I have made my own but I went out and bought a 3/4 round nose bit.
My boxes have a better finish than the ones I buy but I certainly cannot justify the time in making them.
Bear in mind I made mine book matched tops and bottoms out of walnut.
When you are set up to do 25-30 boe xes that means you have a minimum of 50-60 halves and each was cut routed,sanded, shelaced, steel wooled wiped,oiled,sprayed 3 coats of lacquer,stleel wooled between coats,waxed and rubbed.
The the final pieces had to be drilled for barrel(pin hinges)
I did this trying to keep all the pieces matching.
In the process some had to be culled.
The amount of time spent making the boxes would have been better spent turning pens.
I later found that I could buy a Walnut box for $3.50 each.
The finish wasn't as good but I decided to live with it.
I still have one customer that wants me to make her boxes rather than supply imports.
One option you might consider is cut the ends off dado a groove and then glue the ends back on.
You can also buy an overpriced foam insert for the box which is removeable but the box would make a nice catch-all on a dresser for change and pocket junk.
You could also make the box like a small bandsaw box cutting the center section out with a bandsaw or scroll saw,glue the bottom back on(possibly use contrastin wood) and hinge the top.
I ahve not made a gents pen, the largest I have made to fate is a cigar ,but some of my perfit fits have custom shaped tops that don't fit in ready made boxes that have a 5/8ths recesss.
(Yeah, I know, not much help)
I bought my round nose bit at WC before I knew better.
I have since bought bits from wood line.
I bought a set at a wwking show, but I have heard from other wwkers that their online site is pretty good.
They have round nose bits up to 1&1/2"
and prices are pretty reasonable
http://www.woodline.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idcategory=130
<br />
