home made pen box

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Cloven

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I whipped this up the last couple days. It was a single block of African Mahogany I cut in half, then used our CNC router to scoop out the insides. I then used the CNC machine to cut the inlay channel in the lid and V carve my initials. I then planed some strips of Maple and filled the inlay. Sanded from 100 to 400, then three rubbings of boiled linseed oil. On the inside it's just a little piece of cotton canvas I folded to act as a bed for the pen.
The picture was taken with my tablet, I left my good camera and my good pens at home. I'll take a light box picture tomorrow with one of my pens in it, then add it to the end of this thread.
I was considering some kind of latch, but the weight of the lid does a pretty good job of making it close and stay shut.
Comments or suggestions? "oh, maybe consider a 45 degree chamfer on the lid to make it less boxy", or "paint the carved initials so they stand apart more", stuff like that is certainly welcome

 
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Cloven

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Here are the light box photos of the pen box. Maybe next time I will paint in the v-carving, or fill it somehow, because with the linseed oil and the darkness of the wood it only really stands out within maybe 45 degrees of vertical.

 

TimS124

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Apply painter's tape before you v-carve the initials. The bit should easily ignore the tape but leave you with cleanly masked edges (especially since you used large letters - doesn't work as well for me with small print).

Another option would be to oil the wood before carving the initials, apply a few coats of Shellac, carve, then use an acrylic paint. Any paint that gets outside the carving should wipe right off.

Apply another coat of shellac after the paint dries (to protect the paint).

I've used that approach on v-carved projects with very good results.

For your style of pen box, I would inlay the banding before oiling and applying shellac. Mostly to make certain the oil didn't interfere with gluing the inlay.

Alternately, glue the inlay with CA and it won't mind if there's linseed oil in the wood...

Nice pen box. Thanks for sharing. Which CNC router did you use?
 

Cloven

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I inlaid the banding before any sanding. It's not a string inlay, it actually goes in 1/4". The strip stuck out and I then just sanded it flush.
Maybe next time I'll v-carve the letters a touch deeper, then paint the face inside the letters and just around them, then sand the paint off the face but the paint in the letters will remain.
It's a General CNC icarver, a smaller scale CNC router, and programmed on ArtCAM Express.
I've made large boxes before, a bread box for our kitchen, a blanket box for our bedroom, a keepsake box for my wife, but this is the smallest box I've done so far. The guys who say you can't make these for the $30 or so you can buy a nice box for are certainly right. This took me about 2 hours to do, but it's a nice personalized touch if you're doing it for a specific person.
 

TimS124

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I would expect they can be done cheaper/faster with a jig to hold them right where you want (with instant repeatability for each new blank you pop into the jig). I've done that for v-carved inlay on ShopBots...even been able to prove I can carve on one machine, pop it out, pop it into a jig on another and hit dead-on exactly where I just carved. It's all about the jig/holddown. :)

I use V-Carve Pro and/or Aspire for most of my CNC toolpathing. Mostly because the maker space I started at had a site license for V-Carve (and Aspire is its big brother with 3D capabilities).

I have some pen box ideas in mind but haven't gotten around to them yet. I have done some other projects that required removing the workpiece between steps and remounting it for the next step.

Certainly, carving a hair deeper than you need and thickness sanding it would be a very simple way to go.
 
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