Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii)is a bright orange color when it’s freshly cut but quickly fades to a pretty reddish brown with exposure to light. The sawdust is strangely sticky, clinging to everything it touches, metal, skin, clothing, etc. This makes it somewhat difficult to work with because the dust tends to pile up on my knives as I work the lathe. I can’t pour or blow it off like other species and have to push it off with my fingers. However, it turns beautifully and takes a very nice finish. One of the things I really like about Padauk is its characteristic called chatoyancy – which is the appearance of depth in the finish. It has a 3-D effect when you look down into the wood, like you’re looking through its surface.This is the largest pen I’ve made to date, ideal for someone who is looking for a pen with a lot of well-balanced weight.Mechanism: Parker style rollerball with a rhodium-plated pen nib and premium Schmidt steel cartridge refill with a ceramic point. There’s a Swarovski crystal in the clip for an added touch of flair and all the furniture is cast, then plated with titanium nitride for an extremely durable finish.Finish: Hand sanded through 400 grit, then 00 through 0000 steel wool for a fine polished surface. The finish is mineral oil, bee’s and paraffin waxes melted onto the surface and polished in with a soft cotton pad.

Price: US$168
Item Ref No: PdkERP0042
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.

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 whim, I fitted them together and the wood patterns lined up perfectly! Pleased with my good luck, I put the pen together with some gold fittings.


The sharp variations of the sap & heart wood grain as well as the striking differences in colors makes this a very pretty pen. I’m quite pleased with the result.


Mechanism: The mechanism is Cross style and refills are readily available in most office supply stores.


Finish: The pen was sanded up to 400 grit, then burnished with 0000 steel wool to bring up a smooth surface. It was then finished with mineral oil, bee’s & carnauba wax and a final polish with paraffin wax.


Price: US$35

Item Ref No: MSP0059

Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.


A slimline pen made solely out of the black heart wood of Mpingo is also available. Click here to view it.

This pen is made from Ipé (Tabebuia chrysantha) which is incredibly dense, so much so that it won’t float in water or sustain a flame. I made it with matte black fittings so it’s very understated while still stylish with a nice weight. I really like turning Ipé because it takes an incredible finish, even though the silica in the wood is tough on my tools. You have to sharpen your tools much more frequently when you’re turning it.


Mechanism: It’s a Cross style ballpoint with a twist mechanism. The fittings are a matte black with an epoxy coating for a very durable finish. Replacement inserts are available at any office supply store.


Finish: The pen was sanded up to 400 grit, then burnished with 0000 steel wool to bring up a smooth surface. It was then finished with mineral oil, bee’s & carnauba wax and a final polish with paraffin wax.


Price: US$35
Item Ref No: IpeSP0039
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.

Mechanism: Cross style and refills are readily available in most office supply stores.

Finish: The pens were sanded up to 400 grit, then burnished with 0000 steel wool to bring up a smooth surface. It was then finished with mineral oil, bee’s & carnauba wax and a final polish with paraffin wax.

Price: US$35
Item Ref No: PWSP0032 (top) and PWSP0033
Status: 0033 is sold but 0032 is still available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.

This pen was one that I’d actually forgotten I had a kit for.  I was looking through my stock of kits for something else when I found it.  The bushings that it requires to make as well as the necessary drill bit were also present, so I was set.  I had some Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) from an earlier project in the day and decided it was the wood to use. Other than the sawdust sticking to everything, Padauk is nice to turn. It smells pleasantly of a spice I can’t place and doesn’t require a lot of care at the lathe.  Some woods you really have to babysit but Padauk isn’t one of them.  The barrels on this pen are fairly thick, so if you like a pen with a larger diameter and some weight, you’ll like this one.


Mechanism: Parker style double twist pen.  The point rotates out if you twist the pen in either direction.  If you prefer gel pens, you can simply swap out the original insert for a gel insert.


Finish: Sanded to 400 grit, then 00 through 0000 steel wool.  Mineral oil, bee’s and paraffin wax.


Price: US$58
Item Ref No: PdkCP0043
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.

This pen I turned to a slimmer profile than the one listed above, but it still has the lovely subtle red undertones in the grain. I’m quite pleased with this particular pen, and I think you will be too.

Price: $35
Item Ref No: MSP0037
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing this 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. I made the barrel on this pen a bit longer to give it more weight at the tip for counter balancing the heft of the shell casing at the other end. Mpingo is one of the heavier woods I work with, so the extra weight helps. The photo collage below shows the dramatic variations of the sap & heart wood grain as well as the striking differences in colors from dark black with some subtle reds of the heart wood to the creamy yellowish white of the sap wood.


Mechanism: Cross style twist ballpoint mechanism.


Finish: The wood was sanded to 400 grit then polished up to 0000 steel wool. A wax & oil finish was then applied. The brass shell casing was sanded to 800 wet & dry, then up through 0000 steel wool, and finally polished with silver polish to a soft luster, then given three coats of gloss lacquer to preserve the shine. Since these are once-fired brass, there are dings & scuffs from the firing, extraction and collecting processes.


Price: US$40
Item Ref No: M-50BMGP0054
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.

Another pen from Black and White Ebony with gun metal gray mechanism.

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 cut off wasn’t big enough to do much else with. It wasn’t long enough to make a pen from but it was long & wide enough to fit into your hand nicely. I like how the two colors have such a distinct line between two such highly contrasting colors. On the chrome steel part, there are two O-rings along the taper to help seal most wine bottles. It also fits perfectly on bottles for storing oil, honey and the likes while adding a striking look to your kitchen counter or dining table.

Mechanism: Cross style, and refills are readily available in most office supply stores.

Finish: The pens were sanded up to 400 grit, then burnished with 0000 steel wool to bring up a smooth surface. It was then finished with mineral oil, bee’s & carnauba wax and a final polish with paraffin wax.

Price: US$35 per pen
Item Ref No: ASP0023 (right) and ASP0024
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing these pens.