The result is a box that is effectively watertight, that can hold food, liquids, heated stones for cooking, or any number of other contents, and that can be decorated with carved or painted designs.

Making a bentwood box requires knowledge of exactly how much to steam the wood, how quickly to bend it, how to hold the bent form in place while it cools, and how to join the fourth corner so that it is tight and durable.

These are not trivial skills.

The proportions and construction of bentwood boxes from the Northwest Coast reflect a tradition of refined craftsmanship that was centuries in development before the objects in the ethnographic record were collected.

The Ozette assemblage includes bentwood boxes in various states of preservation.