How Its Made Pen Turning

With hundreds of pen styles to choose from it is always a daunting task to find a kit that customers will enjoy.  I spend hours looking through pen styles and choose the ones that I think look the best.

I also spend lots of time finding the right wood material to use.  Exotic woods can be pricy, but I do my best to keep the cost down for the customer.  I like to find exotic wood that turns well on my lathes, holds a nice luster when polished, and has a beautiful grain that can be enjoyed by all.

Next step is to cut the wood to the proper length.  Once the wood is cut, a hole needs to be drilled down the center of the blank.  Once the hole is drilled, I glue and insert a brass tube in the hole to hold the pen components.  Facing is the last step in this process which squares up the ends so they meet properly upon final assembly.

Now the fun part!  I select the proper bushings depending on the pen style and put the blanks on my lathe for turning.  I turn it down to the proper diameter for the pen then clean all the dust and chips up to prevent any contamination for the next step "Sanding".

Sanding takes quite a bit of time in order to do it correctly.  There are 13 stages of sanding that I complete for each pen.  I start with 100 grit and end with 12,000 grit.  I stop between each grit to cross sand to remove any swirl marks that will show up in the next step "Polishing"

This is where the beauty of the wood really shows.  I first use boiled linseed oil to make the grain of the wood really POP!  If a customer is looking for a particular color my next step is to use a dye to give the wood a nice tint of the color the customer is looking for.  I then apply a proprietary polish blend to produce a high gloss shine that will hold up for years.

I then assemble the pen, take pictures and post on the website for your shopping experience.  Each pen is shipped in a case with an extra Cross or Parker refill.  If your pen ever runs out of ink, refills are readily available at all the big box stores as well as online.  Feel free to contact me if a refill is needed and I can help you.

Thank you!

Duane LaChance

RETVET Crafts