BOOK REVIEW: Complete Starter Guide to Making Wooden Boxes

Title: Complete Starter Guide to Making Wooden Boxes
Author: Albert Kleine
Published by: Fox Chapel Publishing
Published: 2025
Softcover
Pages: 152
Cost: US$24.99

This book certainly ticks a few boxes, pun intended. Learn by doing. Tick. Start small, keep material costs down. Tick. Beginner level only skills required. Tick. Projects for a range of useful items. Tick. Don’t need every machine and power tool under the sun. Tick.

For woodworkers who are still on their L-plates, US author Albert Kleine has really hit the nail on the head with his new book. Kleine’s explanations mirror his own journey. Largely self-taught, focusing on boxes allowed him to explore and develop a range of techniques. Making Wooden Boxes presents a range of projects which build in difficulty, adding techniques along the way.

In the introductory chapters, starting out information covers safety, understanding the basics of wood, adhesives and finishes. Hand tools, machines, jigs are introduced and instructions for making shooting boards are given. Basic joins are next explained, all with copious photos. This preliminary section of the book is now a reference point for the projects which follow.

Each project shows the completed piece along with cut and materials lists. Step-by-step photos and text then take you through processes in numbered sequences.

As mentioned, the level of difficulty builds throughout. A ‘Skill Building’ note at the start of each project notes the techniques which will be next added to the maker’s proverbial toolkit.

Follow the book through and you’ll commence with a simple butt joined box with a lift-off lid, and progress through to a miniature dovetailed chest with a drawer and hinged lid.

There are ten projects in all which require a range of skills to complete. With this ‘starter guide’ you can learn the basics of joinery, woodturning, bandsaw box making, marquetry and more.

This book is a great resource for beginners and for woodwork teachers.