Ifil wood makes some of the prettiest pens I’ve made. This particular piece was harvested about 23 years ago on the island of Guam by my brother. He brought me a a long thin chunk of it some time ago on a trip up here, and I’ve made several pens from it. There is a [...]
Archive for the ‘Pens – Ballpoint’ Category
9 Jun
Mpingo Slimline Ballpoint Pens
Mpingo (Dalbergia melanoxylon) is commonly known as African Blackwood and frequently used in the manufacture of musical instruments due to it’s high density and ability to take a fine finish. While this pen looks like it’s all black, there is actually some swirling grain that shows up as reddish undertones that’s difficult to photograph. You’ll [...]
8 Jun
Ipé Slimline Ballpoint Pen
Ipé (Tabebuia chrysantha) is an incredibly dense wood, so dense it sinks in water, and won’t sustain a flame. It’s most common use in the US is for making decks. It’s naturally insect & rot resistant, and a number of famous boardwalks are made from it, like the one in Ocean City New Jersey. It’s [...]
7 Jun
Madrona Slimline Ballpoint Pen
Madrona (Arbutus menziesii) is known as Madrone south of the Siskiyou mountains on the California / Oregon border, Madrona to the north, and Arbutus up in BC, Canada. It’s also the only broad leaved evergreen in Canada. This particular piece came from my brother’s back yard in Gold Hill, OR. This particular pen was sold [...]
4 Jun
Black & White Ebony Slimline Ballpoint Pen
This pen is made from Black & White Ebony (Diospyros embryopteris) which is also known as Pale Moon Ebony or White Ebony. There are so many species of Ebony in the world that it’s sometimes difficult to classify what you’re working with, but I’m pretty sure this is correct. I bought the wood from a [...]
3 Jun
Alder and Ifil Slimline Ballpoint Pens
These two pens were custom ordered for my client to be used as gifts on a trip to Japan. The pens are made from Alder (top), and Ifil (bottom). Alder is technically a hardwood, but is actually very soft and surprisingly difficult to turn in small scale. When turning bowls, it’s a lot of fun [...]
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 [...]
9 May
Mahogany & Ash Lamination Slimline Ballpoint Pen
The wood for this pen is laminated Mahogany (which has many different species so it’s hard to tell which one this specifically is) & Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) from the ruin of a broken tiller from our sailboat. The break happened on one of our recent trips and I was dumbfounded because I’d just refinished the [...]
8 May
Manzanita Burl Slimline Ballpoint Pen
Manzanita is of the Genus arctostaphylos and means “little apple” in Spanish. My brother gave me a box full of small off-cuts from his bow making efforts a while back and in it was a small piece of Manzanita Burl. I made a couple of pens out of it, one for him, and another for [...]
7 May
Holly Slimline Ballpoint Pen
A couple of years ago, a friend’s house burned down mysteriously. He would eventually sell the property it sat on, but not before cutting down a few trees that had been damaged in the fire. This Holly (Ilex …?, one of 600 or so species – your guess is as good as mine!) was right [...]
