When I have an good price order or make a special knife as a gift, and the knife is worth a bit of pizzazz in packaging:
I use the tubes that really good bottles of scotch come in as well as nice wooden cigar boxes and make "Surprise Cases" for knives, especially Sgian Dubh knives. It is really a great way to present a knife when the recipient first thinks the gift is something else. Unwrapping a tube of $250 scotch, or a box of Havana cigars and then finding a knife inside has serious WOW factor.
If you keep you eyes open, as well as let people know you want interesting looking tubes and boxes, you will end up with lots of them. Also, ebay usually has many really neat antique wooden boxes and cases ( sans the original contents) for cheap.
For obvious reasons, the cigar boxes that I like the most are a brand called "Edge", by Rocky Patel. My local dealer gave me about fifty assorted boxes a while back, so I have a good supply. Another box that is good is the "Acid" brand box with a glass panel on the lid.....but any cool looking wooden cigar box makes the packaging for a knife special.
For the wooden cigar boxes, I make a foam liner with a cut out that fits the blade, and put a piece of felt over the foam. I sometimes put felt in the top.
What I do with the scotch tubes is glue a piece of PVC ( pipe size varies, but 1" usually works) down the center (hot melt glue on the bottom of the PVC). It comes to about 1" from the top. Then I pour 2" plaster of Paris around the PVC tube to weight the scotch tube. I fill it with stuffed newspaper ,leaving about 2" to the top of the PVC tube, and then pour some more plaster. I dye the plaster brown to imply the scotch that once was in the tube. A piece of high density foam rubber is pushed down the PVC to make a cushioned bottom. I make a cork to fit the PVC, so it looks like a large scotch bottle cork. If all this is done right, when the lid is snapped on the scotch tube, the assembly looks and feels like a full bottle of high end scotch is in it. You take off the lid, pull the cork, and "pour" out the knife. This makes a really great gift package for a Scot, and it will usually sit somewhere proudly displayed in his home.
Other display packages are made from the really nice hinged wooden cases that very high end liquors and champagnes comes in...Dom Perignon, Macallan 25,Laphroaig 40, Jose Curevo Familia Reserva, etc.
For the big scotch/champagne boxes I make a cradle in the box that holds the knife with leather straps and snaps, similar to the cradle that originally held the bottle.
Other ideas for presentation and collector knives are:
Antique wooden boxes with cool labels - Dynamite, blasting caps, black powder sticks, salted fish cases ( for kitchen knives),oyster tins (for oyster knives), old wooden military ammo boxes, antique car tool kit boxes and tubes, etc. These can be regularly found for less than $10, and can make a knife gift really look spectacular.
OK, for the coolest knife display/storage/presentation case I ever saw ( it was not made by me) - He used a tall rectangular metal can with a snap on lid. It originally held a huge loaf of corned beef for the military in WWII. It was about 6" square and 16" tall. He made a wooden knife block to fit inside the can that held four knives and a steel in such a way the all the handle ends were just shy of the top. It sits on his kitchen counter as a neat decoration, and when he wants a knife, he lifts the lid and takes out the blade he needs.
I think this will work for many neat kitchen tins and boxes...oat meal, old lard tins, flour bins, etc.
