my next project : a box with hinged lid

[osx-addict]

Ok.. Now that I've got my first project out from under me, it's time to move on to the next project. My wife sells gift cards for the kids school to other parents in the school and has a plastic box with all of the cards in it that gets carted around and locked up afterwards. This box occasionally gets dropped by accident so it needs to be able to handle abuse to a point and have internal dividers to separate the cards alphabetically as a minimum. So, I was thinking I'd build her a box using some sort of hardwood from the local store. We actually just picked up some beech at the local store. However, the wood is a 1x6 and approx 3/4" thick -- I'm a bit concerned about how much that box might weigh when done -- the rough size of the box would be ~12"x14" and about 2" tall give or take (excluding any lid). Is there a way to determine weight of a wood project based on dimensions and wood species..? One thought I had was that I could take the 1x wood we bought and use the bandsaw to resaw it to something closer to 1/2" thick which might give a better payoff in terms of strength and also weight. Another option in lieu of doing the resawing might be to use the router with a fence to effectively make fluted slots in the material as a pattern or sorts but which would also remove heft overall.. In terms of construction, I was going to use finger/box joints for strength and build a jig so I can create them on the table saw. Comments?

[charlese]

You can re-saw 3/4" boards in half and plane down to 1/4". I've always found a re-sawn surface always needs planing. A hand plane will work, but a powered thickness planer is preferred by many.

1/4" boards will make a fine box with 1/4' box joints. You can make the bottom from 3/4' stock. All you need is correct sizing and a 1/4" rabbet around the edges of the bottom. Same with the top.

You might think about making the box taller and after taping the sides, saw off the lid. This way the lid will match the box perfectly.

Here's a couple posts about making wood boxes.
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpost.htm?p=96197&postcount=1

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpost.htm?p=96228&postcount=8

[osx-addict]

Thanks Chuck.. I'll do some more reading.. In the meantime I picked up some parts to make my first box jig from plans I got off the plansNow.com site care of one of the woodworking mags. It's easy to assemble and looks like it ought to do what I need without costing $100+... For the top/bottom, should I just use the 3/4" plywood for simplicity sake or I guess if I wanted thinner stock I could biscuit up some thinner material (probably 1/2" thick min would be my guess)..