Justin, it is not rude at all. He is a real good friend of mine and since I do not have to purchase any of the wood that I used, I gave the set to him for $65.00. I generally get $85.00 for one of these boxed sets ($30-Pen, $30-Pencil and $25-Box).
The box isn't as tough as you may think. Just plane some material to 5/8" thick, cut it to length (6-1/2") and rip to width (2-1/2") and using a router table and round-nose bit (9/16" dia) and a couple of stop blocks to mill the slots (takes a few passes, raising the router bit a little at a time) The slots are the same distance in from the side, so just turn the box to do the second slot. After teh slots ate done, just replace the round nose bit with a roundover but (I use a 3/8", but a 1/2" or whatever you have will work) and make passes on every side except where the slots are. Sandiing is what generally takes the most time. To do the slots, I use a pencil with one of those slip on replacement erasers to wrap the sandpaper around to get into the slots. Then a few coats of gloss w/b Poly and you are all done. (I sand the Poly with 400 wet/dry paper between coats and then buff with the 3-wheel system on the outside). I have more fun making the boxes than the pens, I think!
By the way, His father really, really liked it.