Its that time of year again: HOLIDAY PROJECT TIME! So this year, I decided to make a few little keepsake boxes, thanks to some advice from The Great WOODini. I also took inspiration from a box Nicole keeps on her nightstand and developed a new design that is much more practical for the average woodworker to make. The boxes feature a secret locking pin. Once removed, the lid slides off on a sliding dovetail. And as always with these holiday gift projects, you can modify them by trying different sizes, shapes, and wood species to make your own one-of-a-kind box. And since they are so easy to make, its no problem batching out a bunch of them in a single weekend. If you decide to make some, please send me pics of your variations.

Topics Covered:

• Creating sliding dovetails
• Using a dowel-centering pin to locate holes
• Cutting a recess with a pattern bit
• Sanding end-grain

Circle Templates – $32.99 This template set has been incredibly useful for numerous projects including these keepsake boxes and the Contemporary Clock Project from last year.

GRR-Ripper Adjustable Push Block – $59.99 The GRR-Ripper is the fancy push block you see me using in this video. Incredibly useful and gives you ultimate control of the workpiece!

As you can see, there’s a secret peg lock. Once you find it and lift it out, the lid slides off on a sliding dovetail revealing the contents. Believe it or not, I made this in just a few hours in the shop. So this is a very quick project that would be perfect for the holidays. Think I should do a full episode on it?