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Campaign-Style Storage Box

A small brass-pulled box in the campaign furniture style. Build it once, then again — they're deliberately meant to be made as a matching set.

Cut list

Part	Qty	T × W × L	Material	✓
Sides	4	1/2" × 8" × 8"	Birch or pine, 1/2"	☐
Bottom	1	1/2" × 8" × 7"	Birch or pine, 1/2"	☐

Item	Qty	✓
Birch or pine board, 1/2" thick Cut into four 8"x8" sides and one 8"x7" bottom.	4 sq ft	☐
Brass flush ring pull	1 each	☐
Brass screws	8 each	☐
Pocket hole screws, 1"	16 each	☐
Wood filler	1 oz	☐
Wood stain and polyurethane	6 oz	☐

Overall cost: $. Lumber varies by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure.

Drill / Driver
A right-angle attachment helps in the box's tight corners.
Pocket Hole Jig
Random Orbit Sander
Table Saw
Or a circular/jig saw — you're crosscutting five small panels.
Chisels — optional
Squares off the corners of the ring pull's recess after drilling.
Drill Press — optional
For a clean, straight recess for the flush ring pull.

1. Cut the five panels
Tools: Table Saw. Materials: Birch or pine board, 1/2" thick
Cut four 8"x8" side panels and one 8"x7" bottom panel from 1/2" board. The bottom is an inch narrower than the sides — that inch is what lets it sit inside the box rather than under it, flush with the bottom edges.
2. Pocket-hole two of the side panels
Tools: Pocket Hole Jig. Materials: Birch or pine board, 1/2" thick
Drill pocket holes into two opposite side panels only — the other two stay clean-faced. This keeps every visible pocket hole on the same two interior faces instead of scattered across all four corners.
3. Assemble the box
Tools: Drill / Driver. Materials: Birch or pine board, 1/2" thick, Pocket hole screws, 1"
Glue and pocket-screw the four sides together into a square, then set the bottom panel inside, flush with the bottom edges, and screw up through it into the sides.
Check square before the glue sets — a small box out of square is obvious at a glance in a way a large piece of furniture isn't.
4. Fill, sand, and finish
Tools: Random Orbit Sander. Materials: Wood filler, Wood stain and polyurethane
Fill the pocket holes and any gaps with wood filler, sand through the grits, then stain and seal with polyurethane.
5. Install the brass hardware
Tools: Chisels, Drill / Driver, Drill Press. Materials: Brass flush ring pull, Brass screws