[bobioden]

Mods, if this is in the wrong forum, please move it.


I have been wanting a pen storage case for some time now. My pens are all over, some in drawers, some on my desk, and some still in their boxes.

Nothing I have seen has jumped out at me and said take me home. I did see a case made out of a Cigar Box and since I have a number of them I decided that was the way to go.

Here is a Step-by-Step with pictures on how my case came together.

The pen trays were ordered from gopens.com, there are 6 colors available, I choose the Gray.

Here is the box I decided to use. I chose this one because I wanted 2 trays. The size is 11 1/2"x8"x2"



Here is a pic of the inside of the box



Here is a pic of the grey trays



I needed something to support the top tray. These paint stirrers for Ace Hardware fit the bill. They were also free. They are 1" wide so I cut them down to 3/4" with an Exacto knife. I doubled up on the side ones to give it some more depth



The box with the side supports



After cutting the bottom tray to fit, this is how it turned out.



I used a piece of fiberboard cut a bit smaller than the inside dimensions to make the base for the top tray



Here is how it looked in the box



I cut another gray tray and glued it to the fiberboard, and added some tabs to the sides so I can remove the tray when I need to get to the bottom tray.



Here is a look of the top tray in the box



Bottom tray with pens



Top tray with pens



Top tray in box.



The whole project took all of 2 hours tops. I like the fact that all my pens are together and I was able to use one of my own cigar boxes. This case holds 28 pens, as my collections grows, I will just make another

Any questions or comments are welcome.

[bluecrayon]

What a great idea. To be able to use one collectable to display another really personalizes your collection. And a nice collection it is.
Dan

[helius]

That is neat!

I've been wanting a decent case for my nicer pens, and the specialty pen cases are just a little expensive. And every time I've wanted to get one, I ended up getting a pen instead!

[p-zero]

VERY NICE!!

[Maja]

Nice job! I remember the thread in which you asked what colour pen trays to order. The grey background shows off your pens nicely (as I suspected ).

Last week, I got a free cigar box from a pen store that also sells fine cigars and am planning to convert it to a pen box, too. It's not as nice as the thick wooden cigar box you have and it's smaller, but I think it may be able to accomodate two layers of pens.

[HyperCamper]

That looks really great! By the way, where can those trays be ordered?

Edit: Woops! Just read where they can...

This post has been edited by HyperCamper: 10 December 2006 - 06:32 PM

[bobioden]

Thanks all for the nice compliments.

Maja- I am glad I took your suggestion on the gray tray. I really does show off the pens nicely. Thanks again.

HyperCamper - The trays came from gopens.com They come in 6 colors, 12"x16" that are just cut with a scissors.



Bob

[scout]

What a great idea - thanks for sharing! Now I have a use for my grandfather's cigar box.

Thanks!

[sonia_simone]

Nicely done! And thanks for the detailed step-by-step. Hmm, I just might give this a try.

[scribbler]

Very nice! Thanks for the pictorial how-to (which will come in handy once I find a cigar smoker with extra boxes, lol).

[mfwebb]

I have bookmarked this thread and am keeping it for future reference.

I realise that I have a beautiful wooden box of almost the same dimensions which started life as a storage box for 35mm slides.

I have transferred the slides to another spare (plastic) slide box and removed the fittings from the original, leaving myself with a polished wooden box with a red velveteen bas just ready for fitting out.

I will let you know when I've done it.

[sonia_simone]

Well, I got started anyway by putting the pens lying around my desk in a cigar box, wrapped up any old how in crumpled linen nib wipes.

Will check out gopens.

[DRP]

Ingenious!

[Netnemo]

I really appreciate your cigar case, because of it is YOUR work, because of it a good recycling idea, and because pen cases cost a lot!!
My next pen case must be made by myself.
maybe with decoupage of my gf.

[Judybug]

What a beautiful pen case!

Judybug