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
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
