Building a Dovetail Box with Hand-cut Joinery

Hello everyone! Earlier this week I was in a 3-night woodworking class on how to make a dovetail box with hand-cut joinery.  It was an enjoyable experience and I learned a lot.  Today, I’m sharing my new-found knowledge.  You can think of this as notes from my class.

My first box. 🙌 Covered in flaws but I still like it. 🤣 I’m eager to make another one. 👍 . #firstwoodenbox #woodenbox #woodworking #woodshop #woodworker #woodcraft #cherry #hardwood #box #boxmaking #dovetail #dovetails #sloppydovetails #dowoodworking #woodshop #alabama #finewoodworking #carpentry #diy #handtools #handtool #handcut #handcutjoinery

A post shared by Ashley Grenon (@handmadewithashley) on Mar 22, 2017 at 6:02pm PDT

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links. 

Tools and Supplies

The following items are some of the tools and supplies I used to make the dovetail box.

Tools

• 1/4″, 1/2″ and a 1″ chisel
• Wooden mallet
• Dovetail saw
• Marking gauge
• Combination square
• Workbench with a vise
• Router table with a round over, cove and rabbet router bits
• Table saw
• Sander
• Dovetail template

Supplies

• 1/2″ Cherry board
• 3/4″ Cherry board
• Wood glue

How to make a dovetail box with hand-cut joinery

The boards I used in the class were milled and cut to size ahead of time so I’ll skip those steps.  Before starting on the project, I arrange the boards in a way that the grain pattern looked the most appeasing. To keep track of that arrangement, I labelled each corner.

Step 1. Mark the thickness of the boards with a marking gauge

Step 2. Transfer the dovetail template onto the ends of the short sides

Step 3. Cut out and chisel the pins

Step 4. Trace pin shape onto the ends of the long boards

Step 5. Cut out and chisel dovetails

Step 6: Glue box together

I had few large gaps in my joints. To hide the gap, here’s a tip that I learned:

• With a chisel, slice thin wedges of wood
• Apply glue to each side of the wedge
• Lodge the wedge into the gap.

You can see my wedges sticking out in the picture above.

Step 7. Cut lid and base of the box to final size

Step 8. Route box lid

1. Route the bottom side of the lid with a 3/4″ rabbet router bit with a depth of 1/4″. (I recommend doing this as a series of shallow passes to reduce the amount of tear out)
2. Route the top side of the lid with a round over bit

Step 9. Route base of the box

1. Route the top of the lid base with a 3/4″ rabbet router bit. The box should fit snug inside of the raised rectangle created from this step.  Micro adjustments may be necessary.
2. Route the top of the lid base with a cove router bit.

Step 10. Glue, sand and apply a finish

Dovetail box with hand-cut joinery

My box is covered in flaws, but despite that, I still like it.  Box making is fun and I look forward to making many more wooden boxes in the future.