Pen boxes

[Fred in NC]

I am interested in what kind of boxes are being used by other members of this forum, especially those that are not generally available from pen kit suppliers.

Anybody with an idea for a shop made box that looks good and is easy to make ?

Thanks !!!

 

[Guest]

I have made my own similar in designs that I have seen online with the difference being most of the manufactured boxes have "grooves that are 1/2' wide.I amke mine 5/8ths and 3/4".
The other is the finish and wood selection.
I had a customer who wanted a box darker than the Brazilizn rose wood and maple ones I showed her.
Out of desperation i bought some walnut ones from Woodcraft and made some of my own.
I showed her both and she selected mine even though I charged double the price of the Woodcraft boxes.
(I don't mark them up, I'm not in the buisness of selling boxes unless I make my own.)
I poated a picture of one of my boxes on my in my album

 

[C_Ludwigsen]

Eagle, that is a NICE box. I currently don't provide boxes with purchased pens. But am considering it if they pay for it. I was going to stick with the simple slide top lid.

Where do you get your hinges and magnet catches?

 

[Guest]

Hinges are available from Wood Craft but I also got some through Ryan and Jason at Woodturningz.
The magnets are rare earth magnets I purchased
here:
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D42E
I only make them for special orders.

 

[Tropical]

This might sound like a dumb question.... What type of router bit do you use to make the groove? Does it have to be a "plunging" bit? I have been doing some research on router bits as I plan on making matching wooden boxes for some of my pens. Thanks.

 

[Daniel]

Tropical,
the bit I woudl use is called a bullnose bit and es it is a plunging bit.
I will e-mail you with an alternative method. it requires a router table though.

 

[wayneis]

If you have a Dremel tool and a router attachment you could make a template and route the groves that way.

Wayne

 

[Kurt Aebi]

I use a 1/2" Core Box router bit for my boxes and yes, it has a plunge cut ability. I start out with about an 1/8" cut depth and then go over it again and again at different depths until I've reached the required depth I need. I do have a dedicated jig setup for my router table for this with stops so that I can make them uniform.

It is a lot of fun, and if you are safety consious, it is easy and safe to do.

Also, the "Bullet" or "Barrel" hinges from PSI or Ryan @ Woodturningz are very easy to use and work quite well for these boxes. Standard hinges and clasps that youcan get locally work well, too but the hinges from Ryan are about $5 for 10 sets.

 

[Gary]

Two other good sources for this type of hardware are Lee Valley and Rockler.