Amana Tool, manufacturer of industrial-quality carbide-tipped, solid carbide and replacement carbide cutting tools, offers a packaged router bit set for constructing a set of stacking boxes. The four-piece set was created in partnership with Lonnie Bird, who runs the School of Fine Woodworking in Dandridge, TN.

Bird, well-known among woodworking enthusiasts, has developed a number of tool sets with Amana. Bird also has a following among professionals, which is apparent when he fields questions for a “Woodworking Tips and Techniques” forum at amanatool.com.

In the Architectural Woodworking section, for example, Jay of Skia, OK, notes he is “building hickory kitchen cabinets for a customer” before asking where to find a moulding head for a table saw to make door panels with a 1-5/8-inch center bead milled into them. (Bird suggests the labor intensive effort here is better subcontracted out.) Another professional query starts off, “I have been making wooden screen doors and window screens as replacement. . .for older homes,” then notes, “This is not the standard set for cabinet doors. The joinery on screens and screen doors is mortise and tenon and the cope must fit under the tenon.” Bird lays out the steps to do it.

In this newest offering, Amana says this stacking box toolset from Bird allows “professional woodworkers and hobbyists” to “easily create a set of two attractive stacking wood storage boxes in as little as a weekend.” It contains popular router bit profiles that Amana says can be used for a number of other applications.

Included are four multi-use router bits: moulding (#54286), straight plunge (#45446), beading (#56172) and ogee (#56210), along with step-by-step instructions and decorative solid brass knobs. Bird designed the stacking box project to reflect traditional profiles that are often seen in window casings and moulding. When making the stacking boxes, the ogee bit is used to create a decorative ogee profile on the base of each box. The moulding router bit features a two-flute design with a ball bearing guide to create rule joints with matched profiles for the box lids. The beading bit can form decorative profiles as part of the boxes’ “step” design without making complex joints. Tool cutting edges of all pieces (shown) are said to be made of Amana-exclusive carbide grade steel for extended tool life in solid wood materials. It lists at $146.50. Watch this how-to video from Amana Tools on making doors: