Stobes21 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Dumb question perhaps, but I'm thinking about building a canvas covered gun case to transport my break action shotgun to and from the range. Something like this, which looks way classier in my mind than a plastic case. So anyway, the basic box needs to be strong and durable but as light as possible. Appearance doesn't matter since it'll be covered. I was thinking 3/8 or 1/2" Baltic birch ply would be the ideal material since it is strong, stable, and lightweight. But I was wondering if a lightweight solid wood like poplar would be stronger planed down to an equivalent thickness. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Generally speaking as plywood is made of multiple plys with grain running at right angles to adjacent plys it will be much stronger than a similar thickness solid wood which can split along the grain. Fibreglass and carbon fibre layups are done in a similar way and produce super strong lightweight structures. There are always exceptions and somebody may know of a super strong wood. I would make the case from 1/4" to 5/16" thick materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Solid wood that thin is way more likely to react to changes in humidity, and not in a good way. I'd go with thin plywood, maybe with solid wood reinforcement in the corners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krtwood Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Solid wood is stronger along the grain than plywood but plywood is more uniform. A solid wood shelf will sag less than a plywood shelf. Think torsion box though. Two layers of 3mm BB with a 1/4" web between them will be almost as strong as 12mm BB but significantly lighter. Put the grain direction of the two skins at 90 degrees to each other since 3mm BB is really bendy across the grain and that will help balance out any twist in the plywood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stobes21 Posted February 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 I would make the case from 1/4" to 5/16" thick materials. How would you join the panels? I've never tried joining multiple pieces of 1/4" ply. Box joints maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 If you follow krtwood's suggestion, and make a torsion panel design, you could use 1/4" solid wood strips for the interior bracing and edges. That would give you 1/2" thick edges to work with, and box joints would be super strong. I think I may steal your idea, there are a couple of long guns in my closet that deserve a nicer case.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Solid wood corners and 1/4 Baltic birch is incredibly strong for its weight . The fabric cover adds some strength and abrasion resistance too, maybe a light canvas glued on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponderingturtle Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Solid wood is stronger along the grain than plywood but plywood is more uniform. A solid wood shelf will sag less than a plywood shelf. Think torsion box though. Two layers of 3mm BB with a 1/4" web between them will be almost as strong as 12mm BB but significantly lighter. Put the grain direction of the two skins at 90 degrees to each other since 3mm BB is really bendy across the grain and that will help balance out any twist in the plywood. Strictly speaking this depends on how one is loading it. It would be almost as strong in torsion loads, much weaker in tension and compression, and vastly weaker in shear. Of course torsion loading is the most common way wood fails so for most uses this is true. Quick primer on kinds of forces. https://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/wpi_/lessons/wpi_forces/wpi_lesson_1.xml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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