The Boxes

These 3 boxes were made for my 3 most important little clients, my kids. They were using some small old cardboard boxes as their piggy banks to store their money they got from allowance, birthdays, and such. I had made a similar box a while back to store things and they liked it so I made them each their own.

These boxes are small but not too small, coming in at about 6” x 4” x 4”.

The Wood

All three boxes were made from a single walnut slab cutoff given to me by a family member. I re-sawed the cutoff into quarter-sawn planks so wood movement over time should not be much of an issue.

The top and bottom are made from 1/4” birch plywood for additional stability. So the top matched the sides, I cut a roughly 1/8” thick piece of walnut and glued it to the plywood using contact cement.

The inside of the box is lined with aromatic cedar that I had left over from another build that I cut down to about 1/8” thick and trimmed to a friction fit by hand.

The Joinery

I wanted to make sure the boxes stay strong for many years to come. So I used a rabbet joint and reinforced it with 1/16” brass pins. This should be much stronger than a standard miter joint.

The Finish

I kept the finish simple on these boxes by using walnut oil. Just a couple of quick coats. The boxes will spend most of their time in a bedroom on a shelf so they don’t need to stand up to a lot of abuse or the elements.