Peter Follansbee, joiner's notes

I’ve made several carved boxes in the past couple of months – and now they’re ready to wend their way out of here. This first one is an old-standby.

Carved oak box, pine lid & bottom

carved box, oak & pine, Sept 2025 PF

It’s one I’ve carved often – from the first group of joined furniture I ever studied – the works of the Savell family in Braintree, Massachusetts between 1640-1700.

front view

Interior till – wooden cleat/pintle hinges – this is one place where mine deviate from the originals – I adopted the wooden hinge from an unrelated box.

end view, showing cleat/hinge

H: 7 1/4” W: 22” D: 14”

The price is $1,500 plus shipping in US. If we use paypal, I’ll add their fee to the price for a total of $1,555. Otherwise, a check in the mail. If you have questions or would like to purchase the box, email me at PeterFollansbee7@gmail.com

Often people are surprised at the mixture of oak & pine, especially on the brand-new box. I remind them that use, light, polishing and handling will quickly darken the pine top & bottom. Here’s a photo I’ve used many times to show a new box on the left and a 15-year-old box on the right. We used it a lot, dusted & polished it a few times a year and let the light from the windows do the rest:

both boxes are oak with pine tops & bottoms

………………………….

Box with a drawer, oak, sycamore & pine

Every now and then I like to tackle something a bit more complex – this box-with-a-drawer is one I’ve tried a couple of times before. I changed one or two things this time but it’s a pretty close copy of one by Thomas Dennis in Ipswich, Massachusetts between 1660-1706.

PF box w drawer, Sept 2025; red oak, pine, sycamore & maple

It’s big – it pretty much has to be with the drawer added. H: 14” W: 23 1/2” D: 18”.

All the oak is riven, quartered – in the usual period manner. The lid is quartersawn American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) – the original used sycamore, but flatsawn- it has a large split down the middle. I glued up two quartersawn boards to get my lid.

detail lid & front

The figure on it is wild & subtle at the same time. The sort of thing that catches your eye now & then when the light hits it right, then other times you barely notice it.

The drawer is all riven oak – the sides meet the drawer front with a sliding dovetail. Bottom boards are thin, edges meet with a small tongue & groove. No drawer pull, you open the drawer using those “glyphs” attached at the ends of the drawer front.

oak drawer

Inside the box is a lidded till – and the box lid hinged with iron gimmals/snipebills.

till inside

It’s available – $3,000 plus shipping. Email me if you have questions or would like to order this special box – it’ll be a long time before I do one like it again.

Finish is a couple of coats of thinned linseed oil. More photos in the gallery below.

……………….

Carved box, carved lid. Dovetailed….etc

One more. This one a bit different – dovetailed for one thing. No oak showing for another. Spanish cedar & some sort of mahogany. New for me…

I thought I was making this box from leftover pieces of Spanish cedar (cedrela odorata) – but once I had the box made, I had to buy some more wood for the lid and base. And then I realized my leftover board wasn’t just some “dark” cedar, it’s some type of mahogany.

front view

Cedrela is related to mahogany – they’re both in the family, Meliaceae. I’ve now told you almost all I know about cedrela and absolutely ALL I know about mahogany. I do know I’ve never knowingly bought any mahogany. I don’t know where I got the wood the box-body is made from.

But except for the two-tone look, I’m very happy with the box. It’s based on one I’ve only seen in photographs – a dovetailed box with a strapwork pattern on the front, sides & lid. The top edges of the dovetails are mitered – the first time I’ve done that detail.

mitered dovetails

I made a base molding to wrap around the bottom edges of the box. The snipe/gimmal hinges are blacksmith-made, from Horton Brasses. Lidded till inside. Finished with linseed oil.

open, showing the till & hinges

Here’s the specs:

H: 7” W: 22 1/8” D: 14 3/4”
price is $2,600 including shipping in US.

Email me at PeterFollansbee7@gmail.com if you’d like to purchase this box…you’ll have to dust the lid…

carved lid

A post about a carved chest and box for sale. But first, a detour to Elia Bizarri’s site – he’s put his pandemic videos he made with a bunch of us on sale for the weekend. Half-price. Dave Fisher, Curtis Buchanan, Jane Mickelborough and me. Get ’em here https://handtoolwoodworking.com/spoon-carving-videos/

……………….

The other day my son Daniel & I emptied much of the shop:

it was so we could photograph the chest with drawers I made…

The chest is one I’ve mentioned over on the substack site- made 2017/18, delivered and never used, never even displayed. Sat in storage until I bought it back this spring/summer.

It’s featured in my book with Lost Art Press – Joiner’s Work. The chapter about making drawers and the section showing how I fit a lock to a piece like this. https://lostartpress.com/collections/joinery/products/joiners-work

It’s based on one I saw at Historic Deerfield years ago. The original was made either in Windsor or Wethersfield, Connecticut in the 2nd half of the 17th century. Mine follows the original pretty closely – my triangular corner plaques are walnut, I think the originals were oak. I don’t remember off the top of my head what the original moldings were, mine are Atlantic white cedar.

There’s a lock & escutcheon with two keys, made by Peter Ross, a favorite blacksmith.

The chest is not small – H: 40″ W: 47 1/4″ D: 22″. It’s available for purchase. Email me at PeterFollansbee7@gmail.com if you’d like to discuss it. Here’s a gallery of the rest of the recent photos.

side panel rear section open lidded till top drawer detail side hung drawer interior escutcheon & key end view front view center panel

………………………..

The other piece is a recent carved box w/carved lid.

Made with a Spanish cedar lid and base molding with what I thought was a Spanish cedar body – but is probably a type of mahogany. Iron hinges. Mitered dovetailed corners, based on an English box from Exeter, Devon. Lidded till inside.

another gallery:

H: 7” W: 22 1/8” D: 14 3/4”
price is $2,600 including shipping in US.

Email me at PeterFollansbee7@gmail.com if you’d like to purchase this box…you’ll have to dust the lid…