Guy in the lumber yard checkout line said he quit building drawer boxes, and it got me thinking on my route all day

Jana Jones · 2026-10-09T12:45:04.516168+00:00

I was standing in line at the yard in Boise last Tuesday and the guy ahead of me had a cart full of 1/2 inch Baltic birch. He said he stopped making his own drawer boxes three years ago and just orders them now, claims he gets the time back on installs. That stuck with me because I've been knocking out dovetailed boxes on a jig for years and never once ran the math on what my hours are actually worth. I did a rough count that night, 14 hours on the last kitchen just for boxes, and at what I charge that's real money I could put toward hardware or help. Part of me thinks he's crazy and part of me thinks I've been married to the jig out of habit. I still like pulling a tight box off the bench, that feeling doesn't pay the bills though. For the guys running small two or three man shops, do you build your own boxes or buy them, and what finally made you pick one?

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Guy in the lumber yard checkout line said he quit building drawer boxes, and it got me thinking on my route all day | Cabinetmakers - Thought Shares