Wooden hinges with a brass pin hidden inside. A bonefrog inlaid in the front. Cedar-lined for ~50 cigars.
A brass pin runs the length of the hinge. To set it, you have to drill a perfectly centered hole through a piece of padauk no thicker than your thumb. One wobble and the lid never closes right.
The hinge is wenge, picked to match the trim. Seven separate knuckles, each shaped by hand, each cut to the same dimension within a hair. They interlock like fingers. A single brass rod runs the length of them, hidden completely, doing the work.
The hard part wasn't shaping the knuckles. It was drilling dead center through every one of them so the rod would seat true and the lid would close flat. Off by half a degree on any single piece and the whole hinge binds.
Years ago a man bought my first humidor. Brusso hinges, brass, well made. He loved it. Over time he'd quietly wished he could buy another one like it — he's owned a lot of humidors, and this one stayed his favorite.
His son-in-law remembered who built it. So one afternoon the two of them came by the shop.
This one was sitting on the bench. He opened the lid, lowered it back down, and heard the soft airtight whoosh of a perfect fit closing on itself — the sound that means the cigars inside will hold their humidity for as long as he keeps the box. He ran a finger across the seven wenge knuckles of the hinge. Then he looked up.
"No one makes them like this anymore. The wooden hinges... wow."
The hinges are what took the time. Wooden hinges sound simple until you try to make one that closes true a thousand times and seals like that. Seven interlocking knuckles, each cut to the same dimension. A single brass rod hidden inside, running the length of them, doing the work. The wood does the look. The brass does the lift.
The hard part was the drill. The rod has to sit perfectly centered through all seven knuckles or the lid binds, sits crooked, or stops closing flat. There's no jig that fixes a bad bore. You set up carefully, take a breath, and either get it right or start the piece over.
Now he has #1 and #4. Brass hinges and wooden ones. Both signed.
Each one is one of one. Wood pairings, hinge style, capacity, inlay — designed for the person who'll use it.