Woodcraft and capitalism

A few weeks ago one of my correspondents, whilst on a tour of the winery's of the Adelaide southern vineyards, come across some woodturned pens, offered as a souvenir by a vintner, for $30.00. She was of course scandalised, knowing the modest price I put on my creations.

The price tag of $30 does provide a very substantial profit, and brought to mind a poor, grey-bearded, shortsighted woodturner, slaving over his lathe until late into the night, and getting but a pittance for his work, with the profit being picked up by the large winemaking corporation.

But that is the way capitalism works.

More recently still, I came across an ad for pens, made using jarrah (sorry, Jarrah) from a Perth WA cathedral, currently being refurbished. These pens are top of the line, a veritable Rolls Royce of pens. Each kit (i.e. the works of the pen) costs upward of $80. To that add the very little bit of historic jarrah, some work, some skill, some sandpaper and wood-finish, and Lo -
you have a pen worth >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>$495.00.

Christianity hasn't survived for 2,000 years without learning a thing or two!

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.

hairy oak: ugly name, beautiful timber.

The heading is a bit misleading. Only two of the items illustrated are hairy oak: the two reddish-brown pens.

The lighter coloured pen is Northern Ti-tree (or weeping ti-tree), and the lidded bowl is Darwin black wattle.

The shirt used for a back-ground displays my personal wood-turning philosophy. Thanks to shopper who found it.

But the hairy oak is a bit special. I hadn't heard of it until a few months ago, when I bought a 2nd hand lathe. The seller threw in various other items including a variety of timbers. One piece was/is an ugly grey lump, split and splintery all along it's length. It looked pretty useless, but I took it anyway - BBQs also provide a valuable service to the family. It had the words 'hairy oak' pencilled on it.

I asked my wood-turning guru if he knew it, and he advised I not throw it away. So I cut it open, and it's beautiful. Dark red/brown, with black streaks, (or, i think, black star spots if cut across the grain). It is highly prized by woodturners, though usually only for small objects (eg pens), beause it has an unfortunate habit of splitting along the grain as it dries. No good for anything but turning. What a shame.

Of course, it's not an oak really: Australia doesn't have any oaks.

It's an Australian native casurina. And if you don't like the name of hairy oak, it's also known as Flame Sheoak. Much more impressive I think, so Flame Sheoak it will be.

I'm turning a few pens at the moment, as I have an export order. Definitely flame sheoak for the international market.

all the best, from vsquared.