4 of my latest pens (what else!)

[Mack C. in Brooklin ON]

A Sierra Click Ballpoint pen converted to gel refill ( to counteract cheque washing).The wood is a stabilized dyed maple burl. The plating is black titanium.

This one is a Canadiana Rollerball pen done for a wedding commission. It has been turned in Alternate Ivory. The platings are Titanium Gold and Sterling Silver.

A Zen rollerball pen, in a mixed-up polyresin in 10K Gold.

This Long Clicker pencil started life as a pen, but through no fault of mine (long story) it was turned into a .7mm pencil. I dyed the Curly Maple. I'm hoping a "Les Canadiens" fan will take a liking to it!

[Brent Smith]

Hi Mack,

Very nice pens. Not complaining here, but I prefer natural wood as a medium in turned pens. I'm curious, what would you say is the percentage of natural wood (including stabilized, but not dyed) to other mediums in your sales?

[Mack C. in Brooklin ON]

Hi Mack,

Very nice pens. Not complaining here, but I prefer natural wood as a medium in turned pens. I'm curious, what would you say is the percentage of natural wood (including stabilized, but not dyed) to other mediums in your sales?

Hi Brent; 50/50, Women go for the polys etc., men go for the wood.

I turned 2 pens in this material (Burnt Copper resin).




The other was a higher end pen than this one. Most on CWW didn't like it because it wasn't wood. I made a bet that both of these pens would sell before a wooden one would. I won. Both bought by men, btw!

[Brent Smith]

Hi Mack,
I can see this pen going to men. I would buy it myself. Even though it's a resin, it has a look of something organic to it. Very Nice pen BTW!

[Mack C. in Brooklin ON]

I've sold 54 pens this past summer. Of that total 25 were either stabilized dyed wood, dyed woods (that I dye myself, generally a curly maple) or an acrylic casted material.

46% of my sales were pens that standout because of colour. Wood has an certain attraction to some people, but it has a certain blandness about it as well (many shades of brown), unless it is dyed a colour to bring out the bling in it!

[Michael Kampen]

Nice pens Mack. While I spend most of my day in the digital realm, yours is the only pen amongst the two laptops, pen tablet and keyboard I have on my desk and it is still the preferred method of recording to do lists and other ephemera.

I wouldn't want you to think I have no other writing utensils, I certainly do, however, they are all tucked away in the drawers out of site. I may have to buy a matching pencil at some point.

For the most part I prefer the wood myself, but I really like the copper pen!

[Brent Smith]

I guess I'm just used to looking at bigger pieces where the grain has room to show it's self off. Just recently I've been buying pen blanks and can't say I've even looked at the pages of resin or dyed wood offerings. That may have to change .

[Don Kondra]

Hi Mack,

A very nice series of work and tough to pick a favorite

The burnt copper resin is darn nice and would be my first choice but the pencil definitely has the wing ding factor, he, he...



FWIW - I have two very good friends who are knife makers and we spent quite a bit of time discussing the merits of natural wood over other materials for handles. The common consensus was a handle is just too small to fully reveal the beauty and grain of the wood. Unless of course it's ebony or ironwood

Cheers, Don

[Michael Kampen]

What about those small chunks of burl that are of no use elsewhere? Or is that stuff to soft?

[Don Kondra]

Oh believe me, at the beginning they both went through my "kindling" before heading home from a visit

After some experimenting, Gary especially preferred to use stabilized wood. This is the best pic I could find of his 2007 entry in Dimensions.

GARY GREER
Saskatoon, SK

Sharp Dressed Man 2006
ATS-34 stainless steel, brass, stabilized burled elm

hand hardened & tempered blade,
sculptured brass bolsters, inlaid brass
filework

2 x 4 x 24 cm

Perhaps Mack can share his experiences with this material for pens ?

Cheers, Don