One of the best things about being a maker of pen cases is transformations I have converted many boxes to hold pens from writing slopes to empty cutlery boxes.
Until now I have not done a chest of drawers so here it comes.
A small antique chest of drawers needs some trays made to convert it to hold 80 fountain pens.
Sounds pretty straight forward however the drawers are to valuable to ship to me so I have a fixed dimension. with that in mind I made a wooden frame to act as my sample drawer.
I asked my timber merchant to dimension the timber for me so when I picked it up it was ready to use it costs a little more but saves hours of preparation. I used a router to cut a groove to accommodate the base which is 3mm exterior grade plywood. The next step was to cut it to size and mitre all ends.
I did not use the band saw to cut the mitres it was just a handy flat place to keep them while I was cutting.
After mitres were cut I laid each piece end to end and using masking tape fixed them all together.
Adding some glue I folded the sides around the base and fixed with more tape which acts like a clamp holding everything in place while the glue dries.
You can see the first 4 trays in the background.
The tray looks like this.
Here are all 8 trays.
There are lots of different ways to accommodate pens in trays in this case we have lots of height so I decided to use a moulding called a “scotia moulding” basically it is a quarter of a circle putting 2 together gives a “U” shape. Making the moulding fit the trays to hold the desired number of pens meant taking 0.5mm off the sides of the moulding.
A band saw with a fence and feather board saves hours of sanding even with a bench sander. It creates a lot of scrap.
This is what they look like in the tray.
This was the only pen in the workshop honest!
Eight trays twenty pieces in each tray a lot of pieces.
In order to be able to cover the pen slots in some really nice suede they need to be fixed together. This is grey board I use lots of it. Now I need to glue all of the strips of moulding to the board.
I also removed the masking tape this morning and started sanding lots of sanding to do.
What I want to achieve is a set of pen slots that are even and smooth not a easy as it sounds. My solution is to apply a thin card over the wood the suede will be attached to the card and the card to the wood. It will become clear as we go I am sure.
Testing the card to see if it will form to the desired shape as you can see it has too much spring back.
Sometimes you have to persist to get the required look.
Now I need to attach the suede to the card spray adhesive is your friend here.
The next step is to apply the finish to the boxes and then I can work out how to bring the pieces together.
There were two choices for the finish on the wood clear wax or dark wax.
Contrast between finished and unfinished
Here are the first 2 trays finished only 6 more to go.
All 8 trays finished together for the first time.
Now packed ready for shipping
The trays have been received by their owner and have already been put to use.
