Custom Recipe Box using Wood Branding Letters

Make a custom recipe box to store your favorite and handed down recipes in a stylish and personalized box. I used a wood burner and some stain for this quick project!

As time goes on I cook (when I cook) pretty often from recipes on my iPad that I’ve found on my favorite recipe sites, blogs, and Pinterest. I still pull out my favorite cookbooks periodically and of course the recipes I’ve collected over the years or been given by family or friends. Up until recently, I didn’t use a recipe box to store these “loose” recipes, and we just kept them in a drawer in our kitchen. When my late grandmother-in-law’s pumpkin bar recipe went missing, I knew it was time to step up my recipe organization. After trying my hand at wood burning several weeks ago, I decided to make a custom recipe box using wood burning stamps.

Using wood burning stamps, I burned the word “RECIPES” onto an unfinished wooden recipe box I found at Michael’s. I considered something more kitschy, but I was feeling more classic and simple the day I did this project.

Supplies:

• Wood burning tool
• Wood burning letter stamps
• Unfinished recipe box
• Wood stain
• Polycrylic sealer
• Safe work space – I used an old metal cookie sheet.

I started by marking the spacing of each letter on the box.

This was only my second wood burning project, so I did a lot of practicing with each letter on a spare piece of wood before burning directly on my recipe box. This helps with understanding the pressure needed and the length of time I needed to keep the stamp on the wood (which is just a few seconds).

After burning all my letters into the wood, I stained my box using a few coats of General Finishes Gel Stain in brown mahogany (the same stain I’ve used in several previous projects around the house). I used a sock to apply the stain as I find I get more even application using a clean cotton sock.

After applying a few coats of stain inside and outside (allowing the stain to dry fully in between coats). Then I applied two coats of polycrylic sealer (allowing each coat to dry fully before the next).

How do you organize your recipes? I keep thinking one day that  I’ll make all of my recipes electronic so I can cook exclusively from my iPad, but I just never seem to get around to it. Maybe one day I’ll blog about all my favorites and then they’ll be online by default!