- So we're back here at Sawdust Studios.

I'm standing here with Dean and Dean, you got a whole bunch of stuff laid out here in front of us.

What exactly are we looking at here?

- We're gonna be making shaker boxes.

This is a course that we teach here at Sawdust Studios.

Shaker boxes are the original Tupperware basically.

- Interesting.

- Yeah.

The history of it is the Shakers were a religious sect, many, many years ago that their thing was to try and use everything efficiently and so they had extra scraps and they designed these and they would store their dry goods in 'em and nails or whatever.

The first thing you have to do is create the swallow tails.

These are called swallow tails.

- Okay.

- If you look at the design, it kind of looks like a swallow.

So I have the material here that I've milled up.

So what we're gonna end up doing is we're gonna heat this.

You could either steam it or put it in hot water.

We're gonna happen to put it in hot water today, which is a traditional way of doing it versus having a steam box.

- [Matt] Okay.

- And what happens is, at 180 degrees, basically the glues that hold the fibers together will relax.

- Okay.

- And we're gonna be able to bend them and we're gonna hold them there for a little while, pin it together and then we're gonna put these forms in it and leave it for at least 24 hours.

First thing we're gonna do is just take a pencil and mark out our swallow tails and we pre-drill these holes so that they don't split.

All right, so I have a drill here and we're gonna go ahead and drill those out right away.

(drill noise) And then we're gonna take and (drill noise) cut these on the bandsaw.

(saw noise) There we go.

So Matt, what I've done is I've actually gone ahead and cut the swallowtails and then using the sander, we thinned up the end here.

So whenever it bends around, it's not too bulky whenever it comes to- - You're not just double thick at that point.

- Exactly.

So I'm gonna throw this into water for just a bit.

So it's supposed to be 180 degrees, which we're a little over that, but it'll be okay.

So it's gonna come out of there and you got the lines there and just kind of follow the lines.

See how easy that cuts?

- [Matt] That's nice.

- Isn't that crazy?

There we go.

All right, so these are now ready to go into the water.

These have been sitting in here about 20 minutes and we're gonna take 'em out.

- You're not just gonna reach in there with your paw, I imagine.

- No, no.

I got some pliers, but actually you can kind of grab 'em pretty quick.

- [Matt] How long do you have while they're wet like that?

- Not very long.

So what we have is a form here and it has a mark on it.

You have about a minute.

So, make sure to turn the right direction and you want to kind of hold it and support it all the way around, especially once you get up to the swallow tails cause that is where it will split if you're not careful.

- [Matt] And that's why you want to put those swallow tails on the flatter side, you don't want to put them on the bend.

Yeah.

So you just kind of take your time and you wanna get it around.

And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna take this anvil, just a simple made anvil out of some pipe that you can get at your hardware store and we're gonna take while we're supporting the swallow tails and we're gonna line up those index line.

And what happens is whenever I drive these through, they hit the metal, these are copper nails, tacks, and once they go through and hit the metal, they mushroom and seal it.

- [Matt] So it kind of rivets from both sides more or less.

- Yeah, exactly, exactly.

(hammer pounding) Here you give it a try.

I'll hold it down.

- [Matt] Those are almost hard to grab.

- They are.

That's why I put 'em in those little cups.

- Okay, there she is.

- All right, so now that we got this together, I need you to take and push this down in there so that it forms it and so this is what it's gonna form it up overnight.

- [Matt] Okay.

- [Dean] All right.

- And so there's not a left and a right, there's just an inside and outside?

- That is correct.

- Okay.

- And remember we beveled those at 10 degrees so that they get wider.

They're like a cork.

So they push down in there and hold it tight and it's gonna dry overnight.

But I have another one that we can go ahead and finish today.

- All right, well let's get to looking at that.

- All right.

So now that we have the top and the bottom in tight, what we're gonna do is attach those.

- [Matt] Okay.

- And we don't glue those.

We actually just use toothpicks, believe it or not, with no glue.

- [Matt] Because right now this is just, we just set that in there and there's nothing going on, no connection.

- And wood's gonna move and so they'll get tighter and looser over time.

And so we want them tight.

And so what we'll do is we'll turn it on.

(drill noise) And just go like this.

(drill noise) All right, you do the other side.

- Is there a certain number or you just doing three?

- Yeah, that's fine.

(drill noise) So what we're gonna do now is actually pin them with toothpicks.

Now these are the square toothpicks.

- Okay.

- Because you want them to wedge in there.

- And so we're still not gluing even the toothpicks?

- Not even a toothpick.

So what you do is just take some side cutters of some kind, tap 'em in there and then cut 'em off.

So just like that.

And we'll get you some out here and just load 'em up.

And we'll just sand these down a little bit.

And then we'll put some finish on.

- Sounds good.

- And basically, you can put as much on as you want cause it'll only accept as much oil as it'll take.

- Anything else you just gotta wipe away?

- [Dean] Yep.

- [Matt] After it's done.

- So there you go.

Pour that on there.

I'm gonna help you along here, I'm not gonna make you do all the hard work.

How's that sound?

Go ahead and put it together.

- All righty.

- You're good to go.

- We got everything fitting nice.

- Look at that.

- There she be.

Dean, thank you so much for showing me how to do all this.

- You're welcome.

- This is awesome.

Yeah, thank you so much.

- [Dean] You're welcome.