In this video, Angel from the Appalachian Wood YouTube channel walks through a handmade Japanese toolbox built with compound-angled Japanese dovetails, through-tenons, a rabbeted bottom, and a sliding lid — a far cry from the traditional nail-together construction. He explains what makes Japanese dovetails so tricky to cut and assemble, how he oriented cut nails for maximum holding power, why he chose yellow pine for weight, and how the finished box fits a surprising range of hand tools. Classes on Japanese joinery are available through their channel, which can be found here.

TRANSCRIPT:

This is a Japanese toolbox. I know it's pretty unimpressive because it's just a box—and from the outside, it's still just a box. To most people, that's all it's ever going to be. But to people who make boxes, this is a work of art. And believe it or not, finding one of these and getting it made for yourself is going to run you close to $1,000. Let me show you what makes it so unique.

The "dad box" explanation

The reality is that this box is actually a dad box. Let me explain. If you ask a dad to make a box, he's going to look up the most complicated way to make one—and this is it. The reason is that it has Japanese dovetails, through-tenons, and a rabbet for the bottom, as well as some fancy work going on for the lid.

Japanese toolboxes are normally made with pieces of wood and nails, and that's perfectly fine. But because this one is going to house some pretty cool tools, I needed to do something a little different. In come the Japanese dovetails.

Japanese dovetails and the joinery

You may have seen in some of my other videos where I use jigs to cut Japanese dovetails—that's because they're compound-angled dovetails. The angle on this face represents certain geometry, but that exact same geometry appears on the opposite face as well.

The front and back panels inside the box have through-tenons that stick out. There's nothing but glue holding those boards in, and the dovetails all have to go in at the exact same time. It's a little complicated.

What makes Japanese dovetails interesting is that they're not shaped the same way as regular dovetails—they have angles on both faces. It looks almost impossible to assemble. You can't easily imagine how these boards would come together without some kind of issue. The secret is that both boards are joined at a 45-degree angle and meet like that.

If you've ever done regular dovetails, you're used to cutting the tails and scribing them onto the pins. With Japanese dovetails, there is no scribing. It's actually impossible to scribe the profile from one board to the other without some kind of contortionist effort, so I just didn't. Instead, I made a jig. You could also lay them out with dividers if you know how. We're actually hosting a class on this in September—if you're interested, let us know, and we'll drop a link.

The rabbeted bottom

The bottom piece has a rabbet with a groove cut into the sideboard so the bottom doesn't just fall out. Some of the designs I had seen had the panel simply nailed to the sideboards, and I really didn't like that. What if one of the nails gives out? What if the panel falls through completely? I know it's not very likely, but my brain couldn't help itself. I had to figure out something better.

I cut the rabbet with a plow plane. Of course, I chose the worst board for that panel, because right at the very bottom there's a big knot. That knot gave me a run for my money, so I had to finish the rabbet with a chisel—which was actually not that difficult, surprisingly, even in yellow pine.

The through-tenon panel

The other neat part is the panel with three through-tenons. That's really nothing fancy—I just left the tenons oversized, glued the panel in, and it works perfectly fine. The reason that dovetailed panel is there is because it doubles as a handle on the underside, with a chamfer worked into it. That's what makes this toolbox especially unique.

Cut nails and how to orient them

The last thing that makes this box unique is the nails. Typically you might use wire-cut nails or ring-shank nails, but I used cut nails. They have a distinctive shape—a thin profile on one face and a thick profile on the other. You want the thick profile pushing against end grain. When you put them in, the heads all end up in the same orientation, because the grain of the board runs in one direction and the thick part of the nail has to be in line with that grain.

If the nail goes in the wrong way, it pushes against the fibers and can split the wood. You do need to drill a pilot hole for these, because they're aggressive enough to crack the wood otherwise. I did have a little cracking in a few spots, but it's all held together—and there's glue underneath as well.

The sliding lid

The last reason I love this toolbox is that it's ultra-portable. The lid goes on like this, slides into place, drops down, and then you slide it to lock. Pick it up and take it to the job site with all your tools inside.

It's important when fitting the lid to leave the end pieces overhanging slightly, because you use them both to set the lid in place and to lift it back out. Mine is extra tight right now. It's humid today, and the wood has expanded a little, making it harder to close. The box isn't waterproof, but I'm going to apply spar urethane since this one is going to live outside.

Wood choice and portability

I made it out of yellow pine, which keeps it very lightweight. Traditionally, these are made from an even lighter wood. I've heard paulownia is common, which is very stable, very light, and very strong. That would make building one of these really enjoyable.

Unlike a Dutch tool chest, which is designed to organize all your tools, a Japanese toolbox is mostly meant to carry them from one place to another. And there's plenty of space inside for Japanese tools, which are actually fairly compact. That said, it still fits larger planes—a number five, maybe even a number six.

What fits inside

So here's a number five—plenty of space, and when the lid goes in, it clears the top of the iron with no problem. A number seven fits the same way. A Japanese knopp plane fits almost perfectly—I probably could have made the box a little wider, but it works. A small smoothing plane fits at the end.

You can also fit a Japanese slick, various timber framing saws—I have a rip saw and a crosscut saw from Temple Tools, both with fairly long blades and short handles—and even a Suizan Z-saw 333, which is really long but still fits easily. Tool rolls, mallets, jigs, squares, scribing tools—there's still space for all of it.

The lid carving

The last part I love is the lid. Temple Tools sent me a number of tools for our upcoming Sunrise Dovetail class, and I couldn't think of a better way to commemorate that than by carving their logo onto the top of the box. Despite the size, it's actually fairly light, and with the handle design you can easily grab it, load it into your car, and show up to a job site with a toolbox that turns heads.

Closing thoughts

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the tour of this Japanese toolbox. I made it to my own liking—it's not necessarily the traditional way. Someone once said that just using nails is perfectly fine, and I agree. It is perfectly fine. But this is my toolbox, and I wanted to make it the way I wanted to.

If you want to learn how to make something like this, let us know. We're hosting a number of classes on Japanese joinery—not only for boxes, but also for timber framing. I'm actually sitting in a Japanese-style timber frame pavilion right now, which is kind of my office. This is where I work every day and make things like this, along with other useless things like carvings. Links to all the classes are below—just leave a comment, and we'll send you a link. Thanks for watching.