Wine Set Box for a Wedding

The Wine Box

My sister-in-law is getting married and asked if I could make them a special box that they plan to use in the ceremony. Honored, I of course obliged. They were looking for a box to fit a special wine bottle that they had made and two stemless glasses and a spot for them to put notes to each other. The idea being on their first anniversary they would open the box, read the notes and enjoy the wine.

The Wood

For this box, I went with Red Oak. The grain has a good character to it once stained. Oak can be a challenge to do fine chisel work on as that grain can have a tendency to split if not careful. The sides are 1/2″ thick stock and joined together with a very strong box (or finger) joint. The top and bottom panels are 1/4″ plywood for stability (plywood will not warp due to seasonality). For aesthetics, the top panel has a book matched veneer of oak.

The Finish

My mother in law already had the stain to stain it and she took care of that. However, after the stain had a week to fully dry, I applied a top coating of Wood Butter to add a little smoothness to the finish which worked well. The wood butter had an additional benefit of lubricating the lip that the lid comes down over. It wasn’t too tight and has a nice ‘whoosh’ sound when you shut it.

The Hardware

I picked up a simple mortise lock from the local woodcraft along with some basic dark bronze hinges that went well with the final color. To prevent the hinges from being over-stressed from the larger lid when open, I added a black ribbon held with brass thumbtacks as a support.