It's sort of surprising how much thinking has to go into cutting down a box to avoid having to tape pieces of cardboard back on that have been thoughtlessly cut off unnecessarily. It's partially arithmetic, partially geometry, and partially mechanics.
... but I've gotten pretty good at it over the years.We always try to stretch wrap large boxes, because who knows what's going to happen to them on the way and how much temperature, humidity, and even precipitation might compromise the tape, particularly on a cut down box.
At the end, Mrs. bloke informed me that we had used up our big roll of stretch wrap, and she pulled out the Saran Wrap. I gave her a skeptical eye, and she told me it would work just fine - and to just not quite pull as hard as with the stretch wrap.
She was right. It might be a mill thinner or something like that, but it's nearly as strong as stretch wrap and it worked great. Since it's probably barely thinner and the box was so big, I ran 2 inch clear tape around the box three times one way and three times the other way - towards the ends and in the center (over the Saran Wrap, which had been stretched).
I think it will do just fine.
...so I'm heading off to ship this, mail the bill payments (envelopes on the box), and stop by a school to silver-braze a broken F-attachment lever. (I live way too far away from everything to just go out to do one single errand).
Packing recording basses for shipping always reminds me of this video: