Archive for the ‘Unique Gifts’ Category
24
Aug
Posted by uniquetreen in Available, Handmade, Padauk, Pens, Pens - Rollerball, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
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: 5-Pdk-ERP
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.
24
Aug
Posted by uniquetreen in Available, Handmade, Padauk, Pens - Ballpoint, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
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: 6-Pdk-CBP
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.
24
Aug
Posted by uniquetreen in Available, Handmade, Ifil, Pens, Pens - Ballpoint, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
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 sharp distinction between the sap wood and heart wood, and a huge difference in density of the two. The sap wood is the lighter color, and has about the same density as balsa wood, and the darker heart wood is very hard. The sap wood has also spalted, which is caused by a fungus that makes the dark lines in it. This makes it difficult to turn on the lathe because the knife cuts into the wood at different rates. The solution to this is to use very sharp tools, and soaking the workpiece in cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. Doing so effectively plasticizes the wood, making it much easier to turn.
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.
Another view of the pen showing the heart wood side and the line between it and the sap wood.
22
Aug
Posted by uniquetreen in Available, Handmade, Madrona, Pens, Pens - Ballpoint, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. 1 comment
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 for a father’s day gift to a client in SE Asia, Madrona is popular there because it can’t be found anywhere in Asia, so it’s unique. In fact, it can’t be found naturally outside of the Pacific Northwest. One of our favorite sailing destinations has lots of Madrona all over the island.
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: 12-Mdna-SBP
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.
20
Aug
Posted by uniquetreen in Available, Black and White Ebony, Bottle Stoppers, Handmade, Treen, Unique Gifts. Leave a comment
Black & White Ebony (Diospyros embryopteris) is one of the prettier woods I work with and when it’s paired up with a solid piece of chromed steel, you can get some striking looks. This bottle stopper was made after a conversation with one of my best friends. I’d made a wine bottle stopper for her some time ago as a gift, but it was too tall for the capped bottle to fit into her fridge. She reminded me of it recently, so I gave this stopper a wide button shape instead of the long hand-gripping shape we normally see.
The stopper is equally useful for protecting your oil, vinegar and other liquids in storage bottles, and adds a touch of class to your kitchen counter.
Materials: Black & White Ebony wood, chrome steel, silicone O-rings which help seal most wine bottles.
Finish: Sanded to 400 grit, then 00 through 0000 steel wool.
Price: US$28
Item Ref No: 13-BWE-BS
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.
20
Aug
Posted by uniquetreen in Available, Handmade, Ipe, Pens, Pens - Ballpoint, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
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: 11-Ipe-SBP
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.
15
Aug
Posted by uniquetreen in Available, Handmade, Osage Orange, Pens, Pens - Ballpoint, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
This pen is made from
Osage Orange wood (
(Maclura pomifera) which is also known as Horse Apple or Bois ‘d Arc (Bodark). Osage Orange is a very hard wood that, while it has a tendency to split or check, is a very nice wood to work with, plus you can use the saw dust and shavings in your smoker. It takes a very fine finish and will darken with age and exposure to light. This particular pen I cut the blank to expose part of the creamy sap wood along with the darker and harder heartwood, which made for a very nice looking pen, don’t you think?
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: 10-OO-SBP
Status: Available. Click here to inquire about purchasing.
This Osage Orange pen has nice straight grain with some slight inclusions that add interest to the barrels. My two brothers and I harvested this wood for bow making. I don’t make bows, but both of them do. We split out around three dozen bow blanks, and I took home the wood that wasn’t suitable for bow making, but very nice for other projects.
27
Oct
Posted by uniquetreen in African Blackwood, Available for Custom Order, Handmade, Mpingo, Pens, Pens - Ballpoint, Sold, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
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: Sold but a similar pen may be available. Click here to inquire.
22
Oct
Posted by uniquetreen in Available for Custom Order, Handmade, Pens, Pens - Ballpoint, Peruvian Walnut, Sold, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
Peruvian Walnut (
Juglans neotropica) is very similar to American Walnut but it’s difficult to work because it’s very prone to splintering and tears out. However, it takes an incredible finish and it’s grain is very pretty. The wood I used to make these pens were off-cuts from a dining table I built for friends a few years ago.
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: Sold but similar pens may be available. Click here to inquire.
16
Oct
Posted by uniquetreen in Available for Custom Order, Handmade, Mpingo, Pens, Pens - Ballpoint, Sold, Treen, Unique Gifts, Wood. Leave a comment
This pen is made from
Mpingo (
Dalbergia melanoxylon) commonly known as African Blackwood. Some folks like a thicker barrel on their pens, so I turned this one to a larger diameter than I usually do. The extra wood gives the pen a bit more heft, so it feels nice in your hand.
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: MSP0036
Status: Sold but a similar pen may be available. Click here to inquire.
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: Sold but a similar pen may be available.
Click here to inquire.
Unique Treen 