A few years back, I purchased a Veritas Shelf Pin Drilling Jig from Lee Valley Tools. The tool came in a cardboard box and consisted of 33 separate parts.
I knew that the cardboard box would eventually degrade and this would eventually result in losing parts for the tool. I needed to do something to ensure that nothing was lost.
When I was a young boy, I remember that my father had a carpenter’s tool box that held all of his tools. I was always fascinated by this box because when I opened it I found all his tools in perfect order. There were slots for saws, bit brace drill handles, drill bits, hammers, screwdrivers, chisels, and so on. Everything had a place in his box, and they were never just thrown into the bottom.
I decided that I would build a custom wooden box from red oak as a home for this tool. After experimenting with different organizations of the parts, I arrived at the following solution:
And when all the parts are inserted into the box, it looks like this:
The little blocks of wood in the lid help hold all the parts in place so they do not rattle around loose inside. Later on, after the purchase of a drill press, I added the following:
When closed, the end result looks like this:
The end result was finished with an amber colored shellac (not shown).