Bloodwood Pen

Bloodwood Pen

I got on the lathe a little while ago and turned a couple pens. This one is bloodwood with a titanium/gold trim hardware. I sanded it to 1500 grit and applied a CA finish. It's up for sale on Etsy, in case anyone's interested.

After the jump are a couple more pictures.

Spalted Maple Pen

Spalted maple Manhattan Pen

I got on the lathe a little while ago and turned a couple pens. This one is spalted maple with a titanium/gold trim hardware. I sanded it to 1500 grit and applied a CA finish. It's up for sale on Etsy, in case anyone's interested.

After the jump are a couple more pictures.

"Shangrila" Series #4

 

So I started a series of pens made from the aromatic cedar we harvested from my in-laws' property.

Similarly to the first two, this is an aromatic cedar blank, twist pen kit, sanded to 1500 grit, finished with 6 coats of CA, and buffed out. The kit is "satin chrome/chrome" trim, twists to extend the tip, and is a black ball-point pen.

This is the third in the series, I'm happy to make custom pens for you, just let me know, and I have a few already made and listed on Etsy.

"Shangrila" Series #3

So I started a series of pens made from the aromatic cedar we harvested from my in-laws' property.

Similarly to the first two, this is an aromatic cedar blank, twist pen kit, sanded to 1500 grit, finished with 6 coats of CA, and buffed out. The kit is "black titanium/gold" trim, twists to extend the tip, and is a black ball-point pen.

This is the third in the series, I'm happy to make custom pens for you, just let me know, and I have a few already made and listed on Etsy.

Zebrawood Black and Chrome Pen

Now that the craziness of the past few months has started to calm down, I wanted to try to get back onto the lathe and hone those skills somewhat. I started with a couple pens made from pieces of aromatic cedar off of my in-laws' lake property.

This time I made a pen from a tropical hardwood called zebrawood. The pen is a black and chrome twist pen kit, and I finished it with six coats of CA and a couple rounds of buffing compound. It's up for sale on Etsy, if anyone's interested. A bunch of pictures after the jump.

"Shangrila" Series Pen #2

This is the second in the Shangrila Series of turnings that I made from aromatic cedar that came off my wife's family property by Lake Shangrila in southern Wisconsin.

"Shangrila" Series Pen #1

We were doing some yard work at my in-laws lake house on Lake Shangrila, Wisconsin, burning leaves, pruning some trees, when we pruned what we thought might have been a juniper bush. Turns out, it's aromatic cedar (one smell and you know). the branches looked incredibly gnarled and twisted, like they might have some interesting figure, so I grabbed a few and figured I'd see what I could get out of them on the lathe. Turns out (buh-dum-ching) the pieces are the ideal size for turning pens.

I turned it on the lathe, sanded to 1500 grit, and applied 6 coats of CA to finish. The pen kit is black with chrome trim and is a "twist" mechanism ball point.

Thus starts a series of pens, the "Shangrila" Series.

Zebrawood Black and Chrome Pen

I turned a pen. It's zebrawood in a black and chrome twist pen kit with a CA finish. It's up for sale on Etsy, if anyone's interested. A bunch of pictures after the jump.

Bloodwood Nickel Pen

I've been turning a few pens recently. I'm doing it in no small part because it helps keep some rudimentary lathe skills sharp and also because unlike building complex furniture that takes days of labor, I can finish a pen in one work session. I had a small quantity of bloodwood leftover from my bed side stand, it's my all-time favorite wood to cut, and I thought, why not turn it into a pen. This is what I ended up with. More pictures after the jump.

Danggai Pen

We went to Arizona recently, and a friend of ours was kind enough to not only let us crash in his place in Phoenix, but also to borrow his car (on which we put a few miles; thanks again Brian!). Anyway, one of the ways we thanked him was by giving him this:

Bubinga Pen

We recently got a lathe, which is the tool used to turn spindles, bowls, or, in this case, pens. Basically, you put a square block of wood on the lathe, spin it on its long axis rapidly, and poke at it with a chisel until it becomes round. This pen is made out of an exotic hardwood called bubinga. More after the jump...