My new straight razor storage case

Eventually maybe my collection will grow to the point where I'll want a big fancy humidor box or something, but for now this will do nicely

It's made from a recycled cigar box, if you go by the cigar shops they've usually got empty boxes they'll give you for free (they were going to throw them out anyway). I made it last night, took very little time and came out looking pretty decent. No need for any form of glues, nails, etc... so I can undo it any time if I want to.

The inside is constructed from pluck foam to provide padding and separation for the razors. The foam is made of 1/2" pluckable squares, this is just alternating sheets of 3-squares tall and 2-squares tall. Thus, there is effectively a 1" padded floor with 1/2" tall separators. Each razor gets a 1/2" wide resting spot which is sufficient to stand on the spine. If you want them to lie on their sides you'll need a 1" wide slot and maybe more for some of the gigantic Wade & Butchers, etc...

I also keep a couple of packs of silica dessicant in there to help keep them dry, I just removed these for the picture.

What do you think?

Looks good! I use my old boxes and humidors too. I quite smoking a few years ago and had to find a good use for some of my favorite boxes.

Looks great!

You need less foam and more razors in there!!!!

Nice looking box, the razors ain't too bad neither.

I'll have to look into some alternate dividers that don't take as much space, but it probably won't add more than about 2 razor's worth of capacity. This was just kind of thrown together but I'm sure there's a better way to do it with some experimentation.

I'm thinking of finding some sort of thin stiff material and folding/glueing a layer of cloth or felt over it for my next attempt, we'll see how that goes. I still like the foam bed for them to sit on though. I can try cardboard as a start, but I'd like something thinner than that if possible.

Also, I stopped by a cigar store over lunch today and picked up a couple of wider boxes that will hold more razors. Cost me $1 each and had to dig through a big pile of them in a back room with no lighting, but I think I got a couple of decent ones to try out.

I think you could also a wide enough one into some sort of "travel box" with a slot for one razor, slot for soap (I use Mama Bear's), and slot for a boar brush (since they don't spread out like badger). Not sure if that'll all fit, need to work on the dimensions you'd need, but it might be interesting to try. It'd probably be a fairly large box though...


Edit: I've got it! Basswood. They sell it in thin sheets (1/16th I believe) at the hobby stores (Michael's, etc...), it's basically a stiffer version of balsa. Should be perfect. I'll pick some up after work, and look for a fabric to cover them with. Shouldn't be much for a foot or so of fabric I wouldn't think.

Looking good! You will need a bigger box IMO

Nice looking case. Congrats.

OK, here's the second cut. These aren't done yet, I picked up some velour fabric to cover the bassword dividers but haven't gotten to start cutting the fabric yet. Once it's cut they will be glued onto the dividers and the foam glued in place (right now it's just loose).

Here's the re-done first case, with the capacity raised from 5 razors to 9 razors, and a second wider cigar box I picked up over lunch that holds 13.


And here's the insides:


It's a pretty sizable improvement I think, and it's going to look great once the fabric is in there.

They look great. Cant wait to see them done

Very good job. There seems to be a natural synergy between straights and cigars.

Straights, cigars, and fountain pens all seem to overlap in storage. At least, I've seen quite a few people using cigar and pen cases for their straights. Never seen cigars in pen cases, they tend to not be humidity-preserving. Pipe racks seem to work well for upright displays of pens or straights too. Anyway, I'm hoping to add the cloth tonight but it might have to be tomorrow.

Looking very nice!! What is retaining the dividers? An adhesive, or are they cut long enough to be an interference fit? If so, what is keeping them from bowing?

Until the cloth goes on I haven't secured them yet. They're held in place between the 1/2" tall foam blocks (1" tall foam in the black case, which is taller). After the cloth is added they'll be held tighter as the cloth will add some width, and I think I'll be glueing the foam to the bottom of the box and probably to the dividers as well although the friction of the foam would probably hold them in place regardless. The dividers are not an interference fit, they're about 1/8" shorter than the box length.

Just don't get confused and try to smoke one of those.

Added the cloth, here's what it looks like now. Somehow the side pieces came out a little too short but no big deal. Starting to look fairly nice I think.


And loaded up with a few razors:

Very nice!! How much $$ in materials at this point?

I'd be willing to bet you could flip a buck or two making those, if you had a good supply of cigar boxes for raw material!

Can't you just cut slits in the foam?

Great idea.

BBrad said:

Very nice!! How much $$ in materials at this point?

I'd be willing to bet you could flip a buck or two making those, if you had a good supply of cigar boxes for raw material!

Click to expand...

I might go ahead and make up a small batch and see how it goes, pricing would vary depending on the size (capacity) of the box. I'll be out of town most of next week, but when I get back I may work on a second box.

@Doc: If you look at the pics at the top of the thread there's a foam-only version if that's what you mean, but it doesn't look nearly as nice.

The smoke shop in town here sells their nice wooden cigar boxes for 2 for $3. I picked up two of the nicer ones. One has a plexiglass window in it across part of the lid. I have been looking for something to store my collection in. thanks for the idea. I'll post pics when they are done.