Box-Making Basics: Design, Technique, Projects

I purchased Basic Box Making and the companion DVD by Doug Stowe last year. I have made most of the boxes in his book, some of them several times. I found many of the boxes challenging. The instructions and pictures were good to excellent. Consider both the book and DVD. You will be glad that you did. The designs of sleds to use on the table saw are spot on and make handling tiny pieces much safer.I purchased the Freedman book Bix-Making Basics a couple of weeks ago. He takes a different approach than Stowe. Long on discussions but the instructions are not as detailed. The boxes are easier than those by Stowe. His discussions of wood types, finishes, hinges and veneers are excellent and are not discussed by Stowe. This book should be purchased first by novices. You will eventually want both books and the DVD if you find box making fun.I have been woodworking for over 30 years. I find box making some of the most challenging and enjoyable work I have ever done. It is ideal for woodworkers with limited room. Working on boxes has definitely advanced my skill level and all my friends and family are enthusiastic about the boxes I make and distribute.

Only after several independent attempts to craft a good box did I purchase this. How much time I could have saved if only I would have purchased it sooner. It explains so many of the challenges I was facing. Buy not just that, it added knowledge to reduce wasted time in the future and practices I am already applying to make better quality boxes.Whether you're a seasoned box maker looking for inspiration or brand new to the craft looking for instruction, I think this is a great book to have.

The info is very good, but I assumed there would be plenty of full-color photos, which there are not. Some of the steps are abbreviated, however if you have some wood working experience it’s easy to understand. It also has some very cool ideas for boxes. I learned quite a bit about hinges, worth the price just for that. Had there been even a “color section” of photos to give wood color ideas, etc. I would have given it five stars.

This is a must read for anyone interested in making decorative boxes, or who would want to learn how to make a decorative box out of wood. It's one of the books recommended by my instructor in the decorative box-making class at a community college here in Southern California, and he actually uses many of the ideas and techniques outlined in the book. I plan to make a couple of boxes covered in the book sometime in the future, and am anxious to do at lease one box from all hand tools. "Box-Making Basics" includes a cut list for each project, which is the most important first step, as well as step-by-step instructors in how to assemble once you have your boards milled and cut to length. This book doesn't cover really fancy boxes, which requires the accumulation of many skills in woodworking. But the boxes in this book will keep you busy for a long time.

What I like about it. It goes through a chapter or two on basic skills you will need to build a box. It discusses this in a straight forward manner. Then using a plan for a box of an example you go through the building steps and relate them to the concepts discussed earlier. They start with Miter joints working your through to box and more complicated joints. The tops start of as slabs and you eventually use pins, hinges and other lid attachments. Does not go through the finishing process.Good book with a thorough introduction to the box making concepts supported with very good plans for making a box.Just a note, I didn't get the kindle edition, I have the paperback. They illustrations and diagrams, while not in color were very good.

My expectations of this book were met. It was delivered promptly and at a reasonable cost. It illustrates some wonderful designs, and it does a good job of explaining some of the techniques and has some interesting projects. I have already made one of the projects and am more than satisfied as to how it turned out. I will be making at least three more projects from this book before adding it to my library for future reference. Personally I buy these book to get new design ideas for box making, and if I can pick up a technique that I haven't used before or reminded of one that I haven't used in a long time, I consider it a plus. I fee this is a worthwhile purchase and a good addition to my arsenal of box making books. I would not hesitate to use this vendor again.

This book has been a great help as I get started in box-making. I consistently go back to it for troubleshooting and tips. The instructions are clear and the plans give a wide variety of examples for design and technique.

I was not disappointed with this book in terms of learning the basics to make nice boxes. Projects are varied in shape and techniques, in depth, with plenty of explanation. The necessary sections about wood preparation, movement etc... are all nice, as well as sections on tools and finishing. the info in there seems very objective and based on excellent experience. You will learn a lot from those projects and techniques. I like some designs and not others, but there are enough of them to satisfy anybody and learn enough basic techniques to elaborate from there.One regret is that you seem to find far too much of that technique of separating the lid via sawing versus actually building it separately. I'm not sure how many people wanting to learn basics could easily saw off the lid of a relatively large box and it would be nice to see some other techniques and ways of building base and lid separately.

The author's style is very clear and concise. The principles are well-explained and illustrated. Some might miss colour illustrations but since the projects interested me less than the principles, I didn't mind with a book costing £10.99. Importantly, the projects are aimed at users with power-tools and there is little detail on how to achieve similar results by hand. However, along the way many useful aspects of box design and construction are covered, and the index is thorough. The first chapter on the basics - wood types, workability, likely wood behaviour, box principles, grain direction etc is excellent. Unfortunately, these pages came loose on first reading (I imagine Mr Freedman's boxes last better than this copy of his book, which I repaired). I marked this down to 3 stars for this reason and because the description on Amazon doesn't make clear that use of a router, band-saw, etc is expected.Otherwise, a good book, and certainly money well-spent.

Very nice n

I use to make jewelleryllery box.

Received as described A+

All photographs are in black and white which in these modern times is very poor value. I was looking for inspiration from the book and without colour did not get anything at all.