Useful Boxes

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

Just been putting away bits and pieces and tools and noticed I had a collection of old boxes. I don't know why I have so many pastille  boxes.

 

David

Edited By David George 1 on 01/01/2023 16:55:05

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

[DiogenesIIParticipant @diogenesii]

The sight of an Old Holborn tin brings back some fond memories..

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Must be all that Old Holborn !

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

My father used to smoke Gold Block pipe tobacco and had 100s of very useful tins most of which contained screws, nuts, nails, off tools etc. He made a lot of little drawer units for them to fit in, I think my brother has most of the ones still left, I have a few. Same size and shape as the Old Holborn one in your photo. Being a smoker he also always had boxes of megezzones about his person and in his car, though few of those have survived.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

 

One rack of Old Holborn my Grandad used to smoke, and a rack in the house courtesy of BEA in flight cigarette tins made of aluminium collected by our old neighbour who was a radio operator on the flights at the time.

Other useful boxes were the outer cases for TK50 mag tape cassettes.

 

Edited By Speedy Builder5 on 01/01/2023 17:10:34

[Anonymous]

I've got stacks of Altoid tins that I can't bear to throw out. FWIW Thingiverse has a number of listing for 3D-printed inserts for these tins for various uses.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I did notice the juxtaposition of baccy and throat-pastilles….

I reckon the little slide-lid "tin" that holds the 'Verdict' comparator (for e.g., centering work in a 4-jaw chuck) a worthy companion to the time-honoured tobacco tins. If not to the much odder containers also very untidily occupying my workshop and home.

Some of my boxes are lovely, varnished wooden ones about 11" X 8" X 2", still bearing the name "Bruel & Kjaer" on their hinged lids. These were work chuck-outs after their original contents, small test-hydrophones, had become unserviceable. One such box is my "hussif" (sewing-stuff). Others are full of mixed taps. mainly metric and UN, I will get round to sorting one day / week / year.

.

While in the corner are two wooden boxes about 6-inch cube with sliding lids. I've still to varnish them, and find them worthy careers.

Theirs is a rather sad tale.

I belong to a club that has a stove fuelled by donated scrap timber and logs (it's in a rural, not urban, setting); and quite a number of these boxes arrived thus one day, thanks to a member who is a teacher. He explained they were projects in what is now called "Design & Technology" (Yuk!); each made by a pupil, and to a good standard too; finished with a small turned aluminium knob and a laser-etched motif.

Their makers could take them home but only if they – or their parents – paid for the materials. It's likely some children did not want them anyway; and a few parents might genuinely be too struggling to feed and clothe their offspring to buy bits of plywood.

Even so I wonder how many parents thought the handiwork a waste…. If so, what a way to treat your children.

Ironically, if the school disposed of them, the Council Tax-payers would be paying for that as "trade waste".

So maybe a dozen or so of these little boxes appeared in the club-room firewood crate… and rapidly disappeared into their various rescuers' cars.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

For those of you who like 2oz baccy tins they are still available new and quite cheap as I have bought some recently to completely fill up a storage rack I made. just google smokers supplies.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

When I was in the Air Force, when overseas, we used to be supplied with duty free tobacco which came in small tins identical to the Old Holborn tins but marked “Duty Free H M Forces “ I wish that I had collected them when they were discarded then, I find that tins like that are invaluable for storage. Dave W

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

"Erinmore Flake" had a nice size tin for small tools, much favoured by toolmakers in several firms I worked at. Nowadays nice storage boxes can be 3D printed (maybe by smart nieces/nephews/grandkids) for any size tool-safe storage cheaply and quickly.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Still using 2 oz tobacco tins to store various items.

Unlike the plastic storage drawers, they don't crack!

Howard

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Dad used to smoke Golden Virginia, I still have some of his tins, ideal for engineers blue and graphite powder etc, and a set of 6 without their lids that I added little handles to that I made into a mini chest of draws at school…

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

2oz tobacco tins are not used anymore but I bought a load for next to nothing at the Telford Radio Rally a couple of years ago.

While in Amsterdam there were loads on sale, admittedly at silly prices, decorated for people who don't smoke tobacco to keep their stashes in so they are still being produced new somewhere

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