Thread: Inexpensive Australian Timber suggestions for beginners first time box making?

I'd wander into Bunnies, Mitre 10 or, preferably, a good Tradies Timber Supply and have a wander through their decking supplies.

That's about as cheap as it it gets, the boards are thin enough & dressed so you have a good idea of the colour & grain and... if stacked loosely & not in bundles they're usually knocked about just enough that you have a good idea if they're splintery to work with. Then it's just a matter of picking out pieces that you like, Perhaps one or two feature pieces and some 'plain' grain in a contrasting colour for the box body.

Their dressed KDHW boards (as opposed to reeded decking) is often slightly more expensive, but usually better looked after and also worth looking at.

When picking up timbers for other jobs I've often found loose pieces with glorious grain & figure 'cos the better tradies tend to put 'em aside; they want homogeneity in their decking, not "stand-out boards."

Needless to say, I usually carry a bit more timber than I planned on the homeward leg...

Your local supply may not be like that... but surely it's worth a look?

19mm is a standard width or should I cut it down.

Is there a standard thickness for beginner boxes I wonder?

I've got some Spotted Gum left over that I really like.
Its really heavy hardwood.

I'm sure I have some Merbau and maybe Jarrah.

And suggestions from these?

I wouldn't class myself as a box maker but I have made a couple out of scraps I've had lying around. I don't think there are any definitive rules to follow, it's a matter of fitting a box to the materials at hand or using materials at hand to make a box fit for purpose.

My first box was an exercise in finger joints. The second was an exercise in dovetails. The thickness was whatever came out off the thicknesser with parallel faces and looked to be about a pleasant size to my eye. I played around with how to fit a base and a top. The only thing that I think was really important was to make the whole box as one piece and then cut the top off. Planning the joints so the top gets cut off at the right height was more important than the thickness of the sides.

What size box do you want to make and for what purpose?

19mm is perfectly fine for something that'll get knocked about (eg. a box for your chisels) or boxes on the larger scale, such as a cutlery display box.

But for something more 'refined' or 'delicate' such as a ladies jewellery box it looks clunky and IMHO you're better off with 12mm or so thickness.

Whatever you build, make sure you can find the appropriate fittings first. While tiny little hinges for a ladies box can work OK on thicker walls, the reverse isn't true.

I'd suggest making yourself something for your shed in 19mm as it's less machining, the fittings are easier to source and it gives you wiggle room for mistakes. It's almost guaranteed that your first box will be a learning experience.

With practice, then you can start thinking about thicknessing the sides thinner, etc. for a box to surprise the good lady wife with.

I made my first box out of Jarrah lining boards, they're even thinner than flooring so it's good for smaller pieces

As you live in Glen Iris can you could drive over to the Box Hill library as they have quite a few books on woodworking. I pretty sure they had some box making books by Doug Stowe. His books are excellent for beginner box makers.

Barry, I love making little boxes myself, and my favourite material for the box sides is actually Tassie Oak / Vic Ash (call it what you will ) I found a stash of discarded window framing so it is all quarter sawn. The timber looks nice finished and matches up well with pretty much any kind os special timber you want to make lids out of.

19mm thickness is clunky for small boxes. I keep to 9mm (3/8 in the old lingo) for boxes up to 6 inches in their larger dimension, then 12mm for boxes up to 12 inches.

The Tassie Oak cuts well, sands and finishes well, and importantly is hard enough not to mark easily. I spent a lot of time the other week making up a jewellery box out of a piece of Fijian Mahogany I scored and regretted it as it is so soft even a finger nail pressed a wee bit hard leaves a dent.

I would suggest Vic Ash or Tas Oak as well. Matthews Timber - Knoxfield and Whelan the Warehouse stock these both in rough sawn and DAR. I think last time when I bought this, it was around $15 per meter for 150mm / 200mm wide 19mm thick boards.

Regarding hinges, check out Timbecon. They have a number of hinges on discount as part of their July specials.

Cheap! I've the very cheapest source you'll EVER find: hardwood fence palings from Bunnings and pallets care of your local building site.

The pailing are "gummus genericus" and as wet as a dog from the pool, but leave them in the sun under a pile of bricks for a month and they are dry enough.

Now, I feel you laughing!

I've sold dozens of boxes made with fence pailings. Dozens. People have utterly marvelled at the amazing beauty of Aussie timbers. Little do they suspect they are looking at $2 worth of "back fence"....

As for the pallets, not the ones from the shops/fruit-dude, but the one that tiles, bricks and industrial equipment is shipped from overseas on. Those are absolutely incredible. The local pallets are total junk. Anything that is shipped from a reseller will be junk... Find a place that brings in American engine blocks or European engineered machinery. Those are The Business!

I know a Melbourne bloke who right now is making 20 odd boxes out of pallets and they all sell for $650-700 retail.

Thickness? Easy, target for ~13mm finished. Thicker looks ugly and lacks balance, thinner lacks heft and is hard to work with.

Further to what Woodpixel said another good source of timber is secondhand building material yards or go to garage sales or Vinnies for some old furniture that you can cut up and repurpose

Wow!
Great reponse to this query!
Many thanks.

Got lucky and a fellow WWF member, who definitely knows what he's doing,
located conveniently just up the road from me
who is instructing me on building my first "with intent" box.

My criteria was to build a simple box that would encourage me to continue.
And NOT scare me off with complexity.

The good lady wife is super supportive.
So can't go wrong.

Have table saw and planer ready and waiting.
Looking for a bandsaw for re-sawing. If and when needed.

Hands starting to hurt.
Gotta build something.

I thought to mention, there is a thread here on the forum about pallets and what all the respective markings mean.

Some are treated with Nasty Stuff to stop the gremlins sneaking in to AU inside the wood. Obviously, you want to avoid being part of that "treatment" via your lungs

Also, with fence palings, get them fresh. Once they've been on a fence for a while they are hard like steel. No good. Any fence place is pretty good for them.... But ensure you match them up. Usually they are stacked as they come off the log, sometimes not. Some are pretty horrible, so you need to check them.

Thanks pix.

I don't have a way to transport the pallets.
I thought about taking an 18v saw and cutting the 2x4s.
On one side then the other.
Or just cut the planks just inside the end 2x4s,
leaving the planks attached to the centre 2x4
And throwing them into the boot.
But too much mess, time and noise.

It's probably just me wanting everything to be OK'd.
And not chased down the street for grabbing a pallet on someones nature strip.
(OMG! I just thought of a new TV Series - Pallet Wars!!!)



Frak! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5UwBmrYfRM


$300+ for a roof rack for a roof rated at 50kg.
The lady says no.

I had arranged for an airTasker to pick some free ones up but someone in a moving truck beat them to it. - Pallet Wars!!!
Even though I explained the situation and canceled in plenty of time the airtasker wasn't happy about missing out on it.
So that was a bust.

Then I thought to place a sign on the nature strip or an ad to drop them off but was worried they'd be rubbish suited for the pay a fee for tip.

Then even if I got them home I'd still have to salvage them.

I'll have to do some more research since I've got the planer now.

Get/make a pallet wreaking tool to pull the pallets to bits.