It is always nice to get a personalised gift at Christmas and it’s even better when it’s something homemade too. These boxes which I made for Christmas previously meet both of those!
I spent a long time preparing all the lumber by ripping it to the right widths and sanding it flat and smooth. I decided to use pallet slats as I had a lot left over in the workshop from previous projects and it meant each box was also a way of reusing the wood in a new way. I wanted to make each box out of one plank of wood so as to have the grain running around the whole box, so as I was making quite a few so I could give one to each member of my family, I made sure to keep track of which box each piece belonged with using small pieces of tape which I wrote on (rather than writing on the wood directly). Some of the pallet wood had particularly interesting grain patterns so I made sure to include those features within the pieces I marked to cut.
I decided to use mitre joints on the corners so the grain would run smoothly from one side into the next and used my mitre saw at a 45 degree angle to cut each piece to the right length, checking the fit of the angles as I went.
I glued up the four side pieces by lying them on a long strip of tape, which I then wrapped around the box to hold it in place while the glue dried. I also installed the base of each box and glued it into place at the same time, so I only had to wait for the glue to dry once.
While the glue dried I made the lids for the boxes using some more prepared lumber. I used letter templates held in place by tape and using a straight bit with a bearing in my palm router, I removed a few millimetres of wood from the centre of each lid. I then hand sanded the initial and rounded over the edges slightly to soften the look of the box.
I installed a set of hinges on each box, using a chisel to carve out a small section in the box and lid for the hinge so the lid would sit flush when closed. Then I finished each box with Danish oil to bring out the interesting grain patterns and left them to dry for a few days. I completed the project by filling all the boxes with Christmas presents and adding a ribbon! 🔨
The Woodworking Scientist 