Big Ol' Pen Chest Project

[MrThoth]

Here’s my latest — and to date biggest — pen storage project. I got this cabinet on eBay for a total of $50:

It’s 19” across, 15” deep, and 14” tall. As you can see, it has six drawers. The bottom two are deeper than the other four. Unfortunately they’re not deep enough to hold bottles of ink, nor to put in two levels of pen storage trays comfortably, so there’s a bit of wasted space — but not enough to make my OCD self fidgety.

Some former owner of the cabinet had converted it into a humidor by inserting wooden slats to create storage compartments for cigars:

Fortunately, the slats lifted right out:

In a real stroke of luck, the drawers are almost exactly the same size as a 24-slot slotted tray from gopens.com:

Since there was about an inch left over, I got some 1” wide decorative molding at Home Depot, cut it to fit, and then cut the slotted tray in two. (I intend to paint the molding a matching green, but left it unpainted here for contrast so it shows up easily in the pictures.)

Voila! For a total cost of about $100 ($50 cabinet, $42 for slotted trays, about $8 for the molding), I have a sturdy and fairly attractive pen storage chest that holds 288 pens. Here’s an example tray:

Now I just need 288 fountain pens.

One thing I particularly like about this chest is that it doesn’t have a top that lifts up. That means I can put another pen storage chest on top of it, such as the Venlo I use to store my Cross Townsend collection, without any inconvenience.

More projects coming soon, same Thoth-time, same Thoth-channel! ::cue theme music::

Edited October 25, 2014 by MrThoth

[MrThoth]

Addendum: as you can see, the 7" slots easily hold even my longest pens. The relative narrowness of the slots of the gopens.com trays (as opposed to the wider slots in the trays I get from Pendora) means that "fat" pens (like my Visconti Homo Sapiens or Stipula Gladiator) stick up a bit, but not enough to cause problems.

[risingsun]

Well done!

[TXKat]

This is a great cabinet!!

[DrCodfish]

Love it! There is a bigger pen chest in the works for me and I hope to create a couple deeper bottom drawers to accommodate ink bottles and ephemera. Some thing functional and pleasant like yours would fit the bill. Can you describe the drawer slide arrangement? Do the drawers slide on rails, or slots? (assume no fancy drawer slide hardware)

[Art]

Great cabinet. You have a good eye for finding that.

[highlander1307]

Simply wonderful.

[MrThoth]

 

 

Can you describe the drawer slide arrangement? Do the drawers slide on rails, or slots?

 

The drawers slide on rails that they rest on top of. They slide very smoothly -- empty at least. We'll see if the weight of pens changes that.

 

 

 

Great cabinet. You have a good eye for finding that.

 

Thanx! Wait 'til you see a couple I have in the works. I have to figure out some technical issues, not being a skilled handyman sort, but hopefully the end result will match my vision.

[fountainpagan]

Great chest. Nice catch.

[ThreeForMe]

When you found this chest on ebay, what was it listed under? humidor? pen chest?

[Tasmith]

 

Here’s my latest — and to date biggest — pen storage project. I got this cabinet on eBay for a total of $50:

288 Chest 01 The Chest Itself.jpg

It’s 19” across, 15” deep, and 14” tall. As you can see, it has six drawers. The bottom two are deeper than the other four. Unfortunately they’re not deep enough to hold bottles of ink, nor to put in two levels of pen storage trays comfortably, so there’s a bit of wasted space — but not enough to make my OCD self fidgety.

Some former owner of the cabinet had converted it into a humidor by inserting wooden slats to create storage compartments for cigars:

288 Chest 02 Drawer With Slats.jpg

Fortunately, the slats lifted right out:

288 Chest 03 Empty Drawer.jpg

In a real stroke of luck, the drawers are almost exactly the same size as a 24-slot slotted tray from gopens.com:

288 Chest 04 Uncut Tray.jpg

Since there was about an inch left over, I got some 1” wide decorative molding at Home Depot, cut it to fit, and then cut the slotted tray in two. (I intend to paint the molding a matching green, but left it unpainted here for contrast so it shows up easily in the pictures.)

288 Chest 05 Drawer Sans Pens.jpg

Voila! For a total cost of about $100 ($50 cabinet, $42 for slotted trays, about $8 for the molding), I have a sturdy and fairly attractive pen storage chest that holds 288 pens. Here’s an example tray:

288 Chest 06 Drawer With Pens.jpg

Now I just need 288 fountain pens.

One thing I particularly like about this chest is that it doesn’t have a top that lifts up. That means I can put another pen storage chest on top of it, such as the Venlo I use to store my Cross Townsend collection, without any inconvenience.

More projects coming soon, same Thoth-time, same Thoth-channel! ::cue theme music::

 

 

 

 

The drawers slide on rails that they rest on top of. They slide very smoothly -- empty at least. We'll see if the weight of pens changes that.

 

 

Thanx! Wait 'til you see a couple I have in the works. I have to figure out some technical issues, not being a skilled handyman sort, but hopefully the end result will match my vision.

I like to natural color of the moulding. Separates the two halves nicely. Just put a coat of Tung Oil, varnish, paste wax or polyurathan to seal it and match the drawer color better.

 

If the drawers stick, just put a dab of paste wax on the rails, work back and forth a few times and they will glide smoothly.

[MrThoth]

 

 

When you found this chest on ebay, what was it listed under? humidor? pen chest?

 

This particular one was listed under Jewelry Boxes & Organizers > Jewelry Boxes > Wood.

 

At the risk of exposing myself to competition, I have found affordable (even cheap!) but high-quality items suitable for conversion into pen chests by using such search terms as:

 

pen chest

jewelry box

jewelry chest

machinist chest

tool chest

apothecary chest

chest of drawers

humidor

 

You can substitute "cabinet" or "box" for "chest" in some instances. You may also want to add the search term "drawer" or "drawers" so you pull up items with multiple small drawers. Adding "wood" or "wooden" (and excluding terms like "metal") may also help, assuming that like me you don't find metal tool chests/boxes aesthetically pleasing for pen storage.

 

The Gerstner brand of chests may also be useful a search term, since they have lots of drawers and are of high quality, but they're usually also quite expensive. Reed & Barton is a similar name for jewelry chests.

 

I hope that helps -- good luck with your searches!

[fountainpagan]

Dentist chest works also.

[MrThoth]

 

I like to natural color of the moulding. Separates the two halves nicely. Just put a coat of Tung Oil, varnish, paste wax or polyurathan to seal it and match the drawer color better.

If the drawers stick, just put a dab of paste wax on the rails, work back and forth a few times and they will glide smoothly.

 

Thanks for the tips! I have a couple other chests that definitely need the paste wax treatment.

[MrThoth]

 

 

Dentist chest works also.

 

I knew I was forgetting one! Thanx for the catch.

 

I've never found a dentist chest I liked enough to bid on, since many of them are larger than tabletop size or too modernist for my taste, but dentist chests could definitely make for good pen storage.

 

I think map chests/cabinets might also serve for pens, but if I get a map cabinet I'm going to use it to store my 1920s/30s map collection.

[Yaakova]

Wow! Want!

[inkstainedruth]

Nice job. Thanks for giving folks the info as to what to search for.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[fountainpagan]

 

I knew I was forgetting one! Thanx for the catch.

 

I've never found a dentist chest I liked enough to bid on, since many of them are larger than tabletop size or too modernist for my taste, but dentist chests could definitely make for good pen storage.

 

I think map chests/cabinets might also serve for pens, but if I get a map cabinet I'm going to use it to store my 1920s/30s map collection.

 

You may add vintage to it