I love my pens. I talked about my stationary a bit ago in a post, but I didn't elaborate much on my fountain pens. I write with them pretty frequently so I store them horizontally to keep the ink in the nib without flooding it, but I felt that they deserved something more dignified than the surface of my desk or a drawer bottom. I decided to develop some woodworking skills and make a stand for them and then also figured I may as well make a box to store other small but relevant items in as well.

I made this box out of a scrapped oak riser and a 4"x48" hobby oak plank from home depot. I inspected all the available pieces and selected the least warped one, but it was still really badly twisted. This gave me the opportunity to use my new old hand plane that I was generously given by my grandpa. It's a beautiful stanley hand plane, and I'm the 4th generation since the original owner (my great-grandpa) to use it. It's still a joy to use.

I also got way better at sawing straight lines, which feels embarrassing to write down but at first it was a little tricky. It had been forever since I'd sawed anything serious, so it took a second to get used to, but now my cuts are pretty solid.

I don't want to drag this on too long, so I'll outline my mistakes. I used too much glue and then failed to wipe away all of the excess, leaving some areas where the stain didn't penetrate the wood properly, which bothers me quite a bit, but the pens hide it. Also, it is not exactly level on the bottom due to the oak riser warping, and it would take hours of planing to level it, so I'm resolving it with some padding, which I acknowledge is cheating. I'll do better next time.