How thick do you make your box sides?

[Lopaka Garcia]

How thick do you guys/gals make the sides on your jewlery boxes? I'm sure it depends on the size of the box, but is there a general rule of thumb when it comes to thickness? I know the type of hinge set-up also makes a difference too.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Depends on what you want and how you want to build. That's the best answer.
I've made a couple with thickness in the 1/4" up to 3/8" range. However if you are sculpting you may want lots of material or less or various thicknesses in the same piece.

[Jim Becker]

It's all about proportion, so yes, size does matter. The few I have done ranged from 1/4" up through 1/2".

[Lopaka Garcia]

Wow that seems like a very thin box Cliff. My boxes are at least 1/2" for the smaller boxes and I thought that was thin. Most of the Koa boxes I see around here have probably 6/8" sides I'm guessing or very near that. I like barrel hinges and even with the smallest size, minimum thickness is 1/2". But like you said, it depend on what the box is for. Mine and the ones I'm talking about are jewelry boxes.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Wow that seems like a very thin box
Yah getting hinges on that one was a challange. It was double stacked box of Teak with simple finger joints in a basic rectangular geometry. The 1/4" box was an early effort. Since then I've made my own hinges from a complimentary or identical lumber.
My lided boxes have all been jewlery boxes. I've made some open tops boxes employing lots of angles to give the boxes a highly worked nuvo look using mixed woods.
Boxes aren't my thing but, I'll do one when the mood strikes.

Maybe next time I'll might try a flowing carved sculpted look sort of like some of the stuff that Mark Levin is doing (which I suspect was inspired by Livio De Marchi).
Levin, unlike Marchi, prefers to highlight the fact of the joinery while Marchi hides it.

[Parker Nicholson]

1/4" usually for the few I've made... Unless someone asks for something different, that's my standard.

[Dave Fifield]

3/8" to 5/8" depending on the overal size of the jewelry box. This one I made had just under 1/2" sides/back/front:

http://www.daveswoodenwonders.com/Woodwork/jewel_chest_2_s.jpg (http://www.daveswoodenwonders.com/Woodwork/jewel_chest_2.jpg)

IMO, the wood thickness will depend on the overal size, function, finish, robustness, and artistry of the final product, so you have to judge it on a project by project basis. As for hinges, I usually selelct the hinge to fit the width of the case and function of the project, so it's one of the last things I consider.

Dave F.

[Michael Stafford]

I almost never use wood thicker than 1/2" for most boxes with 3/8" the most typical thickness. You do have to take into consideration how you are going to hinge it but even then 1/2" is plenty thick for most hinge applications. If you use thick wood the box gets a heavy chunky look IMHO.

[Lee DeRaud]

For me, 3/8" nominally, sometimes closer to 1/2". The hinges I use have 3/8" flanges (or whatever they're called). I've also got some 5mm barrel hinges that are supposed to work in 3/8" stock but I haven't tried them yet.