Cigar Box Pen Storage

https://moonwalkpen.com

Announcing the Moonwalk Pen

A pen created using state-of-the-art technology, plus old-fashioned artistic skills, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo lunar landings.

Click here to see the Introductory video.             Click here to visit the Web Site: 

 

Adapters for Vintage Ballpoint Pens

Bring your vintage Esterbrook and Sheaffer Stratowriter ballpoints back to life with these adapters.  Click here for more.

Here’s a panoramic shot of my workshop.  For those who may be interested, the contents are as follows, left to right: On the left, the white thing is my photo tent for taking pix of pens and boxes and other small stuff. Above it is a print by Anatole Krasnyansky. The two dark colored bookcases beyond that hold the best parts of my fountain pen desk sets.  A print of the Red Arrows (signed by all the pilots) is above them, plus a print of Stirling Moss in his Aston Martin at Goodwood just above the lampshade and a print of the Kingfield, Maine, narrow gauge railroad facility.  My workbench starts at the end of the room, with a long print of the Saturn V moon rocket that I worked on back in the late 1960s above it. Below that are some personal items, including two pieces of my own artwork  Moving to the right is a scale model of the Saturn V, a Mona Lisa made from lots of small images, and then my display area…above is some personal stuff in shadow boxes, below that a display case for my model railroad items (not yet placed in the case), and on the end of the workbench is a 1940s vintage Eversharp store display filled mostly with Eversharp Skyline pens.  The big brown cabinet on the right holds more of my fountain pen desk sets and on the wall between it and the door is a print of the Devils Gate High Bridge on the Georgetown Loop Railroad in Colorado. Behind the camera position is a wall of cigar boxes ready to be transformed into pen boxes.

Thanks for visiting my site.  Feel free to look around for pen and ink storage options to meet your specific needs.  If you don’t see what you are looking for, please contact me because I frequently have boxes on hand, or can find them, that I have not posted here.

I enjoy finding interesting used cigar boxes (and other types of boxes as well) and converting them to storage containers for fountain pens and bottles of ink.  To date, I have re-purposed over 600 boxes and distributed them around the world to my fellow fountain pen lovers.  Boxes by BamaPen are spread from Australia, and New Zealand, to India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, across the USA, Mexico, and Canada, to Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Israel, Belarus, and Slovenia.

Some boxes offered here are finished and ready to ship, while others can be customized or personalized to your specific tastes.

The menu above gives you access to the boxes.  Here’s an explanation of each menu item:

• Fountain Pen Boxes for Sale shows boxes for pens only. 
• Combo Pen & Ink Boxes for Sale shows boxes that will hold both pens and ink bottles. 
• Ink Boxes for Sale shows boxes for ink bottles only. 
• Reviews, Comments, and Pictures all from customers
• Sold shows boxes I’ve sold and don’t have on hand right now.  This category may give you some ideas for your box.  Some that I’ve sold before do come up occasionally, so feel free to ask about them.
• Very Special Projects shows a number of custom made boxes plus two boxes I have made in collaboration with Darrell Eisner of Halifax, Nova Scotia
• About Me/Contact tells you a bit about me and how to get in touch
• My Fountain Pens is about, what else, my own pens.

A Note About the Boxes:  Please understand that most of my boxes began their lives as cigar boxes, intended by the manufacturers as “throw-away” items that would be discarded when the cigars in them were all sold.  Many are unfinished wood when I get them and most are not what one would call great woodworking.  No two boxes will be exactly alike, and all will exhibit some minor dings and flaws that add to their character.

Exterior Finish:  If the box is bare wood, I either:

• apply Minwax stain followed by three coats of Minwax polyurethane varnish, each coat hand-rubbed with 0000 steel wool for a deep satin finish.
• paint the box
• paint and marble the box

If the box is factory finished, I will try to touch up nicks and scratches, but it is impossible to match most finishes, so there will be evidence of use in most cases.

Depending on the box, I either cover the bottom of the box with a soft foam pad or with soft foam “feet” to reduce scratching or sliding.

Interior Finish: 

Lining material: I use felt or suede cloth to line the interior of pen boxes.  These materials provide very good protection for the finish of your pens.  The photos below show the colors usually available in felt and suede cloth.  Click on the images for a larger view.  

Felt colors are royal blue, dark green, olive green, red, and black.  The left stripe should be white if your monitor is adjusted correctly.

Suede cloth colors are black, dark red, leather pattern, dark tan, patterned tan, light tan, yellow, and Kelly green.  The background area in the picture should be white if you monitor is adjusted correctly.

Pen Compartments: I fashion pen compartments in four ways:

1. With individual dividers made of stained wood and faced with felt or suede cloth, leaving the edge of the wood exposed as a decorative element, but not touching the pens.

2.  With individual dividers made of wood totally covered with felt or suede cloth,    leaving no wood exposed.   Some prefer this look as it calls more attention to the pens.

3.  With individual vacuum-formed pen compartments each lined with suede cloth.  This style supports the pens nicely and has been described as making the pens appear to float in the air.  The pens are completely separated and securely held in place.

4. Corrugated flocked tray.  These trays are widely used to re-purpose cigar boxes and other containers for pen storage, and they work well.

Multi-deck boxes:  Some of the boxes are deep enough to permit two layers of pens.  In this case, I fashion removable top trays.  I usually make two-decked versions, but have made a few with three decks.

Combination Pen and Ink Storage:  Some boxes are deep enough to accommodate a tray of pens above bottles of ink.  I can fashion a removable top tray that covers the entire box or just a part of the box, depending on your needs.

Ink only:  Frequently I am asked for boxes that will hold that clutter of ink bottles.  I can find suitable boxes and fit them with a padded interior bottom and exterior pad at very reasonable prices.  Sometimes I find a family of boxes that make a nice combination of pen storage and ink storage.

How to purchase a box:  Check out this site for boxes that will meet your needs and contact me via email.  Please include your location so that I can give a shipping cost estimate with my reply.

Don’t see what you want??:  If you don’t see what you are looking for, please contact me via email., as I frequently have boxes on hand that I’ve not posted here.

Shipping:  In the USA I ship via USPS Priority Mail and internationally I use USPS International First Class Mail – it is slow but reliable and has tracking to most countries.

Payment:  I accept payment by PayPal.  Payment due with order.