Box-making Projects: For the Scroll Saw

Woodworkers of any skill level will be able to easily make their own decorative and functional boxes, using just one tool—the scroll saw.

Author and heirloom box-maker, Gary MacKay, provides step-by-step photo demonstrations to create wood boxes with checkerboard, diamond and pinwheel effects.

Patterns include eye-catching designs for jewelry and recipe boxes, tissue boxes, knitting trays and desk organizers.

Gary MacKay is a designer and box maker who lives with his wife, Helen, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He has been designing, making, and selling boxes in craft galleries for more than 20 years. Gary first started woodworking during his high school years when he used a jigsaw to make an end table from pine. After buying a band saw in 1985, he sold band saw boxes through consignment shops in northern Vermont. Now, he concentrates on designing and making wooden items that can be cut on a scroll saw. He is currently juried through the South Carolina Artisans Center, one of the craft galleries where his work is on display. Gary likes to use his scrap wood to make snowflake ornaments and intarsia projects. Whenever he is not working in his woodshop, he can be found out on the golf course or in the vegetable garden. Gary is a frequent contributor to Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine.