How to Make a Shaker Box
Master the basics, and you’ll be building these iconic boxes in bunches
Synopsis: Simple, practical, and elegant, the Shaker box was used to hold everything from sewing notions to seeds. It’s not difficult to make, using straight-grain hardwood bands soaked in hot water and bent around a form. Once the band is cut and bent, the ends are tacked together and a drying form is used to help the box keep its iconic oval shape. Pete Baxter explains the process and the supplies needed to make an oval box and lid. Once you’ve made one, you’ll be turning them out in bunches.
At its best, Shaker design is a harmonious marriage of functionality, simplicity, and elegance. There may be no better embodiment of that harmony than the oval boxes the Shakers made to hold everything from sewing notions to seeds. Thankfully, Shaker craftsmen also had a good eye for simplifying construction, so the box is not difficult to make.…
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