Shaker Oval Boxes

7/22/2019 Shaker Oval Boxes

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Shaker Oval BoxesReproductions make fine gifts or storage

by John Wilson

Oval boxes continue to be the mostpopular product the Shakers everoffered to the outside world. Orig-inally produced for their practicality (nest-ing boxes inside each other required littlestorage space) and utility (almost anythingand everything was stored in these durablecontainers), they have become collector'sitems for their simple beauty.

As testament to the boxes' enduring ap-peal, I've been able to make a living forthe last 10 years by traveling around thecountry teaching Shaker box making togroups of woodworkers. Box making'sappeal is that, in short order, you can havea stack of boxes, as shown in the photo atleft, that any woodworker would be proudto show off or to give as gifts. In just a dayand a half, my students, who range in abil-ity from novice to advanced woodwork-ers, complete a stack of five traditionalShaker oval boxes.

The secret to the classes' efficiency is

that we start with the tops, bottoms andband material thicknessed and rough di-mensioned. I also bring the necessary pat-terns and forms for cutting the band'sfingers, bending and drying the bands andshaping the tops and bottoms. I can sup-ply all the necessary materials, hardwareand forms if you want to make the boxesthat way. But this article will show youhow to prepare the stock and make yourown patterns and forms.

There is no one right way to make anoval box, just as there is no one material

for bands, no one system for numberingsizes of nesting boxes, nor one shape tothe fingers. What can be said for the fol-lowing procedure is that it works for meand for participants in my workshops toproduce a stack of five boxes, from a small#0 to a #4 box, in the Shaker tradition. Be-cause the #2 box is the mid-sized and eas-iest to work of the stack of five boxes, Isuggest students start with it.

Selecting and preparing stockBox bands for the base and the lid of anoval box are thin slices of hardwood, or

thick veneers, that will bend and tackwithout splitting. The Shakers used maplebands and pine tops and bottoms morethan anything else. But there are a widerange of hardwoods that are suitable forbox making including ash, cherry, walnut,

Astack of five Shaker boxescan be builtin just a couple of days, even by novicewoodworkers, as the author proves in hisclasses many times every year. The boxesare great for display or storage and make

gifts that everyone loves to receive.


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apple, hackberry, hard and soft maple andbirch. Straight-grained wood is best forbending. Any wood can be used for thetops and bottoms.

I prefer quartersawn wood for both thebands and the tops and bottoms. In bands,the quartersawn grain reduces curlingalong the edges of the fingertips. Quarter-sawn wood is preferable for tops and bot-

toms because it has half the woodmovement of flatsawn stock and is lesslikely to cause structural problems, espe-cially in the larger sizes.

Moisture content also influences theworkability and stability of the wood. Topsand bottoms should be dried to a moisturecontent (MC) of 8% to 9% to help preventgaps showing up at the edges from shrink-age or splitting the band at the ends fromexpansion. Bands are easiest to work

when air dried to 15% to 20% MC. Kiln dry-ing band stock makes it brittle and more

difficult to bend.The thickness of the bands, tops and bot-toms varies with each size box, as shownin the chart on p. 57. The most difficult partof preparing box stock is thicknessingband stock. Smaller boxes require thinnerbands to make the tighter radius bends,but the larger boxes need the heft of thethicker veneers.

When I first started making boxes, I re-sawed stock on my tablesaw. A sharp, car-bide-tipped, 40-tooth blade yields a cleancut, and the 3-in. capacity of a 10-in. table-saw is enough to cut bands for a #4 box in

one pass. Tops and bottoms for up to a #4box can be resawn by making a pass alongeach edge of the stock. Most of the stock less than 10-in. thick

that I use now is veneer-sliced to my spec-ifications. These veneers are uniformlythick, and the knife leaves a smooth sur-face. But because the knife bends the

wood during the cutting process, it cancreate checking in one side of the veneer.The checked side of the veneer will bemore likely to split if placed on the outsideof the box. The best way to determine the

knife-checked face of veneer-sliced stockis to flex the band across its length in bothdirections. The side of the band that showssplitting or checking, as shown in the topphoto on this page, should be used as thebox's inside surface. Then bending willhelp control the splitting.

If a band does split while bending, youcan still salvage the stock. Trim off the splitedges and make a shallower box, oftencalled a button box, or add a handle andmake a carrier. The Shakers also had plentyof odd-sized boxes and carriers, althoughsuch boxes are less common.

S p lits or checks in a veneerface, causedby the veneerslicingprocess,arequicklyre-vealed by flexing the band across its length. The split face should be to the inside of thebox to prevent the splits from continuing along the grain line.

Patterns, formsand hot-water traysI developed finger patterns and top and

bottom oval patterns from drawings inMeasured Drawings of Shaker Furnitureand Woodenware by Ejner Handberg(Berkshire Traveller Press, Stockbridge,Mass., 1991). I then made permanent pat-terns from prepainted aluminum coil stockused as trim by residential siding contrac-tors for windows and doors. The coil stockcuts easily with a utility knife. Straight cutsare made by scoring the aluminum andthen flexing it along the score. Curvedlines can be scored freehand or cut withshears. I drilled -in.-dia. holes to show

where the copper tacks go.

Oval bottom patterns are made to the di-mensions shown in the chart on p. 57. Thetop oval patterns are about in. larger.If you enlarge the bottom pattern by 2%on a copying machine, you will have aclose approximation.

I use two different types of forms whenmaking Shaker boxes. One form is thecore around which I bend the bands, andthe other form is the shaper that I plug in-to both sides of the bands for drying. Bymaking up several sets of the shapers,I can mass-produce boxes with just one

set of cores.I made the cores out of pine or bass-wood, bandsawing them to rough shapeand then disc or beltsanding them to re-fine the shape. The shapers are made from

-in.-thick pine for the #0 and #1 boxesand -in.-thick pine for the #2 through#4 boxes. Use the same oval patterns asfor the cores, but cut slightly outside theline at a 10 bevel. The shaper slides easi-ly into the band, but the increasing di-ameter of the beveled edge stretches theoval band as the shaper is pushed deeperinto the band. Two holes drilled through

Beveling the finger edges and ends ismuch easier if the band is first soaked inhot water and securely clamped to the

bench. Reposition the hardboard cuttingblock for each finger set so that knife kerfsfromprevious cuts don't affect the cut.

the shapers provide ventilation and a gripfor pulling them out of the bands.

Another necessity for bending is a meansof soaking the bands in hot water. I use acopper tray with a hinged lid, but a paint-ed-steel window planter tray with a boardon top also works well. Alternately, a veg-etable drawer from an old refrigerator or alength of steel gutter with end caps and a

plywood cover will do as well. An electrichot plate, as shown in the background ofthe photo at left on p. 56, works great forheating the water.

Shaping the fingersBegin preparing the band stock by

marking the finger pattern and tack loca-tions, as shown in the drawing on p. 57, onthe outside face of the band. Bandsaw thefingers along the layout lines to roughshape, and drill the -in.-dia. tack pilotholes. Trim the fingers to finished form byclamping the band onto a Masonite cutting


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Tacking bands with an anvil backup,clinches the tack. Once tacked, the top bandwill be dried in place on the box band.Shapers in the box band on the bench keepthe band's oval shape while it dries.

When wrapping a box bandaround thecore, be sure the beveled fingers face outand that the tack line is centered on theoval. An electric hotplate heats the coppertray in which the bands are soaked forabout 20 minutes before bending.

board and beveling the curved edge andend of each finger with a utility knife, asshown in the bottom photo on p. 55. I findit much easier to make and control the cutif I soak the fingers in a glass of hot

water for a few minutes first. Try to main-tain the bandsawn shape, and keep the tipof the finger about in. wide. Note thatthe bevel is greatest at the bases of the fin-

gers, about 20, and decreases to about10 at the tips.

The final step in preparing the bandstock for bending is to feather the end ofthe band opposite the fingers. Taperingthe last 1 in. to 1 in. of the band elimi-nates a bump inside the box where theband ends. I prefer to taper the band ona belt sander using a scrap of wood to ap-ply even pressure to the band. If you don'thave a belt sander, then you can hand-plane this taper.

Bending the bandsSome folks shy away from projects that in-

volve bending because they think it is dif-ficult. However, the thin band stock, aidedby a good soaking in hot water, bends eas-ily around the core. You'll want to haveeverything ready, though, so you can bendthe band before it cools, which it will do inabout half a minute.

I soak the bands in hot water (180 orhotter) for at least 10 minutes; 20 minutes

will ensure that the troublesome bands arefully soaked (nothing is gained or lost af-ter a half-hour). When ready, wrap the

band around the core, making sure thatthe beveled side of the fingers faces outand that the tack line is aligned with thecenter of the oval core. If, during the bend-ing process, you notice the veneer split-ting or feathering, as shown in the topphoto on p. 55, stop. Turn the band insideout, rebevel the fingers, reheat the bandand rebend it with the better side out.

From this point until the band is tacked to-gether, be sure to hold all the fingers allthe time or the band is likely to split up themiddle between the fingers.

With the band wrapped around the coreand the tack line centered on the core,draw a register mark across the top edgesof the overlapped section at the front ofthe band. This register mark lets you openthe band to release the core and thento push the band back together into thesame size oval shaped on the core. Ham-mer the copper tacks, and clinch them atthe same time by nailing over a pipe anvil,as shown in the photo at right on this page,to secure the fingers.

The top band is made by repeating allthe steps for the box band, except the boxband is used instead of a core to bend thetop band. After tacking the top band, slideit back on the box band to dry.

Let the bands air dry for two days beforecontinuing. Oval shapers pushed into thetop and bottom of the band will maintaintheir shape. You can speed up the process

with a fan, but this can increase the edgecurling around the fingers.

Fitting tops and bottomsBefore proceeding with the top and bot-tom, I like to sand the inside of the boxand top bands with 120-grit sandpaper. Ialso make sure the ends of the bandsfeather well into the inside contours whileit's still easy to get at these surfaces.

To mark the oval shapes for the tops andbottoms, you can make appropriate-sized

patterns for each box size or you can usethe bands themselves as patterns. It usual-ly doesn't make any difference when mak-ing the bottoms because the shapers havemade the bands oval. But the top bandshave a bump in them where they were

wrapped over the fingers of the box bandOn the #0 through #4 boxes, a pattern-shaped top can even out the oval. On larg-er boxes, the band is thicker and doesn'tstretch so easily. Therefore, on the largersizes, using the band for a pattern givesa better fit.

Once the bottom is marked and roughlybandsawn to shape, the final fitting is doneon a disc sander with the table set to bevelthe edge 4. The cork effect of the bevelededge provides a tight fit between the bot-tom and the band where the edge hasbeen flared by the shapers. Check the fitfrequently as you gradually sand to theline. The bottom should be snug but notoverly tight.

Finger direction on a box is determinedby the side of the band on which the bot-tom is fitted. Most boxes have fingerspointing to the right, although left-point-


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The dimensions of oval box components vary depending upon the boxesThe chart below provides dim ensions for the five most popular sizesing fingers are not uncommon. Top bandfingers always point in the same directionas the bottom band. Determine which di-rection you want your fingers to point, andinsert the bottom by fitting it against thefront lap of the band and into both ends;then stretch the back of the band over theopposite edge. Press the bottom into placeuntil the entire rim of the band is slightly

above the surface.When the bottom is pressed firmly intoplace, lightly sand it level on the beltsander. Now you also have a good oppor-tunity to hide any gaps between the bot-tom and the band. First work some glueinto the gap, and then immediately sandthe bottom, either on the belt sander or byhand. The sanding dust will mix with theglue to form a filler that blends perfectlywith the box.

The bottom is held in place with square,wooden pegs (toothpicks) driven intopredrilled pilot holes. Pilot holes are in.dia. for the #0 and #1 boxes and in. dia.for #2 and larger boxes. Drill holes equal-ly spaced around the box, 2 in. to 3 in.apart, tap the pegs into the holes and snipoff the ends with diagonal cutters. You canthen sand the toothpicks flush or trimthem with a utility knife.

The top is made following the same pro-cedure as for the bottom. However, aloose-fitting top band can be snugged upby changing the shape of the top oval.Elongating the top oval will move theslack in the band to the ends of the oval,

causing the band to hug the box in themiddle for a positive friction fit.

Finish the boxShaker boxes can be painted, varnished oroiled. Before the mid-1800s, the Shakersusually painted their boxes. In later years,they varnished them. I use a clear lacqueron my boxes after hand-sanding the out-side with 120-grit paper. I first brush on asanding sealer, followed by a coat of lac-quer. Although many woodworkers likethe ease of application of an oil finish, Idon't like the odor that lingers for monthsinside the closed boxes. Lacquer and shel-lac also give the sharpest image to my fa-vorite bird's-eye maple tops.

John Wilson is a Shaker box maker, in-structor and supplier of parts, hardwareand related tools in Charlotte, Mich. Con-tact the author directly for details on class-es in your area or information on hiscomplete line of Shaker box supplies andinstructional material: The Home Shop,500 E. Broadway Highway, Charlotte,M ich . 48813 ; (5 17) 543-5 325 .

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Shaker Oval Boxes