Tim asks:
We have a customer that is looking to add hand holes to their box but don’t want to lose any strength or have the hand hole tear on them. We are curious if there are any new smarter cutout designs out there for hand holes that are different from the commonly used ones (3.5″ x 1″). The box is carrying approximately 45#’s with an ID of approximately 15″ X 13″ X 12″ (350# BC). We are trying to avoid, for cost reasons, any foreign support device such as sesame tape or reinforced hand holes. Any suggestions?
Tim-
I turned to Rick Putch of Dicar to get you an answer for your question. Below is Rick’s response.
“The standard Hinged Handhole has been around as you know for 50 years. What has changed significantly is the tear resistance of our linerboard today, therefore the “hinge” must not allow additional stress at the corners.
Take a look at the Handhole_options file and feel free to contact me with further questions at rickp@dicar.com or 412-979-3775.”
-Rick
askralph 
November 10, 2011 at 8:32 am
Tim-
I’m not sure if you have partitions going into the box. If so we use a product called Tough Tote where the partitions have an extra panel off the ends with a handhole cut out. This panel folds against the walls of the carton and actually let’s you lighten up on the box strength (reducing fiber and box cost) and the handholes are extreemly difficuilt to crush when lifting. It utilizes a standard cut out handhole or hinged handhole.
In our applications of use it just didn’t make sense to use heavy boxes so that the handholes did not tear and as you mentioned no foreign support applications were needed. I can send you more info if you want or ask Ralph to post the info and pictures.