This pen could be named serendipity. While working on a couple of other pens made from Mpingo, I managed to break the wood on one of the barrels of each. Several weeks went by and the individual barrels got lost in the shuffle on my assembly bench. Yesterday, I found both of them. On a [...]
Archive for the ‘African Blackwood’ Category
15 Oct
Mpingo .50 Caliber BMG Pen
I made another pen from a once-fired .50 caliber BMG (Browning Machine Gun) shell casing, this time with Mpingo (African Blackwood). It is the pen in the right in the above photo. Making these pens is kind of fun. There’s only one barrel to be turned and there are only a couple of tricky spots. [...]
7 Oct
Mpingo Bottle Stopper
Mpingo (African Blackwood) has quickly become one of my favorite woods to work with. It machines well, smells nice, isn’t grumpy on the lathe – meaning it doesn’t split or crack easily although it will if you try hard enough. This particular piece said “bottle stopper” to me as soon as I saw it. The [...]
13 Jul
Osage Orange & Mpingo 24-Carat Gold Fountain Pens
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) is one of my best selling woods, and with good reason. It starts out as a bright orange color when freshly cut but mellows to a very nice dark orangy-brown with exposure to light and use. I try to make my pieces from wood that I find and this one is [...]
11 May
Mpingo Slimline Ballpoint Pen
This pen is made from Mpingo (Dalbergia melanoxylon) commonly known as African Blackwood. Turning this particular pen was fun because it was the first time I’d made anything from it. I was pleased to learn how easy it was to work, and how nice a finish it took. Although the pen looks like it’s all [...]
