The last time I wrote about my efforts to make 52 boxes in 52 weeks, many of us were thinking of Thanksgiving turkery, sweet potato souffle, and pumpkin pie. The holiday season was busy for me and simply forgot to update my progress here at the Fine Woodworking site. Of course, I’ve been plugging along in the shop and writing about each box over at MEK Woodworks. Pictures of the boxes are above. Now, a few words about each one. If you’d like to read about one of them in greater detail, click the link. I hope you enjoy them.

Box 35 This is a big version of style a box that I often make. I made it because I wanted to see how many individual compartments I could get into a box, how small they could be, etc. Also, it was a test run for a box that I’m planning to make in the near furture.

Box 36 I really like this little ebony box, and I used a new technique for keeping the lid on the box. Both the box and the lid have a rabbet around the outside edge. I glued a strip into each rabbet on the lid, and when you put the lid on the box, those strips register in the rabbets in the box. The strip is just a bit proud of the box, so that your fingers can grab it and pull the lid off.

Box 37 This box is identical to box 36 in many ways. They’re the same size, for example. The lid is held in place in a similar fashion. However, instead of having a strip run all the way around the box, I mortised two small “buttons” into the lid (one on the front, one on the back). Along with box 36, it’s one of my favorites so far.

Box 38 I was out of my mind when I decided to make this one. I love it, but it was a lot of work. The grain runs continuous up the sides and over the top. It’s like three individual boxes stacked on top of each other. The milk painted spacers are there to both hold them apart and to tie them together. I made the pulls by wrapping thread around metal rings. The box is made from madrone. The drawer fronts are salvaged white pine.

Box 39 This is the biggest box I’ve made so far (about 14 in. tall and 20 in. long). It’s a kindling box. I made it to experiment with through mortises. The dovetails are oriented so that you see the tails’ endgrain, calling to mind the tenons’ endgrain.

Box 40 I’ve made several similar boxes during this venture. This time it’s an apple body, with custom green milk paint for the lid. The pull is new, too, or at least its shape is. There’s fabric on the inside.

Box 41 This little sugar/salt box is made from salvaged white pine and white oak. Both are quartersawn. The bottom is a new technique. I glued some shopsawn veneer to a thin piece of plywood and then rabbeted the face opposite the veneer. The rabbeted face was glued to the bottom of the box to create a narrow gap between the box and bottom. I like it.

Box 42 My third bandsawn box. I made it using some of the techniques presented by Michael Cullen in Fine Wooddworking #250.

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