Box Production at Conservation Resources

At Conservation Resources we are committed to providing a high-quality product that not only suits your conservation needs, but will also endure the test of time.

This philosophy is typified in our box production, the entire box production is produced in our warehouse at Heyford Park airfield, Oxfordshire.

John, our Production Manager oversees the making of our Archival Boxes, with 35 years worth of experience in the process you will be hard pressed to find more knowledge and skill in the box making industry.

John with our box cutting machine.

Our fully archival boxes can be made in either a two-piece box, which has a separate lid to the base, or a drop front box using our die press to create a folding lid. Our die press allows us to also create bespoke items such as folders, enclosures and rare book strips.

Our box making process begins with our British sourced box board, which is designed to be fully archival, being Sulphur, Acid and Lignin free. John takes great pride in creating a fully handmade British box, especially in the modern era John can take the care to ensure the quality is to the highest standard throughout the entire box making process.

We find out from the customer the internal measurements of the required box and John maps out the most efficient use of the space on the box board to ensure there is minimal waste throughout the process. John cuts the board on our guillotine and puts the creases using our die cut fly press. This is done using our extensive range of dies that we use for our stock item boxes, or for large quantities of boxes we can get a die made to the exact specification.

Our vast range of Die's to make a whole range of different boxes.

If John is making a smaller made to measure order, he will use a specialist treadle table which applies the perfect amount of pressure to crease the board.

John will the cut the corners using the corner cutter, or by hand for specialist boxes. When this process is complete you have two pieces of board that will be the lid and the base of the box, which John folds along the crease lines that he has created. The box takes shape when John puts a metal edge onto the corners of the box. The advantage of putting metal edges down the outside of the box in question is that all risk of cross contamination from metal such as staples is avoided, ensuring archival security.

The corner press, ensuring the integrity and structure of our boxes are to the highest archival standards. 

John applies the edges in whichever format the customer requires, whether it is to create a drop front box or all sides rigid. A drop front box will provide easier accessibility to the contents; however, if you have all sides rigid on a box it will ensure the strength of the box. Once the edges have been strengthened by a metal edge the box is complete and ready to be dispatched.

John is always on site to help configure any box specification, whether that be over the phone or come and visit to see our production.