Source for wooden tool storage boxes? (not toolboxes)

[Frank W Mass]

Hi and thank you for a site I return to again and again!

I'm trying - and failing - to find a source for plain wooden boxes like the ones special tools come in (and are long lost before sale on Ebay). The kind you might dress with snug foam and green felt. Similar to wine boxes but not wine boxes. I find all sorts of one of a kind way the wrong size items. It's vanity for sure, but I have some nice precision tools that shouldn't be banged around in a toolbox. I don't want to make these myself if I can help it.

Thanks!

 

[DavidR8]

Depending on if you are looking for fitted boxes or just a box you might look for someone with a CNC router and/or a laser cutter as they can make wooden boxes with relative ease aside from the design portion. For a simple box, the design is also simple.
For fitted boxes there is software which will accept a top-down photo of an object to define a very form fitting cutout.

 

[SLK001]

A source? Your garage using your own woodworking tools. Almost all of what you're talking about was custom made by the manufacturers themselves. If you're not needing exact sizes, then wooden cigar boxes will sometimes fill the bill.

 

[benmychree]

For me it has been wine boxes; one of my former customers has a wine box production right in town, they gave lots of boxes that were unsellable for one reason or another, sometimes by the pallet load, I would re staple them for strength and sometimes cut them down for different sizes.

 

[ChazzC]

Hi and thank you for a site I return to again and again!

I'm trying - and failing - to find a source for plain wooden boxes like the ones special tools come in (and are long lost before sale on Ebay). The kind you might dress with snug foam and green felt. Similar to wine boxes but not wine boxes. I find all sorts of one of a kind way the wrong size items. It's vanity for sure, but I have some nice precision tools that shouldn't be banged around in a toolbox. I don't want to make these myself if I can help it.

Thanks!

Seach “large hinged wooden box” on eBay, Etsy, Amazon & FB Marketplace.” I found some good, strong boxes for some scientific apparatus a few years ago that way on Amazon:


As you can see, large is relative.

This one was part of a group I got on eBay about three years ago; looks like a micrometer set box:



The previous owner's father had gutted it and added some blocks for his own purposes, so I cleaned it out, painted the interior and added some features of my own, including a new latch & handles on the ends:


It lives next to my surface plate (under the white cardboard "lid" the trays are sitting on.

And as noted by @SLK001 , garage sales can yield some nice cigar boxes:



No matter what you find, you will probably need to do some minor carpentry to make it work for your purpose.

 

[francist]

Maybe try refining your search parameters a bit -- here's what I get when I search "wood presentation boxes"...

 

[Frank W Mass]

I don't need special boxes, just a selection of useful sizes that aren't for jewelry or craft projects.

I'd rather make metal things but I've certainly made plenty of wooden things you can't buy in that size. Like stile and rail panel doors and furniture, fancy pants moldings, good amount of classic joinery (never again dovetails or box joints). Doesn't seem fun to make these things that should be like $10 or $15. Maybe I can find someone with a CNC laser cutter and no aversion to box joints (or being paid in peanuts) lol ;-)

Thanks @benmychree I will probably end up with wine boxes which are long enough for my purposes (more than 12" long ID) but 3x taller than needed. My first-ever cassette tape organizer in the 80s was a 4 bottle wine box. Used it until tape was obsolete. I'm going to check if liquor stores give them away.

Edit: @ChazzC - Those folks make really beautiful things. I'd have a heart attack before getting to enjoy it though.

 

[aliva]

Try the dollar store or crafts shop

 

[Dave Smith]

maybe wooden ammo boxes would work for some items
Dave

 

[ChazzC]

I don't need special boxes, just a selection of useful sizes that aren't for jewelry or craft projects.

I'd rather make metal things but I've certainly made plenty of wooden things you can't buy in that size. Like stile and rail panel doors and furniture, fancy pants moldings, good amount of classic joinery (never again dovetails or box joints). Doesn't seem fun to make these things that should be like $10 or $15. Maybe I can find someone with a CNC laser cutter and no aversion to box joints (or being paid in peanuts) lol ;-)

Thanks @benmychree I will probably end up with wine boxes which are long enough for my purposes (more than 12" long ID) but 3x taller than needed. My first-ever cassette tape organizer in the 80s was a 4 bottle wine box. Used it until tape was obsolete. I'm going to check if liquor stores give them away.

Edit: @ChazzC - Those folks make really beautiful things. I'd have a heart attack before getting to enjoy it though.
View attachment 434960

Nice.

Oh, there's a box like mine in the photo, too.