We often refer to our boxes as having a "stepped joint" construction. What is it and why it so special?
When Jackie first started, she made a binder for children's certificates which was a screw post binder. The other item that needed making was a keepsake, or memory box for her Father in law. Up until then she was pretty much self taught and had learnt the principals from watching Sage Reynolds on YouTube. Sage was wonderful, but when it came to making a custom made product, or something more complicated what she really needed was expert one to one tuition and for this she turned to Nicky Oliver at Black Fox Bindery who has a long experience as a commercial book binder.
At the end of her course Nicky told Jackie, that if she really wanted to do more complicated boxes then she would need to find (as it was now out of print) and invest in a book called Boxes For The Protection of Rare Books. Their Design & Construction by the United States Library of Congress. This was the 'Gold Standard' of box or case making, particularly for bespoke boxes. She eventually found a second hand version for sale on Amazon and it was duly purchased!
The book is step by step guide on protocols and standards which defines how clamshell and solander boxes as well as portfolios should be made. Importantly for us, it also goes on to illustrate and explain how to make drawers and shelves in boxes, which is what we were looking.
Very early on the book, it has a General Information and Terminology section, and it outlines the board that should be used, the glue, the covers and the lining and lastly it mentions "Stepped Joints" (pictured below) where is says "The step joint is used for constructing corners of the majority of boxes because it is more rigid than a simple butt joint This stepped joint is also used to join the base to the wall (of the boxes) board. A further reference to the step jointed corner maybe found in Fragments of Bookbinding Technique by T. Harrison (1876 - 1955)"
Wanting desperately to make sure that what she made was the best of the best, Jackie adopted everything the book said had to be done, one of which was the stepped joint for all her boxes.
The images below show a slipcase being made. The two pieces of 2mm grey board have been cut one piece smaller than the other, then glued together with the 'steps'. These have also had the inner cover lining glued into place as well which helps to illustrate how the box is constructed.
Another process that book said had to be done, which also isn't done in volume production is making sure the boards of the boxes are lined in paper or fabric as below. This should be done before the outer cover is glued on .
To this day all Hartnack and Co boxes are step jointed boxes. Mostly it is using two pieces of 2mm board, to make 4mm side walls, but occasionally it might be two pieces of 3mm or two pieces of 1.5mm depending on the project.
We have since meet some very highly qualified book binders who use a more simpler 'butt joint', but as some would say 'stick with your training'
