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How to Make a Seed Box

Kevin Alviti makes a simple storage box with carved detail

Wooden seed box filled with various seed packets.

Being organised in the workshop is one thing, I’m really proud of how well set up my workshop is, everything is in its own storage box and grouped together. But my garden shed always needs a bit more organisation, especially when it comes to seeds. This isn’t helped by the fact I’m an avid seed saver and collector. Seeds are an essential part of how we live on our smallholding and the fact we’re always striving for self-sufficiency (and never quite getting there) so we end up storing quite a few.

Each year I also grow seeds for our local seed swap and help run the event in the local city of Hereford. And every year, I come back with new and interesting varieties to try. I also seed swap with people from around the world, having seeds sent to me from Eastern Europe and America. So, I really felt like it was time todo my seeds justice and make them some storage that they were worthy of – they do help provide a lot of food for my family after all!

I decided to make this simple seed box from softwood and plywood. This gives it a nice look but also makes it fairly low cost. Now I’m sure I don’t need to say that not all wood is created equal. I have ‘unsorted redwood’ come as a delivery every other week to my workshop to make the items I sell. I get these as sawn boards and as I’ve ordered them in, I don’t get to pick through the shelf to select just the good stuff. What I do is grade the boards as I take them and save the best (with the least amounts of knots or defects) and use them where they will be seen the most.

Wooden seed storage box with lock.

When you’re buying the wood for this project, I’d recommend you spend a bit of time looking for the right boards, especially where the carving is going to be. Try to go to a timber merchant rather than a DIY shop if possible – good timber makes everything easier. Using a softwood isn’t ideal for carving the lettering, it might be worth practising first on a piece to see how you like it. A harder wood like oak would possibly be easier as it accepts detail well.

You will need

Materials:

• 1.5m of 200 x 20mm good quality timber • 2 x 300 x 400mm 9mm ply
• 1 x 18 x 60 x 276mm pine
• 2 x No. 50mm butt hinges

• 1 x catch

Tools:

• Mitre saw (optional)
• Planer thicknesser (optional) • Router table (optional)Sander (optional)
• Palm router (optional)
• Hand saw
• Carpenter’s chisels
• Mallet
• Double-bevel straight chisel (ideally a few sizes but I used a 13mm quite comfortably)
• No.6 gouge, 13mm
• No.6 gouge, 20mm
• No.6 gouge, 30mm
• No.3 gouge, 13mm (fishtail would be better) • Skew chisel

Labeled seed box dimensions and construction details.

Making the box

Wood plank clamped in a woodworking vise.
1. Select a good board for the box. Make sure that at least the front is free of knots to allow for the carving later
Close-up of wood being cut by a saw.
2. Plane the board’s surface and edges to make them square. This is essential with a project like this. If you don’t own an electric jointer, this is a great project for a sharp No.7 plane
Woodworking tool smoothing wooden plank in workshop.
3. Rip the board to width. Obviously, this can be done before planing the first two sides, depending on how rough sawn your boards are, but sometimes it’s easier to run the boards through the saw with two smooth faces. I ripped mine to 205mm to allow 5mm to be planed off in the thicknesser
Woodworking planer processing a wooden board in workshop.
4. Thickness the boards. I finished mine at 20mm but 18mm is also fine if you’re buying ready planed boards. If you buy ready planed boards, make sure they are planed square and they are as flat as possible. Cut all the pieces to length. Make sure these cuts are square
Close-up of woodworking router cutting a wooden plank.
5. Set a router table to rebate the timber for the base and the top. I used 9mm ply so I set it for that thickness and then made the rebate half the depth of the timber. Use the largest diameter bit you can, to prevent it splintering as you push it through the table. Push sticks and sprung clamps help to keep things safe and keep your fingers away from the business end
Woodworking: Wood being cut on a table saw.
6. The front and back need rebating to accept the sides. When routing these, it’s essential to have a sacrificial strip tight against the end to prevent tear-out as it’s end grain. It’s also essential to have a sharp router bit
Wooden box on a workbench.
7. Loosely assemble the box and decide which side will be the front and top, etc., and mark them accordingly
Hand cutting wood with a utility knife.
8. Have the divider to separate up the seed box ready to hand. I used some spare 18mm pine. To create the housing for this divider I decided to simply use the router free hand and then tidy up the side with a chisel. I marked round the divider with a Stanley knife, the knife cut then gives a place for the chisel to start once the bulk of the waste has been routed out
Close-up of woodworking router in use on wood.
9. Carefully, using a palm router, remove the waste for the housing joint for the divider. This only needs to be about 5mm deep, keep slightly back from your line and then tidy it up with a chisel

Carving the lettering

Sign reading "SEEDS" on wooden background.
10. Now for the fun bit – carving the words out. I printed mine out from the computer and then positioned them with the hardware to make sure everything was spaced correctly. I also marked where the cut will be for the lid, at 40mm down from the top. I put a fold in the paper of the template and have marks to show where the edges of the paper will go to make aligning easier once everything is covered with adhesive
Spraying wooden board with aerosol paint in workshop.
11. Use a photo mount adhesive to stick the paper down to the wood. Not all spray adhesives are the same and the first time I used this method I used one that did not come off easily and I spent as much time removing the paper as I did carving! Not fun at all
Hand using chisel on EDS stencil.
12. Simple lettering like this isn’t too difficult. Start by marking halfway in each letter with a chisel and strike that in. A carpenter’s chisel can be used for this bit but a double-bevelled straight edge carving chisel is the ideal tool as it provides so much more control
Hand carving wooden letters with a chisel.
13. Now using a double-bevelled straight chisel work from the outside of the letters to the middle at a 60° angle (roughly – although it can be worth making a gauge out of an offcut to see if it’s somewhere near, if you struggle to keep the angle consistent). Do this from both sides and it should be easy to remove the waste. My chisel is a bit short for this so I make an incision then a long slicing cut to the whole length, making sure the corner runs up the middle of the letter where the line was struck in step 12
Wood carving of letters with a chisel.
14. Once the large easy straight sections are removed, start splitting the other straight sections of the writing down the middle. Here I used the double-bevelled chisel again and light taps from the mallet. The letter ‘E’ is the perfect letter to practise on and get your ‘eye in’ before carving the other letters
Hand carving text into wood with a chisel tool.
15. Also split the serifs with tapering cuts so when it’s finished the end of the letter will slope in three directions here. Serifs are your friend when it comes to carving lettering, they provide an easy way to finish the ends of the characters
Hand carving letters into wood.
16. Using the corner of a shallow No.3 gouge, cut in the curves of the serifs to the mid-point. In all honesty, I could have done with a fishtail gouge here so it’s one I need to purchase – no matter how many carving chisels you have there will always be more needed! Use the double-bevelled straight chisels for the straight parts and remove the waste. Clean the carving as you go so there is no fiddly bits to come back to
Hand carving wood text with a chisel.
17. Now do the same for the curved letters. Try to find chisels to match the curve, especially when creating the centre line. Then use slicing cuts to remove the waste with a shallow gouge, taking care not to remove too much wood past what is marked on the paper. For the ‘S’ you will need multiple chisels to create the curves
Woodworker carving and polishing engraved wooden sign.
18. The paper is easy to remove with the application of white spirits on a rag. This is also the first time you’ll get to see what your carving really looks like. Any touching up needed is best done now, but remember it is hand carved and doesn’t need to look like it came off a CNC machine. Aim for perfectly imperfect and it should be just right!

Assembling the box

Applying wood glue with brush on wood joint.
19. Apply a good-quality glue to all the side rebates, making sure it is spread evenly
Woodworking project constructing a wooden box with clamps.
20. Clamp the box together. Use some scraps if you’re worried the clamps will mark your work (this is best practice). Alternatively, you can just pin the piece together using 18g brads, but take care not to place anywhere you might cut them when you saw the lid off. Make sure it’s all tight joints but also that it is still square, check the diagonals with a tape measure or rod
Marking wood for cutting with a pencil.
21. Make sure the box is square and then cut the plywood top and bottom. Sometimes this is easier to do by taking marks straight from the box. Close one eye and line through where it will finish and put a pencil mark. Use a tracksaw or tablesaw to cut it accurately and cleanly
Nailing wood with nail gun and wood glue.
22. Then use 18g brads and glue to fix the top and bottom to the box. Fix one side first and use a wet rag to remove any excess, this obviously isn’t possible when the second piece is fixed. Make sure the brads used aren’t going to interfere with cutting the lid from the box, limit them to 30mm long
Woodworker using handsaw to cut wooden box in workshop.
23. Once the glue is dry it’s time to cut the lid from the box. Mark completely around the box, making sure the lines meet back up. Then find a good position to saw. I prefer to saw on sawhorses as I find it easier to saw lower down and use my knee as a clamp, but it might be easier for some to saw at the bench using a vice to hold it. Saw using a panel saw, keep the angle low and try to saw over a corner, keeping the saw in line with both sides and it should keep straight. Then rotate the box and continue sawing
Carpenter measuring wood, aligning hinge with utility knife.
24. Plane and sand the inside edges to remove the saw marks then, making sure you have the lid and the base the way round they came off (so they match), it’s time to add some hinges. Position the hinges 50mm in from both sides and then mark their position using a knife so they will line up. Mark round the hinge with a knife
Attaching a hinge to a wooden box tool.
25. Use a depth gauge to mark how deep the hinges needed to be cut, in this case the same depth as the thickness of the hinge as when closed there is just enough gap between the leaves of the hinge to let the box close properly
Chiseling dovetail joints in a wooden board.
26. Using a chisel, strike round the outside, then make some relief feathered cuts with a chisel and mallet and clean out the waste with just hand pressure on the chisel. This could also be done easily with a palm router and tidy the edges out with a chisel. Install the hinges, being careful to pilot the holes for the screws and getting them centred in the holes
Wooden seed box with a metal latch.
27. Once the hinges are installed, add the catch on the front. Then remove this and the ironmongery and give the piece a final sanding to your preferred grit – I went to 180g – taking care to remove any layout lines that were on the box
Hand polishing carved wood with gloves and cloth.
28. Finish the piece with your preferred method. For this box I used two coats of Danish oil applied with a cotton rag. For each layer, I applied it thinly and rubbed it hard into the wood, I then left it for 15 minutes and wiped off the excess, then left it for eight hours to dry. It might be necessary to knock it down with some iron wool between coats if it’s left feeling a little rough
Wooden seed box in garden shed with tools and pots.

Further reading

https://woodworkersinstitute.com/how-to-build-a-box-using-hand-tools-2/

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