While leafing through American Woodworker magazine (issue#139), I came across one of the most beautiful boxes I had ever seen. Tine -pronounced “tee-nah”- are oval bentwood boxes first created by Scandinavian artisans. I, like most people, associated this style of box making with the Shakers. The feature article of Master craftsman and tine maker, Jim Anderson, demonstrates the art of bending boxes complete with scaled plans for building his Nordic-style Fjord horse tine box. I’m always up for a challenge, so I contacted John Wilson and other resources to order the supplies needed to steam bend wood. After gathering the tray, cane and heat resistant gloves, I got to work using Bird’s Eye Maple for the band and lid, and cocobolo for the horses, handle and locking pin. I substituted cocobolo for the square toothpicks required for the base pins –mainly because I forgot to order them! The carved horses aren’t as symmetrically matched as I would like, but I’m pleased with my first attempt at creating a bentwood box. One thing I discovered after completing the project: shaping the fingers on the band is much easier if done before steam bending.