Traditional square or rectangular wooden boxes sometimes have rounded corners for effect. The process comprises making wood boxes with 90 degree corners, using traditional jointing methods such as mitres, butt joints, finger joints etc. and then reducing the corners to a rounded shape, either manually or by machine.
Bent wood boxes however are traditional wood boxes made by the First Nations people of North America from one piece of wood that's steamed and bent at the corners to form a box. The rounded corners are therefore formed naturally by the way they're made.
Bent wood boxes however are traditional wood boxes made by the First Nations people of North America from one piece of wood that's steamed and bent at the corners to form a box. The rounded corners are therefore formed naturally by the way they're made.
North American Bent Wood Box
Uses for bent wood boxes were varied and included food storage, cooking utensils, clothing accessories, for ceremonial purposes and burials, water carrying, canoes and dwellings.
Bent wood boxes were often elaborately decorated and / or carved, particularly if they were made for trading purposes, whilst other more utilitarian boxes were left plain undecorated.
Today, many bent wood boxes of different shapes and sizes are made for specialist collectors and can be purchased online, from museum gift shops, as well as directly from the craftsmen themselves.
Bent wood boxes are made from a single piece of wood in which three grooves called 'kerfs' have been cut where the corners occur. The wood is then steamed at each groove position, bent and pegged at the final corner to create the four sides of the box.
A cedar wood base is then fixed to the underside of the box using pegs and finally a lid is made for the top which is usually rebated to fit.
Steaming the wood makes it softer and therefore more pliable, especially if the wood is green, so it bends easily at the groove positions where the wood thickness has been reduced.
The First Nation people of North America used cedar wood because it was readily available in the areas they lived and because it has a straight grain, lending itself to being bent and is also lightweight and easily worked, making it the ideal material for making boxes.
Important members of the tribe were able to demonstrate their status by the number of bent wood boxes they possessed and how elaborately they were carved and / or decorated.
A cedar wood base is then fixed to the underside of the box using pegs and finally a lid is made for the top which is usually rebated to fit.
Steaming the wood makes it softer and therefore more pliable, especially if the wood is green, so it bends easily at the groove positions where the wood thickness has been reduced.
The First Nation people of North America used cedar wood because it was readily available in the areas they lived and because it has a straight grain, lending itself to being bent and is also lightweight and easily worked, making it the ideal material for making boxes.
Important members of the tribe were able to demonstrate their status by the number of bent wood boxes they possessed and how elaborately they were carved and / or decorated.
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