I needed a box to store small (cut up pallet) sized pieces of wood to burn in my wood stove. My chimney has an area for wood storage built into it. I had previously made a wooden insert to organize the space but there still was not enough room for kindling. So I decided to build a custom wooden box to resemble one of the old soda box crates I had seen in antique stores. I knew I did not want any screws to show on the outside and I also needed a space to store a bellow and fireplace gloves.

Step 1: The Space, Materials, and Assembly

I don't have many pictures from this part of the project but in the picture you can get the idea of how it all went together.

I measured the space where the box would sit and decided on the height. I chose to use a 16 ft piece of 1 x 6 pine from Lowe's. Using my miter saw I cut the pieces to the length I needed. I then decided I wanted 2 sides of the box to have 4 slats and the other 2 sides to have 6 slats. I milled the 1 x 6 into 4 and 6 equal width pieces. Next I laid out all of the pieces for each side and attached scrap strips of wood using screws to form 4 panels. I also found a scrap piece of ply wood and cut that to size to make the divider for the glove/bellow space. I then took the two 4 panel sides to the drill press where I drilled 5 holes using a fostner bit to cut out the handle holes. I chipped away the excess using a chisel and mallet.

Finally I attached all of the pieces together to form the box and screwed it together from the inside.

Step 2: Stain

I sanded all sides with a random orbital sander at 240 grit and then stained the entire box both inside and out. After applying the stain I wiped it off with a rag to remove the excess stain.

Step 3: Embelishment

The wife thought the box needed something and suggested the initial of our last name. I printed out the letter in the size and font I liked and cut the paper out. I then traced the paper letter on a piece of copper I had lying around.

Step 4: The Letter

I then cut the copper letter using my band saw. I also used a grinding wheel and sander to clean up the rough edges from the cutting process. I then used the polishing wheels and a dremel tool to buff the copper to a nice shine.

Step 5: The Finished Project

I drilled holes in the copper letter where I wanted them. I laid the letter out on the box and attached it using small copper nails. The pictures show it up close and in place on our hearth.