Some of you may have noticed I haven’t been too active lately. Thankfully I remain in good health, but life has been super busy. I’ve missed woodworking and creating things with my hands, though, so I ended up making a small card/deck box for a friend. Small boxes are great! You can knock one out in a day or so, and this felt like a good project to get me back into some woodworking. If any of you have played Magic the Gathering, it’s a box to hold that sort of cards… most people buy cardboard or plastic boxes to keep their cards in, but this was meant to be a special thank you. Anyways, feel free to click through the pictures or grab a cup of coffee or tea and read on.

A wooden box with a figured lid, dovetail joinery, and hasp.
The close-to-finished product, with finish on and in the sun to help the oils soak in.

Because this was a spur-of-the-moment project, I picked over my offcuts and found some 1” thick “bacon padauk”, a 1/4” thick piece of padauk, and some 1/2” thick and 3.5” wide poplar. A quck drawing later, and I determined my box would be 6” wide, 4.75” tall, and 4” deep.

Three uncut boards of poplar and padauk.
Where I started: a piece of poplar, padauk, and "bacon" padauk.
Dimensional plans for a small 6 inch long by 4 inch wide by 4.75 inch tall box drawn in pencil.
A bit of pre-planning, but I didn't go with walnut and maple as originally planned.

Because my poplar was 3.5” wide, and I wanted the box (before the lid) to be 4.25” tall, I needed to glue some boards. So I used my 1/4” thick padauk and quickly laminated and planed up a board that was 4.25” wide and about 24” long. By quickly, I mean it took me about 3 hours. I did all the ripping, jointing, and planing by hand. And I had to be careful not to glue one section of the board that would later make the lid.

A workbench with a number 7 hand plane, brush, and jointed board of poplar with a thin stripe of padauk down the center.
The number 7 is one of my favorite planes. Look at how well it finished this board.
A picture of a Record 043 plane sitting on top of several pieces of poplar with a groove cut on one side.
Cutting some grooves with the 043.

I also needed a lid, so I cut my paduak around a paticularly interesting section (to me), and then marked and planed it down to 1/2” thick.

A piece of padauk clamped in the vise.
In the process of going from 1" thick to 1/2" thick.

As I had my sides, I ran a groove for the bottom with a Record 043. This little plane belonged to a former VTP member, Francis d’Aguilar, and I think of him every time I use it. The plan was originally going to do rabbet joints with dowels, but that was before I chose padauk, and I wasn’t super excited about making dowels… so I found my favorite dovetail saw and pivoted to much more challenging mitered dovetails. Poplar is soft and brittle, and I didn’t have extra stock prepared, so this would have to be cut right the first time. I took my time (about 30 minutes per joint) to lay out, cut, cope, and chisel. Luckily things fit pretty tightly with only a few uneven gaps on the miters.

The front side of a mitered dovetail joint.
First joint cut!
The inside of a mitered dovetail joint.
A slopppy miter joint, but at least the groove is lined up.

I beveled the bottom and slid it in, then realized made it too long. This was quickly fixed with my Stanley 150 miter box and shooting board.

A picture of a box standing on one end with a padauk panel slid into the bottom groove.
Test fitting the bottom.

Some glue up for the top, I rummaged up some hinges, mortised them in, and added a hasp. At this point I had spent just about a whole day on the box, but it just needed finish. I saved that for the next day.

The box lid in clamps next to the assembled caracass.
Gluing the lid.
Showing the back side of the box with hinges mortised into place.
Testing the hinges. Still need to trim the lid on the shooting board.
A view of the lid and front of the box with a brass hasp.
Adding a hasp, and taped off the inside for finishing.

For a finish, I went with Odie’s Oil on the outside only. Why? Well I chose Odie’s OIl because it’s easy and is quite nice to handle. I left the inside unfinished because you don’t want oils or waxes getting absorbed into the box’s contents. After a couple hours in the sun, I buffed it off, brushed on a coat of Alfie Shine, and then let it sit overnight. The next morning (we’re now on Monday) I buffed everything out, added another coat of Alfie Shine, and left it again for most of the day before giving it a final buff.

Viewing the inside of the box with two decks of cards and a drawstring bag.
A peek inside the finished box.

So that was it. A weekend project, and a nice little box!