Wooden Pen Box

When I was a student, I wrote with a real 'old-fashioned' pen, then later I started to write with roller-balls. Until 3 years ago, someone gave me a really nice Waterman pen. I must admit that nothing beats the writing experience of writing with a pen on smooth paper.
So I decided to quit writing with all the 'junk' and from that day on, I write only with this pen.

The pen came in a box, which was nice, but because it didn't survive all the travel I did. After 2 years, the original box was dirty, and its mechanics started to fall apart.

At that day I decided to make a new, luxurous and long-life box for my favourite pen.

Enjoy this instructible !

Step 1: Materials & Tools

Materials :

• 3 pieces Walnut wood : 200mm * 32mm * 9mm (8" * 1¼" * 3/8"). This kind of wood is readily available for wooden floors.
• 1 piece of thin cardboard (I used an empty corn-flakes box)
• 1 piece of 10 mm soft foam (this can be recycled from packaging)
• 1 piece of nice, stylish fabric. Size ~ 30cm * 10 cm (12" * 4")
• 2 thick staples, or 1 thin paper-clip (diameter should be 1 mm)
• Double side tape. I used Tesa 15mm wide
• 4 mini magnets. I recycled them from a gift box. My magnets are 4mm * 10 mm * 1mm

Tools :

• Saw
• Router
• Sander
• Knife
• Caliper
• Drill, preferably drill-press

Time needed : half a day
Skills needed : medium. You need precision skills, as this a small object.

Step 2: Woodwork

For each sub-step, there is an image that visualises the step.

1. Glue 2 pieces of wood together (on top of each other), this will become the 'box'. The third piece will become the 'lid'
2. Take your router with a 12mm straight routing bit, and route the inside of the box. Leave a 4 mm material at the bottom and long sides, leave 10mm of material at the ends.
3. At each end, route an opening for the hinges (see image)
4. Cut two small pieces of wood, same size as the opening you just made for the hinges, and glue it to the lid
5. With sandpaper, round off one side of the box (see image)
6. With sandpaper, round off the hinges at the lid
7. With a small chisel or cutter knife, cut out 4 holes for the magnets. Each hole is 4mm* 10mm, 1.5 mm deep. Position it in the corner, which is 3mm from either sides. Try to make these holes as small as possible, i.e. the magnets should go in, but should sight tight in there, not needing any glue.
8. Put box and lid together, (clamp it or tape it) and drill a 1.2 mm hole  : this is difficult : the drilling needs to be perfectly aligned with the length of the box, everything should be fixed properly, or your drill could break. Be carefull anyway, and proceed slowly, allowing the chips of wood to evacuate while drillin

Take a thick staple or thin paperclip and straighten it. Push it in the hole in the hinges. Normally it should stay in without needing any glue...
Push in the magnets (check their 'polarity'). If the magnets are a bit loose, you can squeeze in a small piece of paper.

Finish the box by additional sanding (if needed), and apply wood-oil.

Step 3: Box Internals

1. Cut a piece of cardboard of 170mm * 46 mm
2. Bend it lengthwise, so you end up with a U-shape : bottom is ~24mm wide, sides are ~11mm high (test if it fits snap into the box)
3. Apply double sides tape to the bottom of the U, and glue the fabric onto it
4. apply double side tape to the outside of the sides
5. Stack 2 strips of foam, bend the fabric over it and stick it to the double-sided tape : see cross-section sketch

Insert the cardboard-foam-fabric part into the box