How to make a wooden comic box

It’s been YEARS since I’ve bought comic books on a regular basis. In college I got back into it for a little while, but before that it probably stopped when I entered middle school. So you can imagine how long I’ve been lugging around this large cardboard box of comic books, refusing to part with them but also storing them in closet after closet.

Well, I STILL don’t want to get rid of them, and they’re STILL going to live in a closet, but I want to protect them better. This is mainly due to being a father and looking toward the days when my kids can be trusted with reading and not destroying them.

Someone in my audience recently asked me to make a comic box, and so it was a natural fit.  Luckily enough, I also had a box joint jig that I’d never gotten a chance to use, so I decided now was the time. The jig did work well, but it’s absolutely not necessary to make these types of joints.  Previously, I’d made my very own, very crude but functional version with two pieces of wood.

Check it out!

I cut one piece of 1/2″ plywood down to 24″x24″. This will become the side panels.

I ripped another piece to 8 1/2″ wide to use as the ends.

I switched out the blade for a dado set, so I could cut 1/4″ dados.

I set the saw to only cut 1/4″ deep.

I cut a dado every inch across the whole board.

I left 1 1/2″ on each end.

This piece was cut in half, perpendicular to the dados.

I trimmed the end pieces to the same height as the side panels.

This is my first time using this Incra box joint jig. It takes a little bit to setup, but then it’s very easy to use.

I clamped together the end pieces and cut finger joints on one side.

Keeping them lined up, I moved the clamps to the other side.

Then I cut matching fingers on the other edge.

I clamped together the side panels.

Then I cut fingers on both ends of the panels.

The cut outs were cleaned up with a rolled up piece of sandpaper.

On each piece, I clamped down a straight edge about 3″ up.

I used this as a guide to cut a rabbet along the bottom edge of all four pieces.

I added glue to all of the cut outs, then assembled the finger joints.

The joints were tight enough to have to be forced together (that’s good).

I used some clamping pressure to pull them all of the way together.

For glue drying, I added corner clamps to keep the corners square.

After it dried, I added glue to the rabbet.

I cut a piece of 1/4″ mdf to fit and dropped it in place.

I added some weight to make good surface contact while the glue dried.

I set a stop block on my sled and cut several pieces of MDF to act as dividers.

1/4″ was what I had on hand, but 1/8 would be a better choice.

I clamped the dividers and rounded the bottom corners, so they would slide into the dados easily.

Then I test fitted the dividers and sanded as needed.

With an orbital sander, I sanded all of the finger “tips” flush, being sure not to sand away the top layer of veneer.

The whole box got a couple of coats of varnish.

Then I just had to move over all of my comics!

All finished!