Pennsylvania Spice Box

Holy cow! What’s behind the door is sometimes a surprise. Here the eye-catching drawer fronts are selected for striking grain, but there are other surprises hidden within. Can you see them?

Behind a distinctive double-arched door are unknowns and secrets.

While surfing the Internet for examples of spice boxes, I stumbled upon an antique box with a distinctive door. While I’m familiar with arched-door boxes, a double-arched door, at least to my knowledge, is something not often seen.

Information beyond the basic dimensions of the original box plus a determination that the piece dated to around 1770 (establishing it as Queen Anne in period), was not to be found. I contacted a reliable source to see what could be dug up. Again, not much to go on – but I did receive information on when the box was sold at auction. The final hammer price in a 2008 Sotheby’s auction was $20,000. Nice.

Unfortunately, the auction catalog included no photos of, or written information about, the interior of the box – I would have to make an educated guess as to the arrangement of small drawers behind the door. (I decided to go with a common drawer arrangement.) Also, there was no mention of secret compartments in the antique box, but spice boxes need a couple extra hiding places. It’s the right thing to do.

Spice boxes have captured my attention for many years. When I discover a new box, I immediately, as plans develop in my mind, get the urge to build my version. With all the great features stuffed into this box, who could keep from going directly into the shop?

Video: See how to size the drawer parts from the drawer fronts.
Online Extra: Click here for the Google SketchUp Model of the Spice Box.
In Our Store: Check out other projects featuring unique feet with “Make Great Legs & Feet Digital Edition.”

Cutlist and Diagrams

Laying the Foundation

As with most spice boxes, the prominent feature on this one is the door. You could easily begin construction there and build the box, drawers and feet around it. But I think it best to begin with the box itself – it’s easier to manipulate the door dimensions if need be.

The box sides, top and bottom are joined with dovetails, but because the mouldings match the top and bottom in thickness, regular dovetail joints could be seen in a finished box. In order to hide the dovetails (except when seen from above), create a 1⁄8” rabbet in the pin areas in both the top and bottom pieces. (Begin and end each layout with a half pin.) This step helps to square the carcase and the exposed dovetail joinery is then 5⁄8” – that’s easily covered with 3⁄4” mouldings. Cut your pins in the top and bottom pieces then form the rabbet. (I made rabbets using a table saw, but a router setup would work handily.)

After mating tails are made in the case sides, lay out and mark the locations for the horizontal shelves that divide the drawer banks. Accuracy is a must, so establish the shelf locations at the front edge of one side, then transfer the marks to the second side. Working at the front ensures that any small variations are pushed toward the back.

Rout stopped shelf dados using a 1⁄4“-diameter bit set to cut 1⁄4” deep, plus a simple shop-made jig as shown in the photo below. Don’t forget the two dados in the underside of the case top (use the plan to establish their locations). Before moving on, use a chisel to square the front edge of each dado.

Hit the brakes. A simple shop-made jig helps in cutting the shelf dados. Accurately hit the stopping point each time by marking where the router base stops on the jig.

The lock side of the case has a 3⁄16” rabbet to catch the door as it closes and the hinge side is rabbeted 1⁄8” for drawer clearance. The rabbets extend from the bottom edge of the case top to the top edge of the case bottom. Mark those points on the case sides then use a straightedge and pattern bit to cut away the waste. Finish the stopped rabbets using chisels to peel away the waste.

Power & hand. Assemble the box, mark the start and stop points for the door rabbet, then clean the bulk of the waste using a router. Chisels fine-tune the work.

To complete the work on the case pieces, cut a 7⁄16” x 3⁄4” rabbet in each side for the backboards, then create a 1⁄8” x 3⁄4” rabbet at the back edge of the top and bottom to hide the raw edge of the backboards and to level the transition created by the dovetail step.

Money-saving Feature

Shelves and vertical dividers are made from glued-up primary and secondary woods to save lumber and keep costs down. Mill extra material so you don’t have to run through the entire process a second time if necessary. Mill, assemble and bring to thickness all the material for the shelves and dividers. You want a snug fit to the routed dados, but the material also should slide in and out without binding. Prepare stock on the thick side, then sand or plane to achieve a perfect fit.

New mark. Divider dados stop 1⁄4″ short of the shelves. Use the same jig, but adjust the stop-cut mark.

All the dados in the shelves and dividers are 1⁄4” wide x 1⁄8” deep. To keep all the front edges aligned, dado lengths need to be changed. The dados end 1⁄4” before the mating part’s front edge. This holds true for the remaining dados, so find the new stopping point and mark it on the jig.

Lay out, mark, then cut dados in the shelves for the dividers making sure to keep the dividers square to the shelves. (Again, accuracy is key.) I find it best to lay out and cut the divider locations for one shelf, then slip the shelf into the case to locate the matching dados. (A secret compartment fits in the second level from the top, so there is no dado cut between the top and second shelves.)

With the dados cut in the shelves, cut the dividers to length and slip them into the appropriate dados. The four small drawers that surround the center drawer require shelves that fit between the case sides and the vertical dividers on either side of the larger drawer. To correctly locate those dados, flip the assembly onto one side and use the combination square as before. Cut and fit the small shelves in place then square the ends of all the dados.

Accuracy is a must. Keeping dividers square to the shelf is best done using a combination square. Align the square’s base to pinpoint the opposite dado.

The shelves fit tight to the squared ends of the dados, but the dividers are notched at the front edge to slip over the dado and align with the shelf fronts. Slip the divider into position then mark the exact cut. Trim the notches with a handsaw then test the fit.

Double-duty. Use the point of a chisel to scribe an exact cutline – the scribe also helps locate your handsaw for the cut.

The Secret’s Out

A single divider that is part of the secret compartment divides the second row. Just 3⁄4” in from the back edge of the divider sits the false back – what you see when the drawers are pulled from the case. The two are joined with an egg-crate joint, so fit that joint first in case it takes a couple shots to get things right. The ends of the secret compartment are rabbeted to slip into 1⁄8” dados cut in the false back and secret back. Those ends also rest on the secret compartment’s bottom that is sandwiched between the backs. To solidify the assembly, add a couple tiny glue blocks inside the compartment where the divider meets the two backs.

One Bit, Two Steps Profile

The upper and lower mouldings are identical. There is no bit profile that duplicates the moulding, but if you pull the bearing from a classical router bit you can maximize the bit’s cut to complete the profile in two steps if you reposition the fence and adjust the bit height. Work on wide stock then rip the final moulding to width.

More for the money. Additional cutting surface beneath a bearing is valuable real estate and required to gain the needed profile.

Second position. After a height change and fence adjustment, the profile is complete using a portion of the bit.

Begin by milling your stock to thickness. Chuck the bit into a router table, then remove the bearing. Position the fence to use the entire cutting surface of the router bit as shown in the photo above left. Don’t worry about any burning that comes as the material rubs the non-cutting edge of the bit because it’s removed in the next step. Run this cut on all your moulding stock. It’s a good idea to run extra moulding because the exact settings are difficult to duplicate if you should make a mistake along the way.

To complete the mouldings, raise the bit and reposition the fence so the roundover part of the bit cuts just at the end of the cove’s radius from the first pass, as shown to the left. Rip the moulding at 3⁄4“.

On the level. To keep mouldings aligned, work with the box and mouldings placed directly on the bench. Remember: Mouldings attach to the box, not to the bench.

Adding mouldings to the box is simple, but before getting to that, sand the dovetailed area of the box to #180 grit. (Once you attach the mouldings, you won’t be able to get into that area again.) Where the mouldings meet at the front, the ends are mitered. Cuts at the back are square. The front piece is glued and affixed to the box with 23-gauge pins. The sides are attached using glue for the first 3″ then pinned – four pins over the entire length. To keep glue squeeze-out at bay, make a 1⁄16“-deep table saw cut along the back of the moulding close to the top edge. Excess glue is captured in the relief cut.

Band-sawn Feet

Due to limited cutting height at my band saw – I have yet to install a riser block – I learned to make ogee bracket feet using a table saw. However, with feet the size needed for this project, the band saw is the perfect machine to use.

The spice box uses two pair of profiled feet joined with through-splines at each front corner, and at each back corner you need a rear foot that’s dovetailed into an ogee bracket foot. These assemblies are attached directly to the bottom moulding (rear feet sit fully under the case bottom). Glue blocks attach behind the feet and under the corner of the case to carry the load.

Mitered or dovetailed. Spice box feet begin with a good pattern. Leave a portion of the spur hole intact so you can easily define the exact drill location on each foot.

Step one is to develop a pattern. You can use the foot provided in the plans or create your own design, but you should make a pattern on plywood or hardboard to be used multiple times.

Next, prepare your foot stock. Set aside the pieces for the rear feet, then with your saw blade tipped to 45º, miter the ends of the front feet pieces. (You could easily use a miter saw for this step, but to form a spline slot it’s best to use your table saw.) Adjust your setup so the angled blade is cutting into the miter cut on the stock as shown below, then cut the slots. 

Set to 45º. Hold the 1⁄8″-wide x 1⁄4″-deep slot just off the back of the stock or you could expose the spline as you profile the feet.

Transfer the pattern onto the stock holding tight to the mitered ends. Mark the centerpoint of the hole used to create the spur, then drill the 3⁄4“-diameter hole in all six foot patterns. Cut the remaining pattern lines at the band saw, then smooth your cut edges. (I used a spindle sander.)

Set to 45º. Hold the 1⁄8″-wide x 1⁄4″-deep slot just off the back of the stock or you could expose the spline as you profile the feet.

Create a spline to match your slot – this is a great place to use small plywood cutoffs – then glue and assemble the front pairs. A couple spring clamps hold things in place as the glue dries.

The rear feet are joined with dovetails. Cut the pins in the ogee feet and the tails in the secondary feet. Make the joinery loose or you’ll damage the feet as you drive the tail board home. When your pins and tails are mated, glue and assemble these pairs, too.

Scrap jig. I raided the scrap bin to build a jig to hold the feet for band saw shaping. The wider pieces at the bottom help stabilize it as you cut.

To shape the ogee portion of the feet, you’ll need a simple jig that holds the assembly as you cut. Build a holder from shop scraps – two pieces of 11⁄2” x 11⁄2” x 8″ screwed together with an offset that allows enough room for a spring clamp to hold the feet as you cut, with a wider piece of 1⁄4” stock added for a more stable base.

Magical cutline. As a front foot is sawn to an ogee profile layout line, a cutline for the profile on the second foot appears.

The assembled foot faces have the ogee profile drawn at both mitered ends. Position and secure the feet at the end of your jig with one foot hanging parallel to the band saw blade. Carefully saw the profile, remembering that any rough cuts need to be smoothed. Reverse the feet to cut the second ogee profile. There is no pattern line to cut to on the second foot, but there is a cutline. As you cut the first profile, the miter establishes the second cutline. Complete the ogee profiles on both front foot assemblies. The rear foot assemblies need only be cut on one face.

Clean and smooth the ogee profiles. I use my spindle sander for the majority of this work, but files and rasps also work. With the feet smoothed, attach them to the box so the flat area at the top of the finished foot aligns with the edge of your mouldings. A 23-gauge pin holds the assemblies in place as the glue dries. Small blocks are added for additional support and to carry the load – one block fits behind the miter and two blocks secure the feet to the moulding and case. Each block is pinned. 

Drawers Show it All

These small drawers present two of the most common 18th-century drawer construction techniques found in period work. While all the drawers have half-blind dovetails at the front and through-dovetails at the back, the small drawers have the bottoms attached directly to the drawer boxes. Larger drawer bottoms are beveled on three sides to slide into 1⁄4” grooves in the drawer sides and front, also a method used in period work. The change in construction, in this case, allows for the second secret compartment.

It’s not a secret. In period work, small drawer bottoms were nailed to the drawer frame or slid into grooved sides and fronts. The latter method allows for secret compartments.

No matter the technique you choose, or if you elect to use both, it’s important to have the drawers look their best. That means continuous grain patterns should flow across the drawer fronts (each row should be cut from one board). Carefully cut and fit your fronts to the case, then mark the fronts so you can easily keep them arranged. Other drawer parts are sized off the fronts.

Plan your work. Drawers look best if the grain continues across the entire bank of drawers. Plan accordingly then mark the fronts to keep parts in place.

The bottom and center drawers use the second construction method, with the center drawer hiding a second secret area. As you cut the groove for the drawer bottom, move up 1″ and make a groove to capture a false bottom. I made the false bottom from plywood to eliminate wood movement concerns, but I doubt that should be a worry. To access the space between the two bottoms, slide out the false drawer bottom.

Finally, the Door

At first glance, you may think this door is built incorrectly in that the stiles are set between the rails instead of the more common design where the opposite holds true. No; I built it correctly. Generally we see stiles extend the entire door height because as a designer/builder we’re taught that one’s eye should travel toward the center of a piece, then up to the top. Long stiles tend to guide our eyes that way whereas in this door, copied from the original, the stile stops that upward movement. I elected to build the door following its original design.

Unusual arrangement. Fitting stiles between rails is uncommon and wouldn’t be done on larger doors – but sizing parts is quicker because they’re all the same length.

Not only is the door important to the look of this box, it’s also a large portion of the work, if you build the door with mitered sticking (where the moulding is an integral part of the door parts and not an addition). This requires a few extra steps, but the results are top-notch.

Door construction begins by roughing the door’s framework to size and thickness. Lay out, cut and smooth the arch tops in the top rail, then run a 3⁄16” roundover bit along each interior edge of all parts.

Lay out and mark the width of the stiles on the moulded edge of the two rails. Also mark the tenon lengths on the ends of the three stiles. Carry the mark to the back face. At your table saw, tilt the blade to 45º and set the blade height to just tip the square shoulder created with the roundover bit. Lock the setting and use it for the next series of cuts.

On the right side. Cuts to define the mitered sticking should be on the waste side of your line, or in the stile area. Make sure to use the correct blade tooth when setting the cut.

Begin with the rails. As shown in the photo above, use a miter gauge with a sacrificial fence to position your workpiece so the cut exactly hits your line just as the blade levels with the saw’s tabletop. When set up, make the first cut with the face against the fence. Rotate the rail so the face is toward the blade and make a second cut.

Secure setup. Once the alignment is set, use a stop block to keep the part from drifting as you cut and to accurately locate the second cut.

To complete the inner cuts on the two rails, align the blade with the mark made for the center stile and repeat the process. Nibble away much of the waste so the area is easier to clean.

Done by hand. The more waste you nibble away from between the center angled cuts, the easier it is to clean the area.

Stiles are cut using the same process as with the rail ends.

You can use a tenon jig to remove waste from the outer stile areas of the rails, but the waste for the center stile has to be trimmed by hand. Before moving on, bring the blade back to 90º, set the height of cut at 3⁄8” then with a couple passes at the table saw, run the 1⁄4“-wide panel grooves. Groove the stiles at the same time and remember that the center stile is grooved on both edges.

Double check. Because the moulded edge is removed, that amount has to be subtracted from the full-depth groove prior to cutting a haunch. (It’s easily forgotten – notice my twin kerfs.)

Lay out and cut mortises in the top and bottom rails, then create your tenons. The shoulder cuts align with the bottom of the 45º angled cuts, and the cheek cuts are best completed using a tenon jig, although you could use a dado stack or make the cuts by hand. The oddity is that your haunch offset is 3⁄16” – the groove is 3⁄8” deep, but you’re removing the 3⁄16” moulded edge. Finish the tenons and check your fit.

Watch the setup. If the bearing rides too high on the moulded edge, it might be best to make the slot cut with the rail face down so the bearing contacts the square edge.

My panel grooves were cut on the table saw, but the top rail arches need additional work. In a router table, install a 1⁄4“-slot cutter bit that’s set to cut 1⁄2” in depth and align the cutting edge with the existing groove. Watch that the bearing properly contacts your workpiece. Also, you may wish to cut into the middle of the arch, or climb-cut a portion of the arch.

Door panels on the original box were highly figured grain, but the frame was very straight-grained wood. The contrast was strong and that’s good. My frames are highly figured, so I chose less figured panels to maintain the contrast. Choose wisely.

To fit panels to the frames, I’ve found it easiest to measure the panel area, then add 5⁄8” to the overall length and width to allow for movement; two grooves at 3⁄8” in depth is 3⁄4“, so there’s 1⁄8” for movement. That’s a bit much for panels this narrow, so I cut my panels at 11⁄16“.

Lay out the panel centerline and mark the top edge of the shoulder cutline. Position your compass 5⁄16” from that intersection. The arch is equal to the radius used on the top rail plus 5⁄16“. Cut to your lines then check the fit.

Here’s the point. Increase the radius of the panels’ arched tops by 5⁄16″ with the compass point set below the top shoulder by an equal amount.

Sand the panels to #180 grit for finishing, then assemble the door using glue for the mortises and tenons; don’t glue the panel. Each joint receives a 3⁄16” square peg. To keep the pegs from drawing too much attention, use the same hardwood as you did for the frame.

Hardware & Finish

With the door complete, take your time as you attach it to the box. Simple brass butt hinges work fine and are true to the original design. (Be sure to check the screw length due to the rabbeted side.) Your door should have an equal reveal on all four edges and it helps to bevel the lock edge for a tighter fit to the case.

Install your lock so the pin is 1⁄2” above the door center. (This adds the perception of height to the case.) Drawer knobs are installed after the finish work is complete. Each knob is centered to the drawer fronts with the bottom drawer knobs aligned side to side with the knobs directly above.

I dyed my box with a mixture of  one-third Moser’s golden amber maple and two-thirds brown walnut, then added a coat of boiled linseed oil to highlight the figured grain before adding multiple layers of shellac. To dull the shellac sheen, rub the box with #0000 steel wool then add a coat of wax.

Figure-popping tip. Boiled linseed oil soaks into figured grain adding depth. Give the oil plenty of time to dry before applying a shellac sealer coat.

After the box is finished, cut and fit a backboard with the grain running side to side. If you use multiple pieces, half-lap the edges. The back is left unfinished and is nailed to the case sides.

I don’t think spices are kept in these boxes today. You’re more apt to find mementos and keepsakes stored in the drawers, which is why some folks call this design a “valuables box.” Valuables or not, I think it’s spicy hot. P