Oval Boxes

My oval boxes are representative of the style and swallowtail carving of Elder Daniel Crosman (1810-1870), an oval box maker at Mt. Lebanon Shaker Village, NY. The swallowtails are long and slender with the point of the arch almost reaching the main tack line.

Oval boxes are hand-made following a traditional Shaker manufacturing process starting with clear quarter sawn hardwood, such as cherry or maple. It is planed thin and the swallowtails are individually hand carved. Each lid and bottom band is cut from the same board for grain and color match. Bands are soaked in hot water for bending in a copper tray to prevent wood staining. Copper tacks and copper shoe pegs secure the bands and the lid and bottom, respectively. No glue is used.

Boxes are numbered for size on the bottom using the scale associated with Ejner Handberg, Vol. 1 Measured Drawings of Shaker Furniture and Woodenware (smaller the number, smaller the box) Although incorrect it is a scale used by many oval box makers. The Shaker’s used the inverse as a scale – smaller the number the larger the box. E.g., a number 1 being the largest with a number 11 being the smallest.

Oval boxes are available in Nos. 00-8.

See the table below for sizes in the Ejner Hanberg numbering scale. Each piece is handmade and unique; therefore, the final product may vary ever so slightly from the dimensions shown.

Number	Length (in)	Width (in)	Height (in)
00	2-3/4	1-1/2	15/16
0	3-3/4	2-1/4	1-3/8
1	4-7/8	3	1-3/4
2	6	3-3/4	2-1/4
3	7-3/8	4-3/4	2-3/4
4	8-1/2	6	3-3/8
5	9-3/4	7	4
6	11-1/5	8	4-3/4
7	13-1/4	9-3/8	5-3/8
8	14-3/4	10-3/8	6