Pen Turning

Handcrafted wood pens is a product that I enjoy creating. I carefully select woods (mostly exotics) for their grain and color. Matching the metal of the pen mechinism to the wood to create a flowing finished product. Some of my projects can be seen at http://pcgom.org/ in the e-buy http://pcgom.org/ebuy.html section . Comments of course are welcome and apprieciated.

Against the grain

I turned a hart Dbl. twist pen from Locust wood. I cut the pen blanks accross the grain instead of with the grain (photo below). I carefully used a gouge to get the blank round and then used sandpaper to size and shape it. I started with 40 grit to rough it in then progresivly sanded to 800 grit. This took consideratly more time of course but eliminated the probability of blowout. I think the effect is worth the extra time.