Thread: Favoured stock size for small boxes

Stopper, for green timber I'd go with 15mm thickness to allow for any warping or cupping. You can always thickness it to you desired thickness when dry. 12mm may not allow you to recover from any abnormality thru drying.

Originally Posted by Stopper

Hi Guys,
Hey Stopper,

I am about to cut some timber to set aside for box making. A friend told me 12mm is a good thickness for green rough sawn. I thought that was a bit thick as a lot of the jewellery boxes I have seen are much finer. Are there any box makers out there that can give me an idea?

Here in the USA I prefer my box making materials to be a full one inch thick (2.54 cm) so I an resaw the wood (timber) into book matched material. If you cut wood (timber) thin, it is harder to control drying from the green stage.Yes, it will dry faster, but because it is thin, it can warp and curl easily, too. Yes, jewelry (American spelling, we save on syllables, and sometimes consonants and vowels) boxes are often made with materials thinner than 12mm. and after planing out the warp and twist, they will be. From 1 inch stock (2.54 cm) I can usually end up with finished material 5/16 to 3/8 in. thick. For you metric lovers, the conversion is 2.54 cm to the inch, and it is too early in the morning here in the US for converting fractions.

very best and hope this helps,

Doug

5/16" = 8mm

3/8" = 10mm

What Pat & Doug said.
Use 1" (25mm) stock. when it's dry, (I mean really dry) dress & resaw. leave for a couple of days on edge for the moisture & any internal stresses to even out. Then dress to size. Depending on how the timber has moved, you can finish up with anything between 8-11mm (or thinner if you want, of course).
Thinner looks better, but it has to be in proportion.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm

i resaw seasoned stock to 10-12mm by the time i dress it down its just right..

i also cut some to 5mm to use for tps and bottoms when i need it.

Thanks Guys, Good advice,
Next time I get down to some special figure I'll put it to good use.

Stopper