CRAFTING MAGIC: Making a Drawer Box

One of magic's oldest box tricks.

- Lupe Nielsen

Magic boxes... Secret compartments... Items that do more than meets the eye... There is such a mystique surrounding these pieces. The world of magic and magicians is full of these. In fact, most of the magic box “secrets” we see today were invented between the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. By 1920, almost all of the secrets and methods of hiding objects and people in the compartments were explored by the magic builders of the day.

One of the classic magic boxes is the Drawer Box, which is a wooden box with a sliding drawer fitted with a secret compartment. It is used to vanish and produce small objects or animals.

One of the first recorded explanations of the Drawer Box in the magic literature can be found on page 343 of Professor Hoffmann’s

“Modern Magic,” written in 1876. Such book contains three different construction methods for this box. Another version can be found in Chapter XV of Edwin Sach’s 

“Sleight of Hand” written in 1877. Since then, the trick can be found in other sources in magic literature and advertised in magic manufacturer catalogs. Currently, this effect is a popular addition to magic sets and can be purchased in magic stores worldwide.

I am going to describe a simple version of this effect, which is a nested set of three boxes. Two of the boxes make an “interior drawer with a secret compartment” that gets housed within an exterior wooden box. What follows is my procedure for the construction of the magic trick. Once you understand what the box does, you can make this item as elaborate as you like (with different and elaborate joinery), and even change the dimensions or proportions to fit your style.