Dovetail Boxes Gallery - Woodworking Masterclasses

Maple with nesting box

A small dovetail box in walnut with shellac and wax finishing. Replaces a tatty cardboard recipe holder

pine dovetail Pens and Letter Rack

Jewellery Box with Carved Lid by Greg Merritt

Pine with shellac and wax

Pine with shellac and wax

Pine with barn red milk paint, shellac and wax

Pine with soldier blue milk paint.

pine with shellac and wax

Dovetail box for my files & rasps: Sides in pine, Top, Bottom and insert tray in poplar. Stained, shellac and wax finish

A couple of Boxes made from clear Pine. The larger one has an Oak bottom and the smaller has Sapele banding top and bottom.

Dovetail box made with pine and cedar.

Dovetail and housing dado caddy.

A few different boxes sandpaper caddy, chisels, auger bits, and micrometer storage.

Dovetail box made with pine.

Music box made from Eastern Red (Aromatic) Cedar. Paul’s video on housing dados was very helpful in creating the inside divider wall.

A keepsake box for my granddaughter. Walnut re sawed to 1/2 stock with book matched top and bottom. Wipe on poly.

oak and mahogany PENCIL BOX

Sliding Lid Box Made of Dibetou made with mitered shoulder dovetails

Walnut. Shellac finish.

1/4″ poplar, finished with clear water based poly and wax.

Pencil Box in white oak with curly maple lid. Finished with shellac.

Dovetailed box in mahogany with white oak panel and trim.Shellac and wax finish.

A Single dovetail box in Pine and hard wood finish with lemon shelac

mahogany and african walnut jewelry box

My first woodworking dovetail project inspired by Paul’s videos :). Made of pine and finished with 2 coats of shellac

pencil box in red oak. Shellac and wax finish

oak and ash jewelry box

Pencil box in Scots Pine with simple linseed oil finish.

Box of different woods

pine[red deal] shellac & wax finish.

Dovetail Box

Pine base with red oak lid.

Aspen for lid,bottom and inlay sides from recycle bed legs(really don’t know what is that, just found on the street)

My sandpaper box could have been a lot better had fun though

Lidded dovetail box of spalted American Beech

Wife’ Birthday present – found some poplar that I liked the discoloration and matched (kinda) from front to side.

My first project i made using Paul Sellers techniques, it was a joy. Made the box from scraps i had in the workshop, not sure what they are. Maybe oak for the sides and Cedar for the base.

Box made from some scraps of wood.

Red Alder Chisel Tray, finished with 1 coat of Boiled Linseed Oil, 3 coats of shellac, and waxed/Buffed.

Pencil Box for Daughter’s 1st day of 1st grade. Poplar. Zinsser Shellac (Amber) and Beeswax

Made from pine. Had heaps of fun making this box.

Dovetail Box for holding a bottle of wine. Made from Padauk, hand carved lid, finished with 3 coats of shellac topped with wax.

Wood boxes that Paul details in his book.

Made this box for my chisels out of standard white wood from Wickes.

Simple Dove Tail Box

Pine box to hold my Record 043 plane

I had some pine with some clear runs in it. So I cut the lengths in between the knots. The box came out about 11 x 9.5″ with base/lid 3/4″ wider and longer. The overall height is 5.5″.

Sapele and Magnolia box (check out the “Shove tail” on the back left of the box. Complete mistake! It glued together well and I went with it. Live and learn! It was fun!

Cherry wood with a book matched bottom. 3rd box made after watching the videos. Dovetails are getting a little better and tighter now.

Three Cherry boxes. The two smaller boxes fit inside the larger one.

My first two hand tool projects ever.

Sliding lid dovetail box from light paulownia wood, shellac and wax finish

Sandpaper Caddy in Oak with linseed oil finish.

Sliding lid dovetailed box. Maple with a poplar bottom. Finished with two coats of BLO before waxing.

pine dovetail caddy for 6 sandpaper grits

A little square dovetail box. This is my first attempt to realize dovetails. The lid has no hinges. I’ve used pine wood to make the box. The wood is cheap laminated wood (generally I wonder if laminated wood is suitable for wood joints). To finish the box I’ve used a simple technique (scratched acrylic paint and brown wax) to obtain an “aged wood” effect.

Ash box with fielded panel lid and a tray inside Mahogany and Oak star shellack finish.

Pencil box in pine and oak.

Poplar & toung oil – just because now I can. Thanks Paul.

a small chest in oak, birch and walnut

small oak and maple dovetail box with a purple-heart handle

Proud to say that after rough milling this project was built entirely by hand. I used leftover oak for the box and bottom. For the top I use a small piece of tiger maple. I don’t yet own a gouge, so I put a small nub on the end of the lid to assist opening. I also used tiny, 1/8″ magnets to keep the lid closed as I don’t like how easy it was for it to fall open. This was a gift for my daughter and a great little project. I was astonished at how well the dovetails fit after following along with Paul’s videos. I’m still slow at it and had to do some paring but the results are above my expectations! Finished with shellac and wax.

Tool box to house my No.7roughter made with pine and mahogany.

Walnut and claro walnut pencil box

Jewellery Box made from Oak.

Made all by hand. Bought 3/4 EYP (bowed) stock. I used a 043, handplanes, saws and chisels to make it. Plugged the 1/8″ grooves for the bottom with padauk. You can make a good project with only hand tools.

Maple with nesting box

Dovetail jewelry box made from scrap merbau decking wood.

Fitted lid dovetail with rosewood and white oak. Finished with clear shellac and wax

Eight shaker-style dovetail boxes made as Christmas (2015) gifts for family. Made from eastern white pine and finished with shellac and wax. I dabbled with orange shellac on two of the boxes.

Mohogany dovetail box

Built from rough 4/4 stock as continuous demonstration during Lie-Nielsen Handtool Event. Mansonia wood (African Walnut).

Walnut, basswood top; chip carved and woodburnt, half-blind tails, shellac finish

Dovetailed playing card box made from beech and walnut

Walnut and Curly cherry with a shellac finish

Curly Maple box. Thanks to P.S

Mahogany and bird’s eye maple pencil box with purple heart pull.

walnut and oak

My Dovetail Jewelry Box Before Staining (No Power Tools Used) Poplar and Oak

American Oak and Poplar Dovetail Jewelry Box (My first woodworking project) No Power Tools. I studied Paul’s tutorials over the past four months. Prepared my tools and learned to sharpen everything. One day, I was watching the dovetail box videos and started to build one with oak and poplar. As I was moving forward, I realized it would make a fantastic jewlery box for my wife. I probably messed up my dovetails at least 12 times. So, I just kept starting over until I completed everything. I’ll upload a picture without the stain just after this. Paul, thank you so very much for your video mentoring. My father and I always wanted to do these types of projects together. Sadly, he passed away 3 years ago before we had the chance. Now, I’ll do them with my children, thinking of him, with your guidance. Thank you so very much. – Bob Yeager

Dovetail stackable jewellery boxes I by Michael Thompson

Constructed of Spruce with a staining Danish Oil finish for an older look. Picture shows them stacked.

Dovetail stackable jewellery boxes II by Michael Thompson

Constructed of Spruce with a staining Danish Oil finish for an older look. Picture shows them staggered.

Cherry and Walnut

Pine dovetail box for storing hard drive, both as birthday gift for girlfriend. The curly letter was cut out with a coping saw. I chose a shellac finish.

Various dovetail boxes of walnut, pine, cherry, and redwood. Making lots of them to gain practice.

Sapele and African Mahogany with holly, purple heart and ebony stringing line and berry. Made to hold a dear friend’s ashes after his battle with cancer.

Small box made of oak. Shellac finish.

Red Oak Box

Chisel box made out of mahogany-like pallet wood

Made out of pine for nephews

….could not resist to brag a little about my produce, made out of pine no finish applied yet

Walnut Bible Box

Poplar chisel box with lid

The chisel box is my best effort so far with dovetails. It’s made from poplar and finished with natural Watco oil.

Conforming to the nonconformist tradition of including “intentional” mistakes… My boxes made of pallet wood (?) finished with propolis and beeswax with a little decoration. In the small one I hid the grooves behind the pins at the end of the box. Thank you Paul.

I used eastern European pine and finished with shellac. Thank you very much for all the knowledge and inspiration.

Sliding top dovetail box. Pine and amber shellac/wax

Walnut, finished with wiping varnish. This is a take on the open top dovetail box, modified with a lower opening for iPad, a clamp on rear to attach to music stand, and giftee’s initials and bass clef symbol carved on bottom. To be used to hold small items during practice sessions.