Study of a Bearded and Turbaned Man Carrying a Chest MET DP837789

A wooden box is a

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

made of

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

for storage or as a

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...

. Construction may include several types of wood;

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

(timber),

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

engineered wood Engineered wood, also called mass timber, composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibres, veneers, or boards of wood, ...

s, etc. For some purposes, decorative woods are used.

Boxes as shipping containers

Wooden

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

es are often used for heavy duty

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coo ...

when * high strength is needed for heavy and difficult loads * long term warehousing may be needed * large size is required * rigidity is required * when stacking strength is critical Boxes and

crate A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reus ...

s are not the same. If the sheathing of the container (plywood, lumber, etc.) can be removed, and a framed structure will remain standing, the container would likely be termed a crate. If removal of the sheathing resulted in there being no way of fastening the lumber around the edges of the container, the container would likely be termed a wooden box. The strength of a wooden box is rated based on the weight it can carry before the cap (top, ends, and sides) is installed. "Skids" or thick bottom runners, are sometimes specified to allow forklift trucks access for lifting. Performance is strongly influenced by the specific design, type of wood, type of fasteners ( nails, etc.), workmanship, etc. Some boxes have

handles A handle is a part of, or an attachment to, an object that allows it to be grasped and manipulated by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt with intuitively or by following t ...

, ''hand holes'', or ''hand holds''.

Nailed wood box

Cleated box

A cleated box has five or six panel faces with wood strips attached to them. The panels can be made of

, solid or

corrugated fiberboard Corrugated fiberboard, corrugated cardboard, or corrugated is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for maki ...

, etc. Wooden cleats reinforce the panels.

Wirebound box

Very thin lumber is used for a wirebound box. Wires are stapled or stitched to the girth and to wood cleats. These are sometimes used for

produce In American English, produce generally refers to wikt:fresh, fresh List of culinary fruits, fruits and Vegetable, vegetables intended to be Eating, eaten by humans, although other food products such as Dairy product, dairy products or Nut (foo ...

and for heavy loose items for military or export use. These are lighter than wood boxes or crates. They have excellent tensile strength to contain items but not much stacking strength.

Skid box

A skid box is a wood,

, or metal box attached to a heavy duty

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a Loader (equipment), front loader, a Jack (mechanical), jacking device, or an erect cra ...

or platform on a skid (parallel wood runners)

Other wooden boxes

Decorative boxes

Chest

References

ASTM standards

ASTM ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is a standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical international standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and s ...

standards: * D6179 Standard Test Methods for Rough Handling of Unitized Loads and Large Shipping Cases and Crates * D6199 Standard Practice for Quality of Wood Members of Containers and Pallets * D6251 Standard Specification for Wood-Cleated Panelboard Shipping Boxes * D6253 Practice for Treatment and/or marking of Wood Packaging Materials * D6254 Standard Specification for Wirebound Pallet-Type Wood Boxes * D6256 Standard Specification for Wood-Cleated Shipping Boxes and Skidded, Load-Bearing Bases * D6573 Standard Specification for General Purpose Wirebound Shipping Boxes * D6880-05 Standard Specification for wooden boxes

General references

* McKinlay, A. H., "Transport Packaging", IoPP, 2004 * Yam, K. L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2009, {{Authority control Containers Wood Shipping containers