My boxes are reproductions of authentic Shaker oval boxes whose measurements were recorded and published by Ejner Handberg in Shop Drawings of Shaker Furniture and Woodenware Vol I, pages 62-70.
The boxes documented by Handberg have an average ratio of about 1.5 But there was not one set of standard sizes made across all Shaker communities. Even Handberg’s six may have been part of a larger standard set.
Even within one community, the sizes of oval boxes may have evolved over time. A catastrophe such as a fire or storm might have destroyed all the patterns and forms at a community. Given their constant search for improved furniture forms, a community may have decided to create a new, different set of patterns and forms to improve their product. And when a new Shaker community arose they were as likely to make their own patterns and forms as they were to purchase them from an existing community. Shaker woodworkers did not create and save working drawings of furniture, and there is no mention in reference books of drawings or measurements of oval boxes being recorded or shared between communities.
The sizes of the boxes I make:
