Every box starts as a log, bought through local woodsmen here in Maine and milled right on my property. Bands of quartersawn maple, birch, or ash, tops and bottoms of quartersawn Eastern white pine. The swallowtail joints are cut one at a time by hand and fastened with copper tacks made on original 19th-century machines, and the lid band is bent around the finished box itself, so the cover fits that one box and no other.

Painted boxes come in red, pumpkin, yellow, green, blue, grey, black, sea green, or New Lebanon Finish, each sealed with two coats of pure tung oil. Natural boxes are dyed to an antiqued tone and sealed with five coats. The copper tacks are darkened for an aged look, and following tradition, the bottom of each painted piece is left unpainted, then dyed and oiled to an aged patina.