Walnut Espresso Knock Box With Maple Splines
Most espresso knock boxes look like an afterthought. It's a plain box with a metal bin where you bang the portafilter until the puck drops out. It's necessary, and it's almost always forgettable. I'm more into the process than the espresso itself, so I wanted a walnut knock box that would look good next to the machine and still do the job every morning.
This one is about 6 by 6 by 4 inches, made from walnut. The grain runs from face to face, so the whole box looks like it came from one piece of wood because it did. The corners are reinforced with maple splines set at an angle. Once the corners were rounded over, the splines took on a curve, and that curve is the detail that makes the box look like more than a box.
The finish is our own blend of beeswax, mineral oil, and tung oil. A knock box gets handled every day, so it's built to take that.
This one is for my own counter, but it's the kind of piece we build as a custom order too. A different wood, a different size, or a version that matches your machine are all on the table. We're in the Hudson Valley, so reach out through our contact page and tell us what you have in mind.
