board widths (jewelry box + general)

[jlawrence]

Hi,
Tomorrow I start setting out my boards for a small jewelry chest - now I've tidied the shop enough to actually see some boards
The actual chest is going to be 220x140x140 mm - so quite small (or I think so).
What I'm not sure of is what thickness to make the actual wood. I'm thinking 10mm but looking at the sizes that might look a bit chunky. Perhaps a quick knock up in mdf (as a practice) would be a good idea so I can see what it actually will look like in real life.

On the question of thickness, what do people (Americans in particular) refer to 4quaters, 5 quaters, 6 quaters etc etc etc instead of 1 inch, 1 and quater inch etc etc. I'm sure there's a logical reason but I can't think of one.

 

[Woodmagnet]

4 quarters=1"
5 quarters=1"+1/4"
6quarters=1"+1/2" etc. iirc. Hope this helps j.l. :wink:

 

[jlawrence]

erm, thought I'd said that

refer to 4quaters, 5 quaters, 6 quaters etc etc etc instead of 1 inch, 1 and quater inch etc etc

What I was wondering was why ??


ADDED:
and I don't mean why does 4 quaters = 1 inch etc etc.
What I mean is why refer to 4 quaters ?

 

[Woodmagnet]

sorry, i've just woken up. I'm sure i know
the answer, just can't think straight at the
moment. (medication) :wink:

 

[jlawrence]

It's something I picked up on when watching a recent wood whisperer, I thought it obvious what Marc meant but I couldn't for the life of me think of a reason why he used the phraseology that he did. A quick search online didn't provide any clues - other than the fact that others use the same phrases.

 

[StevieB]

Depends how delicate I want the piece to look and how much wood I have to be honest. Somewhere between 10mm and 6mm. If using drawers or internal trays however then I tend to want these thinner than the box sides, and anything under 6mm is getting difficult to keep straight over any great length.

Steve

 

[jasonB]

Your method of joining the corners will also affect thickness, you won't get much contact area if using a rebate or mitre on 6mm stock so 10mm would be better. If using dovetails then 6mm will be OK. Also if using rebated hinges you will want at least 10mm.

Jason

 

[AndyT]

Why count in quarters? I'd have thought it was to make the mental arithmetic easier.

If you refer to a measurement as, say, 1½" and want to add it to ¾", then one way to do it is to change the 1½" to 6/4, add ¾, making 9/4, then turn that back to 2¼.

It's easier and less error prone to keep everything in quarters and just add 6 to 3 to make 9. The only oddity is accepting measurements as 'improper fractions' without wanting to reduce them to mixed numbers.

I guess what this proves is that a measurement method works well if the units are of such as size as to make the numbers easy to work with in your head.

I know we've done the imperial/metric thing before, but to me it makes sense to manipulate easy single digits rather than mm measurements with double digits.

 

[Hobbyshop]

With regard to the 4 quarters, 5 quarters etc. I believe I read an item online recently that claimed it related to the early Saw Mills that had adjustable stops in quarter inch intervals.
So the sawyer would set the cut thickness by adjusting the stops to 4 quarters, 5 quarters etc.

I can't remember where I read it, but it sounded feasible. I have been reading so much online recently trying to learn as much as I can, that it could have been just about anywhere. :roll:

 

[Digit]

When I were a nipper :lol: timber yards were lumber yards and they worked in quarters for two reasons apparently. One was to make sure that written orders were clear and the sawers also worked in quarters for cutting. On long lengths at least it was assumed that that was what would be lost during planing, in addition 2 inch stock was 2 inch, or 8s whether sold as planed or sawn.

Roy.