Hand Turned Hardwood
Pens & Mechanical Pencils
Many years ago, I was gifted a wooden pen and mechanical pencil set by a client / friend. I was so taken by the way it felt to write with them it was inevitable that someday I would be turning them myself.
Some years later… we are hand crafting our own line of slimline pens and pencils for our clients / friends.
Our pens use fine Cross ink refills, available online and at pretty much all office supply stores, and our mechanical pencil use #7 lead.
Our pens come with a black cartridge.
Our process begins with milling our own blanks out of our favorite hardwood materials. We use cherry, maple, and walnut. These blanks are cut to 5 inches by 0.75 inches by 0.75 inches, and then each one is cut in half to make up the bottom and top part of the product.
Each of those 2.5-inch pieces, then goes into this drill press jig and gets a 7-millimeter whole drilled down the center to accept the brass tube that the pen parts will eventually install into. This is also how the blank will sit flush on the lathe mandril.
And then you have some fun!
The blank slides onto the mandrel and then onto the lathe and you shape it to your liking. I like a smooth thin barrel. Some like a little more shape to it.
I turn them at 2,000 RPM with traditional HHS turning chisels.
After turning, the pen is sanded, sealed, and a coat of wax is applied on the lathe.
The pen or pencil is then assembled using this handy dandy pen press. This photo was taken of the transmission being pressed into a maple pen.
These are truly a fun project to make, as well as a fine writing tool to use.
Hand Turned Hardwood
Pens & Mechanical Pencils
