A Pair of two pen cases

1I have been contacted by a reader of this blog who wanted me to make a pair of cases for Nakaya desk pens each pen is 163 mm long and 15 mm in diameter.

The starting point for this project is four kydex arches like this.

Together with a backing plate they will form the inner core of the case.

After the kydex has been heated and formed to the required shape it needs to be wrapped. The inner section of this pair of cases are to be wrapped in suede like this..

I am about to start making a wooden form to mould the leather outer cover.

Here is the mould it is almost ready for use it just needs a little more sanding the leather that will form the front and back sections is 2 mm thick so the gap between the two pieces of the mould must be at least 2mm.

The mould was a little to low at 18 mm so I have added a 2 mm piece of grey board which I can shape easily to the contour that is required.

I finished the form earlier today and made a test pressing.

The reason for a test pressing is to check for tight spots.

After a little more sanding the form was working perfectly I have also marked out the back and front flap piece the colour difference is because the front piece is still wet.

Time to apply the dye.

One in burgundy and the other in black.

The burgundy colour will change a little as the dye dries.

I am recovering well from my surgery and have started to get back to my projects slowly. Here you can see todays progress on the black case

As this is the first of a pair of cases I have made a template for cutting the closure flap so they should be the same when finished.

Stitching will be the next step for these cases.

I have sewn the black case and the next step will be to shape and smooth the edges ready for finishing.

The dark red case is now glued together as these two are a pair I am trying to keep them the same.

Here are the two cases side by side the stitching on the black case looks a little wonky (a technical term) but there is a bend in the leather which I will sort out.

I have cut a strip to make the strap Which I will add when I sew the case together.

This is quite a long process I started off by marking lines as a guide I then used a pricking iron to mark out where the holes were required following the lines. Finally a diamond shaped awl is used to make the actual hole for the needles and thread which is 8 ft long with a needle on each end. As you can see my needles are quite bent I find they are very easy to use when they are bent but usually snap once the get to this point.

The thread is cream 0.8 mm Ritza Tiger thread.

I have just finished sewing the dark red case for the second time the first effort was very untidy on the back. the back will never be as neat as the front but I am much happier with the second effort.

As you can see I have trimmed the edges and started to sand them ready for finishing. The edges will be dyed to match the colour of the case and then sealed with beeswax.

Normally I would have rounded over the edges prior to finishing however the edges on these cases looked really good with the flat sides and square corners.

Almost finished I just need to check them over in daylight just to be sure everything is good.

Thanks for looking.

Michael.

This pair of cases have now arrived with their owners here are some pictures.

There was a third case in this set but it was a surprise so this is the first picture I have shared here you can see it with the Nakaya pen it was designed to protect.

It has made my day to see the cases I made being used to protect such beautiful pens.

#custompencase #Fountainpencase #leathercase #pencase