Custom Scissor Boxes
Custom scissor boxes from 100 — magnetic-lid rigid boxes with a die-cut foam insert, two-piece boxes and printed sleeve-and-tray sets for hairdressing, sewing and craft scissors, plus a hang-tab carton for the retail peg.
Two sharp points and a hinge, packed so neither one moves
- Build
- Rigid box of wrapped grayboard with a magnetic or lift-off lid; folding carton for retail
- Insert
- Closed-cell foam cut to the closed pair, flocked or satin-covered on request
- Accessory wells
- Oil bottle, cloth, tension key, spare blade guard
Get a price for Scissor Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Blades closed, points buried
The insert is cut to the scissors with the blades shut. A cavity the shape of the closed pair, a few millimeters deep in a firm foam, holds the pivot and both handle loops so the blades cannot open in transit. The tips sit in a pocket that is cut deeper than the rest, so even if the box is dropped on its end, the points press into foam and not into board. For a set, each pair gets its own cavity and a finger scoop under the handles so it can be lifted out.
Foam that is too soft lets the pair shift; foam that is too hard marks a polished handle. We use a closed-cell foam that does not shed, with a satin or velvet flock over it on the hairdressing boxes where the handles are polished steel.
Depth matters as much as outline. A pair of shears is thickest at the pivot screw, and if the cavity is cut to the blade thickness the pivot sits proud and the lid presses on it. We cut the pivot area a step deeper, which also means the lid can close on a pair with a finger rest or a tang that stands above the handle line.
Box styles for the price point
| Magnetic-lid rigid box | Hinged lid, hidden magnets, foam cavity; the hairdressing shear standard |
|---|---|
| Two-piece rigid box | Base and lift-off lid, foam or flocked tray; for sewing and tailoring sets |
| Sleeve and tray | A printed sleeve over a plain tray with a cradle; mid-price and prints well |
| Hang-tab carton | Folding carton with a window and a euro-slot tab, for the retail peg |
Hairdressing shears travel differently
Professional shears are sold by mail to stylists and often come with an oil bottle, a cleaning cloth and a tension key. The box carries all of it: a second cavity for the oil, a slot for the cloth, and a shallow well for the key. Because the stylist keeps the box and takes it to work, the wrap matters more than on a retail box; soft-touch black with a foil mark and a leatherette outer are the usual asks. Where the shears go to a salon in a counter display, our rigid magnetic boxes for small tools share the same construction with a shallower tray.
Sewing, craft and kitchen scissors on a peg
- A folding carton with a clear window shows the handles and hides the blades behind print.
- The euro-slot hang tab is double-thickness board so it does not tear on the hook.
- A blade guard of folded cardstock sits over the tips inside the carton.
- A multipack carton holds three sizes in a stepped tray cut to each pair.
- Child-safety scissors get rounded corners on the box and no window near the blades.
Cutting the insert to your pair
We need the scissors, or a flat scan with a ruler in frame. The cavity follows the outline with a 1 mm offset; the handle loops are cut through so a finger can get under them. Left- and right-handed pairs are mirror images and need separate inserts, which is worth knowing before the die is cut. A sleeve with a window over the handles lets the pair be seen without the box being opened, which matters on a counter where boxes are opened and left open.
A set with mixed items, say shears, a thinning pair and a comb, is laid out so the longest item runs along the box and the rest nest around it. We send a flat drawing of the insert for sign-off before the die is cut, because moving a cavity afterwards means a new die, not a tweak.
Steel blades can rust against damp foam. We supply a silica sachet slot in the tray for shears shipped by sea.
Scissor Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Build
- Rigid box of wrapped grayboard with a magnetic or lift-off lid; folding carton for retail
- Insert
- Closed-cell foam cut to the closed pair, flocked or satin-covered on request
- Accessory wells
- Oil bottle, cloth, tension key, spare blade guard
- Wrap and print
- Soft-touch, leatherette or printed paper; foil, deboss, spot UV
- Retail carton
- Cardstock with window and double-thickness euro-slot hang tab
- Sizing
- Cut to the pair; left- and right-handed inserts are separate
- Minimum
- 100 scissor boxes per size
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. Both sides as standard on cards, tags and leaflets.
- Color
- CMYK with spot colors for a brand match. Uncoated and cotton stocks print noticeably lighter than coated ones.
- Tolerance
- Trim plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut. Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding.
- Tooling
- A die only where the piece is shaped, perforated or drilled, made once and kept. A plain rectangle needs none.
- Food contact
- Food-safe inks on menus and counter print that will be handled where food is served.
- Sustainability
- Uncoated and unlaminated stocks recycle without separation, and FSC papers are available across the range.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build scissor boxes on
Sheet print is judged in the hand more than a box is: the weight, the surface and whether a pen works on it. These are the stocks we run for cards, folders, leaflets and stationery.
Coated card 300–400gsm
The workhorse. Sharp full-color print, matte or gloss, laminated where it is handled. Does not take a pen unless the finish is matte.
300–400gsmUncoated card
No clay coat. Colors read softer and warmer, a deboss goes deeper, and it writes on with anything. Photographs lose punch.
300–400gsmCotton and textured card
Soft, thick and fibrous. Takes a deep blind deboss and reads as an invitation. Foil sits beautifully; four-color does not.
400–700gsmDuplexed card
Two sheets bonded, often with a colored core, for a very thick card with a visible colored edge. The heaviest thing we print.
600–900gsmText paper 100–170gsm
Leaflets, folder inners and booklet pages. Folds without cracking and takes a full-color print on both faces.
100–170gsmManila and kraft paper
Unbleached, tan, and cheap. One or two colors read well; white ink gives a light mark. Envelopes, folders and tags.
90–300gsmSynthetic stock
Polypropylene sheet for tags and cards that get wet, torn or handled outdoors. Prints like paper and does not soften.
200–400 micronBoard-backed
A printed face laminated to grayboard, for a rigid card, a folder back or a display that has to stand up on its own.
1–2 mm boardNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Sheet print takes the widest range of finishes of anything we make.
Matte lamination
Soft, fingerprint-resistant, and it still takes a pen. The default on anything handled.
Gloss lamination
Maximum color depth. Shows every fingerprint and refuses a ballpoint.
Hot foil
Gold, rose gold, silver, holographic or a color. The block is small so the die is cheap.
Emboss and deboss
Deepest on uncoated and cotton stocks; shallow and prone to cracking on gloss coated.
Spot UV
A gloss shape on a matte laminate. Best on a dark ground where the contrast reads.
Edge paint and colored core
Color on the cut edge of a thick or duplexed card. Only seen when the card is picked up, which is the point.
Soft-touch
A velvet laminate on a cover or a folder. Marks on white; excellent on dark.
Uncoated and textured
No film at all. Writes on, debosses deeply, and reads as considered rather than cheap.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing printed sheets, folds and the grain: scissor boxes
A printed piece is specified flat and finished folded, and the difference between the two is where mistakes live. Send the finished size you want and we work back to the flat.
- Finished size
- The size after folding and trimming. A6, A5, A4, DL, US letter and legal are standard; anything else is cut on its own die.
- Bleed and safe area
- 3 mm of artwork past every trim edge, and nothing important within 4 mm inside it. The guillotine drifts by a fraction on every stack.
- Grain direction
- Paper folds cleanly along the grain and cracks across it. We set the grain to the fold, which is why a sheet is not simply cut from the biggest sheet available.
- Fold allowance
- On a roll fold or a gate fold, the inner panels are cut a millimeter or two shorter so the piece closes flat.
- Creasing
- Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding. Without it the fold cracks and the coating flakes along the line.
- Trim tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Scissor Boxes
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a stock and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about scissor boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
How does a scissor box keep the blades from opening?
The foam cavity is cut to the pair with the blades closed and holds the pivot and both handle loops, so the blades cannot open in transit.
Are the scissor points protected in the box?
Yes. The tip pocket is cut deeper than the rest of the cavity so the points press into foam, never into the box wall.
Do you make scissor boxes for hairdressing shears?
Yes. Magnetic-lid rigid boxes with cavities for the shears, an oil bottle, a cloth and a tension key, in a soft-touch or leatherette wrap.
Can a scissor box hold more than one pair?
Yes. A set box gets one cavity per pair with a finger scoop under each handle, in a stepped tray for different sizes.
Is there a scissor box that hangs on a shop peg?
Yes. A folding carton with a window over the handles and a double-thickness euro-slot hang tab.
Will the foam insert scratch polished scissor handles?
Not the foam we use. It is closed-cell and non-shedding, and on polished shears it is covered in satin or velvet flock.
Do left-handed scissors need a different scissor box insert?
Yes. A left-handed pair is a mirror image, so its cavity is cut separately. The outer box is the same.
What do you need to cut a scissor box insert?
The scissors themselves, or a flat scan with a ruler in the frame. The cavity follows the outline with a 1 mm offset.
Can a scissor box have a window?
Yes, over the handles in both the sleeve and the retail carton. We keep the window away from the blade tips on child-safety scissors.
Can steel scissors rust inside a scissor box?
Against damp foam, over a long sea voyage, they can. We add a silica sachet slot in the tray for those shipments.
How many scissor boxes can we order?
From 100 per size. One box with two insert versions covers a right- and left-handed pair.
Same range
