boxes
  • Stationery box
  • Keeper boxes
  • Swivel-lid boxes
  • Little decorative boxes

About the author:

Dave Freedman is a writer and woodworker who lives in the Chicago area. He is a former editor of American Woodworker magazine, and has demonstrated box-making techniques for woodworking guilds. He makes boxes for sale in art galleries and fairs.

A note from the author:

The popularity of wood boxes never seems to diminish. They combine the resplendence of nature with human craftsmanship and creative spirit. At the same time, wood boxes are useful. In their simplest forms, they're relatively easy to construct, inexpensive to acquire, yet limitless in their variety.

It's gratifying when people come into my booth at an art fair and caress the boxes and say, "Boy, I wish I could do work like that." And I always answer, "You can; all it takes is patience."

I hope you enjoy the book. If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me at
dave @ freedman-chicago.com.

Sincerely,
Dave Freedman


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