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).