Cigar Box Pen Storage Case

[BamaPen]

Pen2paper,I like your cigar box pen storage cases and I really like the beautiful quilt the boxes are sitting on. Besides vintage pens I love vintage handmade textiles.

 

Thanks. My wife made the quilt and it happened to be in a spot with good light when I took the pictures.

[BamaPen]

I've just tried a new tray/divider technique and so far I like it pretty well. It's an "all felt" system. I used the sticky-back felt from Hobby Lobby. I cut strips long enough to reach the length of the tray and 24 mm wide and then scored them down the middle and 8 mm either side of the middle. That gives a stip that is scored three times at 3mm from each edge and down the center. Before removing the paper backing, I pre-folded the felt - mountain fold in the center, valley folds on the outside scores. Then I removed the backing paper and carefully stuck the felt to itself down the center, being sure not to let the two outside 3mm strips get caught up in the stickyness. This yields an upside-down T-shaped piece that forms an 8mm tall divider. I then stuck the T down to my tray along a measured line (to keep it aligned). I repeated this for each divider location in the tray. Afterward, I cut strips of the same felt just wide enough to fit tightly between the dividers, overlapping the part of the T that is adhered to the tray. By pressing down these strips, I got a slight trough in the center. I lined the walls of the tray with the same felt so that no pen ever touches wood.

 

Sorry, no pictures yet. Traveling now, so pix will have to wait a few days.

 

Obviously you can make your dividers taller if you wish by adjusting the measurements, but these work pretty well for all sizes of pens.

 

The only advantage of this technique over using Gary's preformed plastic flocked trays is that you can adjust the width of the individual pen slots to best fit the width of your tray. It is considerably more work that using his trays, however.

[joep01]

This is so neat! Now my storage problem has been solved! Thanks!Chris

 

I lucked out and JUST found some Michel Delacroix cigar boxes on Ebay - two from the platinum series and one much larger box. Well, I left one of the two platinum boxes in stock form and am holding ink bottles in it, though I intend to line the internals w/ felt at some point. The other one turned out fine after another quick conversion. I used one of the wooden blocks that came w/ the box itself to take-up some excess space and will probably leave it, but perhaps covered w/ felt.

 

But I was really happy with the large green box (into which I placed one of Gary's green trays, cut to fit) - it looks neat. I might redo it and insert a divider to take better use of the space but might not.

 

If you've never made one of these cases, don't worry - they're so easy to convert that even I can do it. You buy a cigar box, buy a tray from Gary, cut the tray to fit the box dimensions, and if you're only starting w/ one-level (which I recommend) then you just insert the tray and let friction do its thing to hold it in. (note: I used a piece of hard foam in the deep boxes (which could be 2-level) to take-up space and provide an artificial floor for the pen tray itself. Otherwise the pens would be too deep into the box for my taste.) Seriously, it will take 15min, if you measure twice to cut just once!

 

What I haven't heard anyone mention, though, is the fact that not all cigar boxes are created equally, and you can get ones like the Montecristo Platinum Delacroix boxes that I favor, which have EXCELLENT hinges and overall quality of construction. You wouldn't believe how solid this box is. And the hinges are spectacular.

 

But you can end-up paying more for less and get a box on Ebay that's of very poor quality, flimsy or not sturdy feeling, but worst of all, lacking in robust hinges to secure the lid. Though I have NO AFFILIATION with him, I recommend that you check with the vendor on Ebay who I got my boxes from. He's REALLY friendly and was willing to measure the boxes for me and also identify ones of similar build quality so that I had a back-up. Just an all-around really helpful and pleasant person - and he's in Ohio. I explained to him what I was doing and now he's up to speed on the cigar box to fountain pen case conversion! lol. Here's his store.

 

For those who wonder what I'm talking about, here is a link to someone selling the cigar box w/ the tray and individual cigar tubes. Yes, the "green" box comes w/ a plastic fake felt tray that is actually well-sized for pens, but too fragile for our needs. I didn't pay anywhere near $50+ for the box, though, and if you keep your eyes open on ebay they are around $19 or $20, and well worth it (pen trays from Gary are inexpensive).

 

http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.77749959.jpg

 

These definitely aren't about efficiency so much for me as they are about aesthetic pleasure.

 

 

How do you keep the pens from flying around the box, the idea is very cool, but how to secure them from moving aroung too much? ...Dan

 

I don't intend to use my cigar box fountain pen cases for transporting the pens, as you're right, they would absolutely move about. Just static display for me.

Edited November 3, 2010 by joep01

[Vicbowling]

Nice tutorial! I love that case and your pens are really lovely too.

[rickboone]

I like this.

[Gobblecup]

I will have to share pictures later, but I recently bought a bunch of Cigar boxes cheaply and just built a velvet lined pen tray into one. Maybe I will do a step by step on my next project to show you guys. Its a little more labor than the "plop a pen tray in" way, but it comes out quite luxurious!

 

Edit: when I say build I mean I used wood to make a pen tray and the lined it with Velvet, its a good fun project!

Edited November 9, 2010 by Gobblecup

[BamaPen]

Earlier in this thread, I posted the following description of a tray divider style I had just used for the first time:

I've just tried a new tray/divider technique and so far I like it pretty well. It's an "all felt" system. I used the sticky-back felt from Hobby Lobby. I cut strips long enough to reach the length of the tray and 24 mm wide and then scored them down the middle and 8 mm either side of the middle. That gives a stip that is scored three times at 3mm from each edge and down the center. Before removing the paper backing, I pre-folded the felt - mountain fold in the center, valley folds on the outside scores. Then I removed the backing paper and carefully stuck the felt to itself down the center, being sure not to let the two outside 3mm strips get caught up in the stickyness. This yields an upside-down T-shaped piece that forms an 8mm tall divider. I then stuck the T down to my tray along a measured line (to keep it aligned). I repeated this for each divider location in the tray. Afterward, I cut strips of the same felt just wide enough to fit tightly between the dividers, overlapping the part of the T that is adhered to the tray. By pressing down these strips, I got a slight trough in the center. I lined the walls of the tray with the same felt so that no pen ever touches wood.

 

Sorry, no pictures yet. Traveling now, so pix will have to wait a few days.

 

Obviously you can make your dividers taller if you wish by adjusting the measurements, but these work pretty well for all sizes of pens.

 

The only advantage of this technique over using Gary's preformed plastic flocked trays is that you can adjust the width of the individual pen slots to best fit the width of your tray. It is considerably more work that using his trays, however.

I now have a picture of two CAO Criollo box drawers on my web site. One drawer uses this "all felt" divider/liner technique and the other has individual wood strips with felt on the sides as dividers. Here's the link...scroll down partway to see this picture.

 

http://jehubbard.com/hobbies/cao_criollo_box.htm

 

I think the pens show up a little better in the "all felt" version, but the wooden dividers look nicer themselves.

[joep01]

As you know, I favor using the Montecristo Platinum boxes from the Michel Delacroix havana series of four designs for my conversions. I've completed four now, and recently came into possession of two of the designs that I did not have. I'm going to convert them, but I must dispose of, on the open market, one of the "Twilight in Havana" edition Montecristo Platinum cigar box fountain pen case conversions in order to free up space and cover the cost of another order of trays from GoPens. I'd love to hear suggestions on what color tray to use, given the color cues from the "Twilight in Havana" print and the secondary colors of the box (silver, white and black w/ cedar interior, of course).

 

Maybe red? Black?

 

Anyway, I guess I should just list the case I'm going to sell in the for sales, right? It's one w/ a tan tray above a compressed-foam base.

[iiixvix]

I've seen custom/diy displays for body jewelry before (very similar to this, using tackle boxes and cigar boxes), but didn't even think to apply the same concept to my new pen hobby!

 

I don't have a Hobby Lobby in my area, but I'll see is Micheal's or Joannes Fabrics has some sticky backed felt. A friend of mine and I tried using tacky glue + felt and tacky glue + fleece to line body jewelry boxes (to store glass and stone pieces). The results were nice, the felt got a bit stiff but the fleece was very plush (had to be careful with the amount of glue otherwise there was bleed-through) but it was quite a messy and time consuming endeavor.

[CatBookMom]

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.

 

<img src="https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="cool.gif" />

 

Bob

 

 

Very nice! Good design, well-thought-out and -executed.

 

I just found 5 Sheaffers from the late 60s in an old box (thought I only had one, lol), and I think that I have now overflowed my pretty Levenger pen box. So your photos are an excellent tutorial, once I find a suitable box.

[padams2359]

I have seen these online, and thought they seemed pretty easy to construct. The proper inserts where the issue. I wanted something that would protect the pens. The gray trays seem to fit the bill. I have a small humidor from my cigar days that is basically doing nothing, but could hold several pens. It is about 11"W, 8"D and 3"H.

[REM2002]

Thanks for giving me a step by step. I'm taking your idea and one-upping it. I'm going to line the inside of the cigar box with adhesive backed croc-textured felt.

[brim]

Great step by step! Here is my first completed box, which I constructed this past weekend.

 

The box is an Ashton VSG Torpedo box. I figured I'd start out easy, so this box is only deep enough for one layer. I lined the sides with self-adhesive cork material (cabinet/drawer liner at Home Depot) so the pens wouldn't hurt themselves banging around on the wood. I also put a few layers of cardboard under the gopens tray to raise the pen height a little bit.

 

I'm certainly happy with how it turned out! I also picked up a Legend Ario box that is much deeper than this one that I plan on making a double layer case. Will let you know how that goes!

 

 

 

[cbagley]

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.

 

<img src="https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="cool.gif" />

 

Bob

 

P.S. Bob, I just looked at your pen collection, and EVERY ONE of your pens is on my list to own some day (as far as I can make out what each one is)! Those pens are "smokin" (insert cheesy punchline) :clap1:

[Runnin_Ute]

Pretty cool idea - not a smoker, but certainly a great idea. Maybe I need to make a trip to one of the local craft stores.... Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Robert's or the like and see what I can find. I would certainly like something other than just a pine box though, without spending to much. If done right and with the right sized box, perhaps there is a way to include space for a couple of bottles of ink. It would need to be deeper - especially with 50 mL, (Levenger), 62,5 mL (Pelikan) or larger ink bottles.

[joep01]

Pretty cool idea - not a smoker, but certainly a great idea. Maybe I need to make a trip to one of the local craft stores.... Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Robert's or the like and see what I can find. I would certainly like something other than just a pine box though, without spending to much. If done right and with the right sized box, perhaps there is a way to include space for a couple of bottles of ink. It would need to be deeper - especially with 50 mL, (Levenger), 62,5 mL (Pelikan) or larger ink bottles.

 

This Fall, on a whim we stopped at a local Goodwill store, and they were selling dozens of high-quality wooden cigar boxes for $1-2 each. Of course I bought a couple, but when I went back the next day, they'd sold out! D'oh! So wishing I'd bought more... I didn't feel inclined to research if a cigar shop in town had just gone out of business, or what, but it just goes to show that you can sometimes find these boxes anywhere, for far less than one would pay just in shipping via Ebay.

 

Still really happy w/ the boxes I made, the first one of which appears below (I've since replaced the grey insert w/ a tan/beige one)...

 

[glinn]

If you don't have a local tobacconist you could try Pipesandcigars.com Nice selection of boxes or check the clearance section where thy offer 5 random boxes for $10. I have no affiliation with this retailer but I did order the five boxes and got a nice collection. Mostly smaller boxes but they will still make nice pen cases when my order of pen trays comes in from Pendora.

 

Gary

[ShallowJam]

definitely going to have to hit the local smoke shop and give it a go.

[tomcoombs]

Really, really creative solution. A trip to the local Cigar store is in the offing me thinks.

 

TC.

[alc3261]

Still wondering if there is a UK source for these pen trays.......