Our antique style jewelry box plan offers you a beautiful traditional jewelry box of wooden construction with an authentic decoration on the top chest and a lock.

It has two larger drawers where you can hold all your jewelry collection and other precious things. So, if you make this jewelry box, it will be one of the favorite things in your home, and it will last a life time if taken care of properly. 

Through centuries women had a special relation to jewelry. Whether it was family heirloom, expensive jewelry collection, or just a few symbolic decorative gifts, they tend to treasure and keep them safe and for that purpose the jewelry box was invented. Of course there are numerous kinds of jewelry boxes these days on the market, but in the past, these boxes were handmade for a long period of time and with a special meaning, and because of that, the antique jewelry boxes have that unique spirit and perfect style.

 

Antique style jewelry box plan
Project type
Project difficulty
Medium, requires experience
Skill level
for DIY enthusiasts
for intermediate experienced woodworker
Level of workshop equipment
Hobby – Hand tools, power tools and machines
Applied woodworking joints
Fasteners
Hardware
Miter joint
Rabbet joint
Dado joint
Tongue and dado joint
Double rabbet joint
Butt joint reinforced with glue
Dimensions

 

Length 258mm (10.16'') x Width 200mm (7.87'') x Heigth 208mm (8.17'')

 

The idea for this box is based on a cheap box from India that we own. We have made various changes to it, as well as some decorations using thin sheet metal that is fixed to the box construction with small decorative nails. Of course it is best to design the decorations yourselves, we have drawn them here just to show you how much they can beautify the box. 

The box can be easily modified to suit different types of jewelry by making compartments of various sizes at the top level, making one drawer instead of two, or by increasing/reducing the dimensions of the entire box. The complete construction of the box and drawers was made using various types of rabbet and dado woodworking joints. These are not complex woodworking joints, you can make them quite easily on various woodworking machines and power tools, which facilitates the making of the box. 

 

Exploded view and parts list
Antique style jewelry box - Sub-assembly and parts list
Assembly drawing
Antique style jewelry box - Assembly drawing

The making of the box is not complicated because most parts are of simple geometry, and the whole box construction is assembled with glue. You can also make various decorative handles, hinges and locks on your own, or buy them in specialized stores. The hardest part is the ’rounded cover’ (Part 1 – Lid sub-assembly), which can be made in different ways: 

  • by cutting cross-sectional segments and their gluing;
  • by cutting longitudinal strips (similar to making barrels) and their gluing;
  • by (hand) chiseling, i.e., using carving technique.

In any case, a lot of sanding is necessary.

We leave the finish to your taste. The only we would like to point out is that the original Indian box is dark brown, the metal decorations dark, almost black, and such a choice of colors makes the box very beautiful. As far as the knowledge, experience and equipment of the workshop are concerned, the making of this box is a medium demand project. As far as decorating is concerned, if you have the patience and a sense of beauty, with the help of this project you can make a jewelry box of exceptional beauty. 

 

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Submitted by Ceh Jan