Project Information
My Sister has a small collection of pens and wanted a pen case for Christmas. I chose walnut and purpleheart as she wanted a dark look and made a pretty sturdy box with a clear plastic lid. I had a lot of fun making it though did have a few challenges.
First was the snaffu cutting one of the splines where the box moved in the jig and gouged out a wedge. I just sanded this smooth to make it a feature with the intention of having it function as a finger hold to open the box with magnets as the closing mechanism.
Second was the hinges. I simply couldn't get the box to stay closed with the magnets. I tried carving out the hinge slots as best I could but found that it's actually the screw heads that were preventing the lid from closing fully - that's the lesson to be learned from using cheap hinges. In the end I had to abandon the magnets and use a latch.
Finally, I tried many ways of making the pen tray using a number of jigs on the router table. In the end, none were successful and the end solution was simply to use a palm router and a clamped strip of wood as an edge guide. Some self adhesive felt covered the somewhat rough finish and it ended looking pretty good.
Sister was very happy and I also felt very gratified making a nice functional present for her. It has also emboldened me to make more functional stuff and encouraged my spending more time in the shop!
First was the snaffu cutting one of the splines where the box moved in the jig and gouged out a wedge. I just sanded this smooth to make it a feature with the intention of having it function as a finger hold to open the box with magnets as the closing mechanism.
Second was the hinges. I simply couldn't get the box to stay closed with the magnets. I tried carving out the hinge slots as best I could but found that it's actually the screw heads that were preventing the lid from closing fully - that's the lesson to be learned from using cheap hinges. In the end I had to abandon the magnets and use a latch.
Finally, I tried many ways of making the pen tray using a number of jigs on the router table. In the end, none were successful and the end solution was simply to use a palm router and a clamped strip of wood as an edge guide. Some self adhesive felt covered the somewhat rough finish and it ended looking pretty good.
Sister was very happy and I also felt very gratified making a nice functional present for her. It has also emboldened me to make more functional stuff and encouraged my spending more time in the shop!
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