I recently set about building my first box while their was space and time available in the shop here at Fine Woodworking. I decided on a simple miter box to test out Matt Kenney’s grain-matched, four-corner miter technique and also to give myself some more experience cutting joints, rabbets and grooves on the table.

As an avid mechanic, I’ve had very little chance to work with wood outside of my days as an apprentice in my father’s business as a framer/roofer. Even that experience did not include any type of furniture or truely fine woodworking.

The materials were all cut-offs or scraps I found around the Fine Woodworking shop. The sides are white oak and the top and bottom are maple. The box is roughly 5 1/2 in. wide, 2 in. tall and 3 1/2 in. deep.

All rabbets, grooves, and miters were cut on the table saw. This proved to be the hardest part of the build. Even with the awesome SawStop tablesaw in the shop, adjusting the sled and blade perfectly required micro shimming to get my miters nice and tight. Ben Blackmar gave me the idea of using strips of blue tape to make the final adjustments to the shop’s heavily-used miter sled.

The design for the box was heavily influenced by a box designed by Matt Kenney which also featured his technique for perfect grain-match miters.

As my first solo project, I’m very happy with the results. If I were to do it again, I’d leave even more space for the bottom to move. I’ll see just how tight it is when summer gets here.

Launch Gallery