pens, pens, pens

This is the completion of a small order for pens, which will now travel to the far side of the world, before meeting their users.

The timbers in the four pens on the left are, from the left: Cypress pine, Darwin Black Wattle, Flame Sheoak, and Northern Ti Tree.

The two pens in the photo on the right are the Flame Sheoak and the Ti Tree. All the timbers are Australian natives, the black wattle and ti tree are Northern Territory indigenous.

The sheoak and the ti tree are outstanding timbers for small turned items, being dense, close grained, with a fine finish. the sheoak has great colour and pattern, reddish brown with black streaks. Very showy, though it doesn't show up much in the photos. We'll blame the photographer, not the timber or woodturner.

I take more pride in my wood craft than photography these days. though I used to be a pretty fair clicker. In fact, the older I get the better I used to be.

The cypress and black wattle are fine general purpose timbers, for turning, flooring (the cypress), furniture work, even carving. The ti-tree and sheoak are not much good for anything except small craft items, but what they do well they do really well.

I hope the people who find themselves in possession of any of these pens will visit this site. Leave a comment, tell me how great the pens are, tell me that MissE behaved herself (ha ha) or advise me not to give up my day job - whatever - it'll be good to hear from you.