Third box - first commission!

**Effigy** · 12th January 2007, 01:59 AM

I have been asked to make a presentation box to hold a Custom made Bowie knife that will be given as a gift to the President of a company.

The size asked for was 18" x 8" x 4"

Bl**dy Hell!

Bearing in mind that this will be only the third box I have ever made, this is what I came up with:

The box was made from a nice piece of elm, the base is whiteoak. It is going to be lined by the knife maker.
It is finished with four coats of Danish Oil and then paste wax. Fittings are brass.

I decided to keep it simple, as I would undoubtedly cock it up if I tried anything fancy!

I had an email from the knifemaker saying how pleased he was with it, so that made me relieved

I have been asked for a price to make another. I have no clue what to say.
I was only too pleased to be asked to make a presentation box in the first place, so did not charge anything (I even stood the postage cost of £18

).
But if I am going to get more requests following from this, I will soon be skint!

Any advice?

**mlsa** · 12th January 2007, 04:49 AM

Great looking box. I can see why the guy was pleased with it. Always nice to get paid for some of your work...it helps to finance your hobby.

David

**zenwood** · 12th January 2007, 09:43 AM

Excellent stuff, Effigy. Keeping it simple was probably a good decision, because you don't want the box to compete with the knife. Did you think about adding a pair of supports inside to cradle the knife?

But don't undersell yourself, after all, people tend to value things according to what they paid for them. Being £18 out of pocket is not a good reason to make a box. How about deciding on an hourly rate, add cost of materials and postage:

price = (number of hours) x (hourly rate) + (cost of materials) + (postage),

e.g

materials = 20,
postage = 18,
hourly rate = 10,
number of hours = 5

and you get price = £88. Not bad for a hand-crafted, custom made solid timber box. I wonder how that compares to the cost of the knife?

**Boxinator** · 12th January 2007, 01:09 PM

Excellent work, that will make a great box for the knife. Keep up the good work and congrats!

Corey

**RufflyRustic** · 12th January 2007, 09:45 PM

Hi Effigy,

Very lovely box - it's simplicity is the real winner in it.

Zen's advice for calculating the price is spot on!!

Another way to calculate a price is three times the cost of all materials. Now this is in no way to detract

from Zen's very sound advice, it's just another pricing method for your information.

cheers
Wendy

**ss_11000** · 12th January 2007, 09:53 PM

cool nice simple box..

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