Pens and Pencils

I like to make pens and pencils. Here are some of what I have made and at the bottom there are some shots of the manufacturing process




This is a matched pair of fountain and rollerball pens. These are in the upper market part of the spectrum and are turned in prunings of a rose bush. Known as a desk pen set, the caps do not screw on to the body unless they are covering the nib. They are balanced for use without the cap fitted and are supposed to remain on a gentleman's desk rather than travel in his pocket. They are quite substantial at 15cm long by nealy 2 cm diameter at the widest point and the metal is plated in Rhodium





A fountain pen, this was turned out of the prunings of my apricot tree. I like to use this one the balance is very good. The same length as the gentleman's pens , but this one is much more elegant. Slimmer at just 1 cm diameter, the cap screws onto the body and the plating is 24ct gold






A "Cigar" pen, done in red gum. It is a twist pen; that is the top twists on the lateral axis to push the ball point out. At 14,5cm, it is marginally shorter that the first two and it is 1.6cm at the biggest diameter The plating is gold in colour, but I think thats probably as far as it goes

A slimline twist ball point, the main timber is Radiatta and the dark inserts are Jarrah. At 13cm long and about 8mm diameter, they are smaller than the average , but i have turned them with a slight bulge behind the business end to make them easier to grip. The finish is a product called EEE, which is the equivalent of about a 3000g paper

Another Radiatta pen, this time a "Cigar", the same as the Redgum above. It also is a ball point twist pen and also finished with EEE.

This is a shorter pen set that would fit in a ladies handbag or purse. It's 12cm long by about 14mm at its widest, the wood is Blackwood, one of our wattles and there is a fountain pen and a roller ball pen in the set

These are pen blanks on my workbench. The pair at the back are Redgum and the front pair which have had the tubed inserted, are Radiatta Pine




The blanks are on the madrill and mounted on the lathe ready for turning


Here they are being sanded with a bit of worn 400g paper



And this is what they look like on the lathe after they have been finished

Candle holders

A couple of candlesticks that I made, The first was a commission for a church and no it wasnt a synagogue even if its a seven holder unit. This is in Redgum, a timber I particularly like working with on anything that will take a hi gloss finish, it is quite hard and takes a beautiful shine. Particularly when its been under a house ot part of a fence for many years, it has dried out in that situation and buffs up beautifully. Its also not hard to come by second hand and that is significant in my scheme of things.

This one was a wedding present and I wanted to create something that was not quite conventional. A good example of off centre turning where the form is just as important as the function. Made from old Redgum house stumps, the dark stains are water marks from the house being in wet ground for so long.

Bits and pieces

Sometimes I make things that are out of the ordinary for me, meaning that I dont make many of them. Sometimes its hard to know where to put them in a site like this, they dont really fit into any of the categories listed. But I like the pieces and want to post them here, so they are included as Bits and Pieces.




A couple of pairs of Salt and Pepper grinders. The pair above are Redgum for the pepper and Mountain Ash is the salt. The difference is that the salt has a ceramic mechanism while the pepper has metal. They are about 150 mm tall and finished in Organoil

A couple more grinders, the pepper in Redgum again, made out of an old garden stake. The salt is Golden Wattle and they stand about 150mm tall and are finished in Organoil.

A goblet made out of a pruning from a Persimmon tree. Its in the same family as Ebony and works very nicely. What looks like a splotch on the side of the bowl is actually the inside of the bark and it reminds me of a family crest. Its about 60mm high and finished in Rustins two part poly so that it can be used as a sherry glass. That type of finish will stop wine soaking into the wood and contaminating the next drink.

This is a piece of Australian walnut that I scrounged from a feller who makes gun stocks. I love the timber colouring and it was turned very thin walled. It is 40mm high

A bedside clock mounted in a shallow dish for a lady to put small jewellry in. Made out of Redgum and Cypress Pine with a commercial clock insert, it's about 75 mm high and finished in Organoil.

Furniture

Sometimes I make furniture as well. That gives me scope to try something bigger, although it usually is a fight to fit it in my small shop.

This is a bookcase that I made for a friend, the timber is Mountain Ash to match the floorboards and its finished in Organoil with a low gloss sheen.

A desk for the office, it was originally a job built as part of the class for apprentice cabinet makers where I was working. The appentice who built this one botched it up and I brought it and the dressing table home and made good on the damage. Timber is leatherwood and, like most of my furniture, it's finished in Organoil. the top has a leatherette insert

The dressing table completed but its only sitting in the family room not in its final position.

A set of drawers made for the office to sit next to the computer desk. The shelf holds the drawing board that was made 50 years ago by my dad to design the family house. I still use it for my design work.

Off centre turning

There is a lot in favour of practicality, one of the standard questions I am asked is "What is it", meaning what is it's function. But there is also another side to the creative process, design more for form where function takes second place and form is more important. The function of this candleholder is obvious, but I wanted to create a form that was a departure from the traditional shape and this was a test piece to see if the idea would work. In redgum, the finish is high speed polish and the final piece is on the candleholder page.




Sometimes I like to experiment with forms for the sake of the shape rather that practical use. Sort of "Art for art's sake". I supose that the following two items might serve as pen holders for a desk , but that would be an "added on" function, not the purpose for which they were originally created.

This one, in redgum, with a finish of danish oil, was actually the first stage of an idea for shape that I had back in late 2008. Like most ideas, there were good things and bad about it, but it served to show me what could be done

I suppose, if I had to suggest a purpose for this design, it could serve as a very bad pen holder on someone's desk. but that is not why it was made. It is a progression from the first attempt and was done in decenber 2009. Again in redgum, this time the finish is a high speed polish

Miniature turning is another way of creating forms purely for the sake of form rather than function, particularly when combined with off centre turning. The single goblet to the left is in Jarrah, finished in Danish oil and stand 25mm high. In the photo above, the left hand goblet is turned in coastal banksia with a natural finish and stands 18mm high while the lighter coloured one is in radiata pine , natural finish and is about 12 mm high

Bowls

These are some of the bowls I have made over the years. There are more of course and I hope
there will be yet more to come.






More of a platter than a bowl, this one is in Cooktown Ironwood; a timber that is as hard as its name implies and it weighs about the same as well. The platter is suspended off the surface of the table on the four legs and it's about 250mm square. Completed in April 2010, the finish is EEE








A winged bowl in Redgum. made out of a square of timber and with the corners left on, but shaped. Finished by sanding to 400g and an application of EEE. Completes in November 2009, the edges of the square measure about 10cm.














A lidded bowl in Apricot, complete with inner bark. Again sanded to 400g and finished with EEE, I finished this piece in Oct 2009

Another lidded bowl in Apricot completed in January 2010. The base was attached to a bit of scrap timber and mounted on a screw chuck and the lid top shaped but the knob left solid. I drilled a hole in the body of the bowl and jammed the knob into it to turn and finish the underside of the lid. Hollowed, shaped and finished the bowl and taped the lid to it. Shaped and finished the top of the lid. Turned the body upside down in a jamchuck and shaped and finished the base. It stands about 10cm high and about 12 cm diameter

One of my favourite pieces, made from Moore Park Apricot without a straight bit of grain anywhere and several pruned branch buts that were hidden as the tree grew over them . Not an easy piece to turn, but well worth the effort. About 250mm diameter and finished in French Polish.

Two different tripod bowls. The one with the candle is intended as a nut bowl, made in Radiata Pine and finished in Danish oil. its about 250 mm diameter and including the legs, roughly 90mm high. The other tripod, below, is in Redgum and much smaller, with the legs through a collar and bedded into the underside of the rim. The finish on this one is a hi speed polish of beeswax, carnuba wax and wood alcohol, while the radiata is finished in organoil which is a compound based on Tung Oil, from the nut of the Chinese Tung tree

Turned from a piece of Apricot, it stands about 170mm high and 200mm across. A pedestal bowl takes its name from the fact that it is raised on a pedestal instead of sitting directly on the table. The gap is the far side is the outer edge of the wood and not a chip that has fallen out. Finish is a high speed wax, I made it in 2001

A lidded bowl in Redgum and Mountain Ash, I went to far with the hollowing out and dug through the base. A bit of Mountain ash filled that hole and a redgum Knob on the lid completed the idea. Finished in a high speed polish, it stands about 100 mm high and roughly the same diameter. It was finished in 2002

This was made out of a Rose briar and I left the outside untouched except for the top and lid. It stands about 40 mm high and the inside is finished with Danish oil. This is one of my early pieces and dates from about 1980

Turned in native willow, this one measures 260mm at the largest diameter and stands about 180nmm high. The high speed finish brings out the grain very nicely It was made in March 2010. this style of bowl is known as "A Footed Bowl" for obvious reasons and the foot has been hollowed out

Another bowl in Silky Oak this time, it measures about 250 mm across and stands about half that high. The finish is French Polish, a finish I prefer to avoid if possible, but I had a try at this and one of the Apricot bowls. The dark patches are the bark of the tree and you may notice some irregularities in the wood surface. They are borer holes. The borers themselves are quite dead.