My mom wanted to give a unique bridal-shower gift to my fiancé (now wife). She picked out a couple of my favorite family recipes and laminated them on colored paper. She then asked me to make a nice box for the recipes.After perusing around, I found that reasonably priced recipe boxes were sub-par in both design and quality. I am picky about both when it involves something I have to live with.

I decided to design something myself.

The sliding portion of roll-top desks has always interested me, so I decided to start with that idea for the lid. I like the strength of oak, yet I didn’t want the recipe box to be heavy block of wood. To solve this I just had to use the right joint for each of the sides. This way I could use thin pieces of wood for the whole box.

With this recipe box I took a backwards approach for the design. I had no drawn plan to start (which is out of the norm for me). I cut the wood to fit the sizes that were needed. I glued the box together after I finally got the base pieces to fit together.

I pieced together the lid starting with the top. I had to sand down the sides gradually until they fit perfectly with the top. The sides of the main box needed their own sanding to fit perfectly with the curved part of the top.

Early American stain is my go-to finishing stain and I decided to finish the recipe box with tung oil. I love the natural, hand finished style of tung oil.

My fiancé loved the recipe box, and now we both love it as a functional and useful kitchen accessory.