Churchill Rollerball

This is a pen I made over the weekend. It is available from Woodcraft and is a great pen. Although it is a little bit larger it has a good feel in the hand. It is not near as large as the Majestic but it is the second largest pen I have made. It has Black parts and is accented in 24 karat gold. It is finished with Blue Dyed Buckeye Burl.

First Pens Since Blog Creation

My grandpas birthday is Thursday so I made him a nice rollerball screw cap pen. The base of the pen is the Tycoon pen Kit from Penn State Industries Woodturners supply. http://www.pennstateind.com/
It is 24 karat gold plated and features sleek parts that make for a splendid pen. I completed the pen with a Dyed Stabilized Buckeye Burl and finished it with seal coats of CA Glue and a high gloss wax finish.

Another Pen I made was a Majestic Rollerball pen also available from Penn State Industries. It is a very large pen and with the cap on feels very heavy but when the cap is removed it is perfectly balanced. This pen was purchased in the Rhodium and Black Titanium Nitride finish. A sleek and sharp looking pen perfect for anyone with large hands or that likes a large well balanced pen. It also for its size isn't very heavy which makes it a pleasure to write with. This pen was completed with a very nice Redwood Lace Burl Blank which makes very nice large pens and the wood couldn't have worked any better.



Majestic Pen in Rhodium and Black Titanium Nitride and Redwood Lace Burl



Tycoon Rollerball in 24 karat Gold and Red Dyed Buckeye Burl

Hope You Enjoy

First Post Ever

Well here goes something new. I'm going to "blog" about my pen making experiences. I've been turning pens for about 5 months now and would like to think I have progressed pretty well. I made about 25 pens for relatives for christmas and besides that I have made them to give away. I am basically using this as a marketing feature and as I make some more pens and continue to photograph them I will put them up for review and if you are interested in potentially purchasing one we can work something out. All of my pens are turned by me and are finished with a few different processes.

• Wood Pens- Wood pens are glued onto the brass barrels using a combination of water thin CA glue to help seal the pores on the inside and then glued in place with thick CA glue. They are turned down to about 1/32nd larger than the finished pen and then sealed from the outside with water thin CA glue and sanded multiple times to stabilized the wood and help "plasticize" it to increase durability. The pens are then sanded down to final size and in grits progressing from 120 or 220 up to 600. After sanding I use 0000 steel wool and then finish with either lacquer, wax polish, or High Build Friction Polish. All of the finishes produce similar results and I use them on different woods depending on the type of wood.

• Acrylic Pens- Acrylic Pens are glued in using 2 part epoxy. After it cures I turn it down to about 1/32nd of an inch over and then sand starting at 220 and finish at 600. I then polish it to a high gloss finish unless a different finish is requested. Acrylic blanks are simpler to turn and polish but the downside is they are more expensive than wood.

Hope you enjoy all of my pens and continue to read this. I will try to update at least once a week depending on time and my schedule