Taco Tuesday Gift Box

A coworker of mine asked me to make a wood gift box for her to give to a friend. She showed me a picture of one that she liked but could not get in time for the party. It is a really simple simple box to build and decorate. She wanted it rustic looking to add to the theme.

1 x 6 pine boards

Thin plywood

Nails

Wood Glue

Table Saw

The box is made using boards cut to length then Glued and nailed together. The dado, the slot at the top and bottom is achieved by setting the saw height to 1/4 inch deep and making multiple passes while adjusting the fence. This allows you to nibble away the wood until you get the appropriate size for your top and bottom plate. One end of the box is cut to the height of the bottom edge of the dado so the top can slide in. A small piece of wood is then added to the top plate to complete the lip all the way around and also serves as a handle to open the box. I always join the front, back and one side in order to get the best measurement for the top and bottom plate. I cut these to size then slide the bottom in before gluing and nailing the last side on.

I happen to own a Glowforge laser cutter, a great tool to engrave designs into wood as well as other materials. I designed the Taco Tuesday image using Illustrator and saved it as a SVG. This was imported into my Glowforge dashboard and used to engrave the design onto the front and back board prior to construction.