Pen Storage (BIG and cheap)

[KrazyIvan]

Next day or so, I really must post one of the most affordable desk top pen storage options in existence. So far I've shared only with a few pen friends...

As long as it's not made by rubbermaid please do share.

Might be... but i'll probably share anyway. IIR nearly 300 pens on a one square foot footprint... Let's see ya get that with a fake Gerstner tool case. Though, come to think of it, I do have a beautiful real Gerstner case (even with room for the booklets) that I sort of was forced to take when I bought a pen collection housed in it. So it goes...

regards

david

I know I want to see it.

[MisterBoll]

Could it be something originally meant for test tubes?

[KrazyIvan]

I was thinking something like this lined with pen trays for myself:

[MisterBoll]

I was thinking something like this lined with pen trays for myself:

That's interesting but I have it in my mind that pens should be stored in a wood cabinet.

[KrazyIvan]

Depends on the pens. Modern industrial like collections might look good in that cabinet. It's also going to depend on your personal taste and the decor direction you are trying to achieve. Wooden boxes in anything other than black just will not match and look out of place.

[Nomdeplume]

At the peril of hearing from David I that it's somehow "just another copy" and therefore inferior to anything he would have, I am going to go ahead and post some pix of my Harbor Freight Tool Box filled with some of my pens and inks....

image.jpg

[thagbert]

At the peril of hearing from David I that it's somehow "just another copy" and therefore inferior to anything he would have, I am going to go ahead and post some pix of my Harbor Freight Tool Box filled with some of my pens and inks....

image.jpg

Nicely done! And forget David I.

[david i]

At the peril of hearing from David I that it's somehow "just another copy" and therefore inferior to anything he would have

Note that Nom appears to be addressing someone other than me, or at least that he failed to read (or perhaps to understand) my post.

regards

david

[david i]

Nicely done! And forget David I.

I wish you lostsa luck with that...

-d

[reprieve]

I checked my local store last week, but they did not have the wooden tool box. I just ordered it online, using the coupon code, and the total was $72.98. Thanks, everyone, for posting about this.

Now I'm trying to figure out how many trays I need to order from gopens. Has anyone put pen slots in the top compartment?

[Nomdeplume]

I checked my local store last week, but they did not have the wooden tool box. I just ordered it online, using the coupon code, and the total was $72.98. Thanks, everyone, for posting about this.

Now I'm trying to figure out how many trays I need to order from gopens. Has anyone put pen slots in the top compartment?

I did not put trays in the top as it is nicely deep enough for all the inks and other "stuff"...it took 3 of the long inserts from Pendora or GoPens to fill the 2 large drawers and a couple of the small drawers. I used black, makes very dark, but I won't see ink stains! others used lighter color as you can see from their photos.

[reprieve]

Now I'm trying to figure out how many trays I need to order from gopens. Has anyone put pen slots in the top compartment?

I did not put trays in the top as it is nicely deep enough for all the inks and other "stuff"...it took 3 of the long inserts from Pendora or GoPens to fill the 2 large drawers and a couple of the small drawers. I used black, makes very dark, but I won't see ink stains! others used lighter color as you can see from their photos.

Thanks!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective ), I need to use the top for pen storage. Even if I double-stack the trays in the top compartment, I'm not sure that everything will fit. But I'm super-excited--this storage box will be incredibly helpful as I will finally take a proper inventory, put everything in once place, and sell off some of the excess.

I am going to order 6 of the Gopens trays and see how it goes. Color-wise, I'm wavering between green and grey.

[MisterBoll]

After looking at these pictures I realize my pen collection is too small.

I who have nothing!

I'm thinking I'll have to start a mad shopping extravaganza first thing tomorrow morning.

[david i]

At the peril of hearing from David I that it's somehow "just another copy" and therefore inferior to anything he would have, I am going to go ahead and post some pix of my Harbor Freight Tool Box filled with some of my pens and inks....

What I admit I found entertaining about Nom's post, besides his "worries" about me, regarding things I neither have said nor would say, was the rather concrete view of the word "inferior" regarding pen storage.

To those extensively familiar with pen storage-- say, having dealt in old pen sales and collecting for more than a decade, with collection and sales stock comprising some 5000 pens-- words such as "inferior" and "superior" have little place in discussion, when absent context.

Any pen storage offers trade offs, pluses and minuses, costs and benefits. Issues in play include (at least):

• safety (both physical and perhaps more importantly... chemical)
• cost/efficiency
• convenience (wt/size/portability)
• aesthetics (charm/beauty/what-have-you)
• relevant history (original cases)

Since different people weigh these values differently, there can be no sweepingly "inferior" or "superior" item, though there can of course be inferior/superior elements to any category. A throw-away shoe box lined with home made cardboard dividers is not necessarily inferior to a $2000 artisan hand-carved wood case that holds 50 pens, if cheap storage is one's key target. A $2000 artisan hand-carved wood case is not necessarily superior to a vintage 1930's 40-pen case marked "Sheaffer" found for $300 on ebay if storing pens in historical store display carries more charm than modern hand-made products. One can create many permutations on this theme, obviously.

As to Gerstner, or Rolex/Omega... knockoffs have their place. I'm not a pro on high-end tool cases, but the original (minty) Gerstner I picked up when I bought a pen collection housed in it seems more solidly made than the knockoffs I've seen, but that does not matter for one who wants the look but not the price and plans to use said case only to house some pens. Similarly a $10 Rolex knockoff from Canal St in NYC might be superior for the needs (bling sans expense) of the fellow who chooses it over the $5k original. Different strokes for different folks.

But, in this FPGeeks discussion, which in my view seemed to focus on low cost and efficient storage of pens, I mentioned...

Next day or so, I really must post one of the most affordable desk top pen storage options in existence. So far I've shared only with a few pen friends...

I rarely offer such claims... without the oomph to back 'em.

That was meant as a nice offer. It is fine if folks prefer other options d/t their views of safety, charm, beauty, historical merit. But, ya will be hard pressed to top this thing for cost and efficiency of storage. All those tricked out pseudo-Gerstners just cannot hold candle to it.

But first, for fun, the eclectic wall in my NYC apartment: the mint real Gerstner case I was forced to acquire. Really don't have space for the thing. A so far one of its kind cyclindrical 1930's WASP (Sheaffer sub-brand) Clipper cabinet, loaded with circuit board pattern WASPS, various photos, mementos, a Star Trek model, Marvin Martion mug, Dragon Ball Z DVD's and more...

Anyway, here is the bargain/efficient pen cabinet for your consideration. Details next post.

regards

david

[david i]

So, the uber-efficient bargain basement storage solution for pens.

It measures 12 inches wide by 15 inches deep, probably 13-14 inches tall (I've not measured that axis), weighing in at a couple-few pounds. It has slots for tray labels and can be locked. It's not going to stop aggressive crooks, but helpful to keep trays sliding out during transport from your pen room to living room to show pens to visitors and such...

Yeah, barely larger than the foot-print of the typical 48-pen notebook folders so prevalent in the hobby, it has ten trays. Lined with Gary-trays, each tray can hold 28 pens in slots, usually with room to rest 2-4 pens across slots between the two rows of pens. Let's say 30 pens per tray. Oh yeah... ten trays. 300 pens in a roughly 1 ft by 1 ft footprint. Cool. Right?

Most of my core collection is housed in the 100-140 year old Hamilton wooden case shown on the prior page of this discussion. But, even my own collection has outgrown that case, never mind sales stock. So some of my overflow has found its way to these 300-pen cabinets. The next image shows one of the trays, lined with Gary-slotter trays, housing the World's Most Complete collection of 1930's pens done in Screaming Souls in Purgatory celluloid.

Not sure I mentioned, but to those of us who display pens en masse at pen shows, light gray tends to be the most desirable color for background. It does not distract from the pens, does not show dust.

Here is the pen cabinet with PENnant Magazine (i know the guy what wrote the Sheaffer article and provided that killer cover... cough... cough), the Magazine measuring just 8.5" by 11" and covering most of the cabinet top.

I thought of buying up a bunch and offering them with Gary liners to the pen community, but truth is they are too bulky to buy by the dozen, what with my limited space in Manhattan.

To complete these cabinets for pen storage, one can buy 6-7 sheets of Gary liner (I recommend light gray). One just trims the sheet at the 14th slot and then can plop the sheet into a tray. After cutting up a few trays, the scraps can be used to fill the remaining trays in each cabinet.

Now, I do sell one of the most efficient means of taking pens for travel, the famous hardback 64-pen carry case. Here is one of my 64 pen travel cases propped next to the 300-pen Cabinet, whose small footprint and light weight amazes me even now.

If anyone needs a 64-pen travel case, email me, as I have a few still in stock.

So, I've shown the efficiency of the 300pen cabinet. Tiny footprint. Tiny height (Ivan's case shown a bit earlier probably holds similar number of pens, but is a tad larger). Light weight. Lockable. Space for tray labels.

But, what is the cost? I had- after all- asserted cost and efficiency as benefits of this cabinet.

Well, the cabinets typically sell for $29, sometimes discounted to $23. Shipping in USA runs $15. Gary tray liners run $45 or so in quantity (6-7) to fill one cabinet. Figure $90 for 300-pen storage that fits in the corner of your desk.

And... there ya have it. Sorry took long to post this. Life is busy. I have not even had chance to post this yet at Fountain Pen Board. Figure the next few days there...

regards

david

[kps]

In case anyone has a cheap way to get stuff from China, or wants to freight a bunch, this is a Shantou Fuqiang Stationery Industry model FQ2610. They sell for around 90 CNY (15 USD) on Taobao.
http://www.fuqiangwenju.com/en/pro_v.asp?id=17

[david i]

$15 is better price than the $23-29 for which I've bought mine, but shipping small numbers (eg. individual orders) from China perhaps would more than make up the difference.

The 23-29 dollar price I had cited is from ebay, shipping from the USA within the USA. Might be easier than trying to fight for the extra $10 savings having to deal with overseas shipping.

Had I my old house and garage, I might stock 100 or so of these for resale, but as my NYC apartment cannot possibly handle that, I'm happy to see folks grab these directly.

regards

david

[kps]

Likely eBay is the cheapest source in North America, unless someone happens to find a retailer who stocks them or something similar.

[79spitfire]

What are these cabinets called?

[sloegin]

Anybody have a place that they can be bought? My Chinese is non-existent and online translators are only so much help.