First Box, Help / Question

[Mark Lincoln]

I am very much a beginner in woodworking. I have a ton of rough cut lumber. Well technically quite a few tons.

Anyway I am making a box as my first "project". A very simple box.

Currently I plan on making the box around 6"x8"x4" (LxWxH). I am using solid wood. 4/4 machine to around 3/4. I was going to start with some simple rabbets for the sides.

My question is in regards to the bottom. Usually I see people using a plywood bottom. I guess that is for movement? So it would be a bad idea to make a bottom of the same wood? I was going to rabbit the bottom in. It'll be a little thicker than I want, or I can give the planer a good work out.

I welcome comments. I looked on the net for beginner boxes but really didn't see anything as simple as I want to do.

I want to start really simple, and work up to more complex joints. I also want to use as much of the material I have on hand. Which is solid wood 4/4. Oak (white, red, flat, and quarter), Gum (Liquidamber) , Poplar (Liriodendron).

[Eric DeSilva]

3/4" for a 4x6x8 box seems a little thick... I might resaw the 4/4 and use sides that were 3/8ths. But, depends what you want to use it for. I've used solid bottoms. I typically dado them into the sides with a little play and just put a spot of glue in the middle of the side. Wood movement for something that small isn't likely to be a big problem anyway.

[Mark Lincoln]

Yes, I know its a little thick. I whole heartily agree. I am currently auctioning off some old collections so I can acquire a band saw to resaw with.

So to under stand your point. Leave the bottom say a 1/16" gap in a dado joint all around. and then build the box around it with just a touch of glue. So the bottom will more or less be free, but be held in place in two small locations.

[Brian Fulkerson]

The last Jewelery Box that I did included a simple rabbit at the bottom with the matching wood. Because I had drawer (plywood) separators, it was not needed for structural reasons, just asthetics. Therefore it was able to be only about 1/8 to 1/4'' thick if I can remember.

I agree however that a dado with little glue is your best option for solids.

[glenn bradley]

I use floating panels pretty much as Eric describes for the bottoms regardless of material. I generally do a construction like so (except the bottom piece is captured, of course):

[Mark Lincoln]

Thank you for the responses.