Show Us Your Oblique Penholders!

[MusinkMan]

I'm pretty sure it's wenge, Dan. The grain pattern and coloring is a dead giveaway. Howard worked it down very smooth with sandpaper and finish, but I'm all but positive it's wenge. I could be wrong, but I'd be really amazed if this turned out to be anything other than wenge.

[hzsimms]

 

Could be Wenge, but looks too smooth for it, unless you filled the pores.

 

 

The grain pattern and coloring is a dead giveaway.

 

I took another picture of the section and tried to lighten it up. Dan, you are absoluely right, it did indeed have voids in it. I filled them with CA as I turned it.

 

http://i1349.photobucket.com/albums/p743/hzsimms/null_zps0479ee5e.jpg

 

This is with lots of light on it. The wood is naturally much darker. (Picture is all skewed...can't figure out how to resize these things and make 'em smaller!)

 

Howard

Edited August 5, 2013 by hzsimms

[DanF]

I stand corrected!! I have seen Ebony and Blackwood with with figure like that (in the original pic) , but the real key is the texture, which is much more apparent in the second pic. Blackwood is not the sort of thing one would expect in a grab bag, as it is pretty spendy.

 

Dan

Edited August 5, 2013 by DanF

[schin]

I'd like to show off my penholders to date.. all are very dear to me, and numbers 2-6 are from our very own Brian Pensmith

 

[Stompie]

Nice stuff there Schin!

 

9 and 10 look very interesting!!!

[MrMGWard]

Geez Schin! You sure know how to make a man drool! hah

 

#1 is your vintage find right?

It is a goal of mine to own one similar to #5 one day.

 

Do you know the wood that was used to make #10? The shade is absolutely stunning.

 

Again... Wow! I need to sell a kidney I think

 

Mike

Edited August 6, 2013 by MrMGWard

[schin]

Thanks! Stompie: 9 is Michael Sull holder, and 10 is by Bill Lilly. MrMGWard: Yes, 1 is a vintage holder, 5 is by our very own musicinkman and 10 is cocobolo I believe, although I think the others here are way more knowledgable about wood than I am.. here are some better pics of it

Edited August 6, 2013 by schin

[Stompie]

Thanks! Stompie: 9 is Michael Sull holder, and 10 is by Bill Lilly. MrMGWard: Yes, 1 is a vintage holder, 5 is by our very own musicinkman and 10 is cocobolo I believe, although I think the others here are way more knowledgable about wood than I am.. here are some better pics of it

 

So Schin, perhaps you doing the same as me - I want a different holder for each of my nibs, are you aiming at the same thing?

I am replacing all my mass produced holders with individual items - just written to B about another order in the Carrot oblique style in Sandalwood which should be great!

 

 

[Ernest]

Hi Brain ,

 

Your Beloved Pen that you did not want to part with has finally reached me safely.

It is a lovely pen.

Thank You.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MusinkMan]

Thank you for letting me know, Ernest. I'm glad you like it...and yes, it was not easy for me to ship that one off to you. I loved that pen. :-)

 

But I can see that it has a happy home and is already being put to good use! Nice work there! I hope that you enjoy it!

 

--Brian--

[MusinkMan]

Thanks! Stompie: 9 is Michael Sull holder, and 10 is by Bill Lilly. MrMGWard: Yes, 1 is a vintage holder, 5 is by our very own musicinkman and 10 is cocobolo I believe, although I think the others here are way more knowledgable about wood than I am.. here are some better pics of it

Yep, you are right, Schin. The Bill Lilly holder is indeed cocobolo rosewood!

Good eye, there!!!! :-)

[schin]

 

So Schin, perhaps you doing the same as me - I want a different holder for each of my nibs, are you aiming at the same thing?

I am replacing all my mass produced holders with individual items - just written to B about another order in the Carrot oblique style in Sandalwood which should be great!

 

 

Lol well that was the plan.. but I switch around so much and have quick love affairs with nibs that it didn't turn out that way.. right now most of the holders hold a brause rose, a month ago they were all holding Nikko Gs, before that was esterbrook 357s.. LOL!

[Scribe_Not]

Many years ago, I remember my Father giving me yet again, another piece of sage advice...

"When it's after 2AM, go to bed. Any decision you make after 2AM is probably not going to be a good idea."

 

My modus operandi was always looking for the angle. So naturally I hone in on the key operative word, "probably". And as usual, in spite of my best intentions, I generally drove it right over the cliff.

Over the years his words rang true, most evident since it was the same number of times they went unheeded.

 

Until however, a few nights ago I found that the elusive "probably" was not absolute at last. Just before shutting down the system, I peeked one more time at Brian Smith's Unique Obliques site.

There it was. The same gleaming Ebony crafted Magnusson that now sits by my side after a quick note was sent. Finally... after four decades of bad 2AM decisions, I pulled one out.

 

Thanks for being part of this moment Brian. I can hear Dad chuckling, "About time!"

[MusinkMan]

LOL! Doug, I much support your 2 am decision and I was so happy to be part of it. If you remember, I was up at 2:00 a.m. as well on that fateful day as we corresponded, bleary eyed and coffee-drunk. You were about to get yet another one, remember? I had to warn you about those spontaneous decisions! hahaha. But I had no doubt that this black "magnusson" pen would not be something that you would ever regret. Isn't she grand? I started work on another one today that will be very similar. I'm secretly hoping that it will be mine to keep this time, but wifey is already asking if she thinks I can sell yet another "black magnusson". I can read between the lines of that comment...can't you as well?

 

Anyway, I'm really happy that you like it, I knew that you would. Now get yourself a 1920's styled black suit, a pocket watch with a gold fob, a cool little bow tie...pick up your classy longhandle pen and take a trip back in time...experience the nostalgia and the feeling of a Zanerian student penning his magnificent work.

 

Life can really be fun sometimes when we get the right toys. Let this be one of those times...and your father will smile down, even more so than he already is doing!

[hzsimms]

 

I can hear Dad chuckling, "About time!"

 

Doug, that may be my favorite pen holder of all time. I offered Brian the opportunity to let me store it for him, but for some reason he decided to sell it instead! Imagine that.

 

Very nice pen and I think Dad would be proud.

 

Howard

[tdzb36]

Hi Ken .......... Now I have a Speedball oblique penholder ........ I want buy some new nibs. Please ask me if I can buy brause rose or beause ef 66 and use them by Speedball oblique penholder?! About brause rose or beause ef 66 Which nib is more suitable for Speedball oblique penholder? !

 

 

 

Thanks..........

[hzsimms]

Spent most of my weekend in the shop and thought I'd put up some of my latest efforts.

 

http://i1349.photobucket.com/albums/p743/hzsimms/IMG_2593_zpsb57aca80.jpg

 

This holder is, with the exception of the simulated ivory trim rings, ALL ebonite, including the black foot. I'd never tried to make anything with segmented ebonite before but figured I might as well give it a try. Interesting stuff to work with. The final version is a bit more hefty than any equivalent sized wooden pens I've made (this one is just over 11 inches long) but it feels pretty good in your hand. I've always been a fan of the old ebonite fountain pens so I figured I'd combine a little bit of them into one holder.

 

http://i1349.photobucket.com/albums/p743/hzsimms/IMG_2596_zps42ab2370.jpg

 

This one is something new also, in that the blue part is actually a crushed turquoise inlay. I'd never done an inlay before but I had this pen from a while back and I had painted a stripe on it where the inlay is. The painted stripe was really annoying so I put it back in the lathe, carved out the stripe, made a little trench and put in the inlay. Interesting process and it looks really neat. I plan to try it on some more holders but this time in a deliberate fashion, not as a "pen rescue" effort.

 

Thanks for looking,

Howard

[thang1thang2]

A couple more from my woodshop yesterday:

 

 

 

 

Then there is this one that I thought was such a cool color combination:

(sorry for the bad photo...the camera flash killed it )

 

 

 

You can get a better sense of the actual appearance here:

 

I think my jaw would've literally dropped a bit if it weren't held so tightly in place with surgical bands right now... Amazing color, that green. I love it!

[MusinkMan]

Aw, thanks Thang1&2. Here are a couple of very recent ones. One of them is for jazzdoc...I shipped it to him today...Let's see who "recognizes" it. :-) (If you recognize it, you will know what I mean by that). Schin should definitely see something vaguely familiar (there's a hint for ya).

 

 

 

 

 

[Stompie]

Stop already please!!!!

 

 

So, what should it be , a Bill Lilly or a Carrot, in Honduran Rosewood or Yellow Teak?????

 

Or,,,,,,,, what about the handle being Carrot dimensions and then the doing the Lilly thing into the end?????
I like the dark parts of the Honduran but also the swirls and flakes of the Teak, but then the Honduran has both

 

I think I must put this page into my restricted sites log!!!!!!!