Box for large pens (for sale)

I enjoy making boxes this one is for large fountain pens by large I mean around 25 mm in diameter and up to 170 mm in length.

This is the starting point four pieces of oak this is 15 mm x 40 mm

Oak cut to size and mitred ready to be glued up.

The pieces of oak are taped together in pairs.

Once all four pieces were taped together I did a dry fit before adding glue and fixing the final piece of tape.

I allowed the glue to dry for a few hours before fitting a top and bottom I used marine plywood because I was planning on veneering the whole box.

These are the pieces of veneer I have for the top.

Here is the box complete with its veneer.

Before the veneer was fully dry I made the mistake of wetting it to see what it would look like when finished which has caused some issues with a gap in the centre joint.

I dont like the gap and find the best way to deal with a mistake is just to get on with it and put it right. In order to put this right I applied another piece of veneer this time a single piece.

I like this veneer it has god contrast between light and dark sections. I did not want a plastic type of finish like polyurethane. I wanted something more than wax so I decided to try an oil finish after a visit to a supplier I selected Danish oil which is a blend of oil and varnish.

After a couple of coats of the Danish oil.

Two more coats

This is the wet oil before any sanding, I should have mentioned a light sanding is required between coats.

Before I could continue I had to decide on the hinges once they arrived.

I was able to mark out the cut line to form the lid and base.

As I have some problems with my hands in particular my right hand I don’t look forward to cutting boxes in half. In fact that is why I stopped making boxes. I know a table saw or band saw would make this simple unfortunately I am unable to use either. So hand saws it is.

I applied some masking tape to make the line more visible and stop the veneer chipping with hindsight it would have been better to cover both sides of the line with tape because the veneer only chipped on the side without tape.

After tidying up the edges I cut some strips of veneer to glue to the inside edges.

I apply veneer with a cheap domestic iron which boils the glue until it is dry for the inside edges I stopped before the glue was fully cured and covered the edges with this black wrap it is used in packaging. The key thing is that glue does not stick to it.

I put the pieces together using the magnets to help position the two pieces. then applied some clamps at the corners and left it overnight. I have found that this gives a nice joint line (fingers crossed) I bet it does not work this time.

Now the glue has dried I have re finished with the Danish oil including the new inner edges. As you can see I have also cut the slots for the hinges.

Here is a trial fit of the hinges this picture was prior to the application of the Danish oil.

The outer of the box is now finished I need to think about the inside of the box now.

I am not sure about the inside of this box it could be any of these colours.

Or to be honest it could be none of the above

I decided to go with red suede as I had some handy.

I cut some pieces of thin grey board  to the depth of the lid which I wrapped in suede. Then I cut the piece for the inside of the lid.

I then cut four edge pieces for the base of the box and a bottom panel.

After wrapping the edge pieces in suede I started gluing the dividers to the base.

After the glue had dried I added some padding and covered it in suede.

The suede is only glued at the bottom of each slot.

Here is the finished base with some M B 149 s for a size comparison.

Final pictures of the finished box.

Thanks for looking

This box is for sale

Now sold

#pencase #Penboxes #Fountainpencase #Boxes #custompencase