Quote Originally Posted by xcergy View Post

What I am looking for is a mode that has a item (not packaged) weight attribute var in the [edit products page]details page. The cart would then total up item weight var, add a tare wt (the box and packing), and then generate a new shipping charge base on the unit shipping.
This is possible with a standard install. You can configure the table and zone rates modules to calculate shipping badsed on the total WEIGHT of the customer's order (cart).

You need to give each product a weight value (Done in the add/edit product screen).

You set TARE values in admin >>> configuration >>> shipping/packaging .