Pen Block

[rberg6868]

I'm also curious if the wood is natural or if you applied a protective finish on it.

I put a stain on that darkens and evens out the tone of the wood, but no protective finish.

[rberg6868]

 

I live a couple hundred miles (or maybe 500 miles depending upon if you live in Victoria or Pt Hardy) south of you in Oakville WA. There are a couple of places within an hour or so of me where I can get walnut and other fine domestics or exotics. I will say walnut is less expensive than some of the exotics but still not front pocket money. What were the dimensions of the blocks you started with?

 

I rode a bike event from Victoria to Pt Hardy and back, the Vanisle 1200. 1200Km in 90 hours or less, back in 2006 I believe. It was hard but nice country for riding. I'm used to logging trucks and they were pretty courteous, though I would have appreciated wider and cleaner shoulders in a few places.

I had a really reasonably priced ($5-8/bd. ft for 8/4 stock) lumber yard in a town nearby that I used to go to but he recently retired. Now I have to go down to Victoria where it's $7-12/bd. ft for 8/4 stock. I agree it's not cheap but it's like our pen obsession, walnut is so wonderful to work with and the results look and feel great. It finishes down so silky smooth that I am constantly reaching forward at my desk to touch it. I'll get you the dimensions later Dr.Cod, as I type this I am not at home.

 

I live in Nanaimo, right on the bike route you took. This is pretty wild because I am a cyclist as well. I have started in with it more seriously in the last 5 years or so and I don't think that the Vanisle 1200 event is running any more, sounds pretty cool though. My family and I come down to Seattle area quite regularly can you recommend good pen/stationery shops in the area?

[DrCodfish]

"... walnut is so wonderful to work with and the results look and feel great."

 

I could not agree more. With an oil finish and a rub it gets that 'instant old' feeling and at those dimensions you get the sense that this piece will be around long after you are history. No need to check the dimensions, 8/4 tells me all I need to know, I would have guessed 8/4 or possibly larger. And using solid pieces vs laminating 2/4's lends a sense of mass.

 

I just ordered some quarter sawn red oak boards to try my hand at making a pen box. I don't have a band saw so re-sawing heavier stock is a challenge.

 

You might check the website of the BC Randonneurs, there is a section for Vancouver Island. http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/schedule/sch_vi.html You may be correct about Vanisle, but it used to only run once every 2 or 4 years or so. I remember Nanimo, ... I think. I came through there on the return leg very late at night and had what might have been the best tasting McD cheeseburger in the world. It's like that when you have been riding for 600, or 700 km. If you are interested in getting into riding longer distances, you have one of the best Randonneuring clubs in the world right there on your island, you can't do better than Ken Bonner. Google Paris Brest Paris. that is the ultimate bucket list ride. I have done it twice, the most fun you can have on a bike.

 

A for pens shops in Seattle I have to admit I have no recommendations for you. I don't get up that way much, I live way out in the sticks so much of my pen hobby arrives from on line sources.

[Tanzanite]

It looks great. Imagine what one could do if one had the equipment. Very inspiring.

[inkeverywhere]

Sweeeet! Let me know if you start selling them.

 

Greg

[BikeMrown]

I like it! I have thought about attempting my own too. Currently have a Dudek Cube, but apparently most of my pens need the 1/2" holes and only the middle 3 are that big. Wish I had gotten a Display instead. Probably going to have to sell the Cube and just order a new one.

[Millefleurs]

This is wonderful! I, too, envy your skills!

[DrCodfish]

Your work inspired me, so I went to the lumber yard and picked out a piece of walnut. It had a big punky knot in it:

 

I dressed it up with a little oak, and a slice of very thin clear 'almost veneer' fir.

 

 

I used Watco 'Dark Walnut oil for the finish, probably should have gone with medium. Then I loaded it up (heavy to Pelikans) after assembly.

 

 

 

Including my Design Y journal. The 'smaller 'Blue Waves' journal was made for me by TM Lee.

 

Perhaps a little too 'busy'. I think I like the simplicity of yours better.

Edited November 5, 2014 by DrCodfish

[drlizdub]

Great work you guys!

[DrCodfish]

Thanks, it's fun.

[rberg6868]

Fantastic DrCodfish! I really like it. The two different levels adds visual interest. Was the piece at the back lighter wood, or did you stain it differently? For future reference if you are worried about a knot coming loose you can put epoxy into it with a syringe and then it will stay in place nicely. Did you notice I had a Design Y journal in mine as well? Great minds and all that. I made another smaller one for my desk at school, I'll post a picture next week.

[Art]

Great work. You've both produced beautiful and functional pieces of art for your desks. Wonderful and inspirational!

[DrCodfish]

Fantastic DrCodfish! I really like it. The two different levels adds visual interest. Was the piece at the back lighter wood, or did you stain it differently? For future reference if you are worried about a knot coming loose you can put epoxy into it with a syringe and then it will stay in place nicely. Did you notice I had a Design Y journal in mine as well? Great minds and all that. I made another smaller one for my desk at school, I'll post a picture next week.

Thanks, I am pretty happy with it, but now I think I will need to get a bigger desk, or more likely I'll take this my office at work.

 

All three walnut pieces came from the same board , an 8/4 piece about three feet long. The knot was near one end, so I cut that off with this project in mind. The lighter clear grain piece was the next cut off that same end so it is obvious that the grain cleared up very quickly which I find is fairly common in heart wood. There was no sap wood on this board.

 

I thought about coating the knot with epoxy but assumed that it would mess with the final finish It did not occur to me to inject epoxy into the punky food, that's a good tip.

 

If I had it to do over:

 

I would have used a lighter (medium) walnut stain, at least on the knotty wood. It has much more figure which I cleverly obliterated with the darker colored finish. I would probably also have put in fewer holes for pens. As it is, it looks a little too busy, ansd seeing all the pens detracts form seeing any of the pens individually.

 

By the way, did you attach the shelf on the front of your piece with a mortise and tenon?

 

Great work. You've both produced beautiful and functional pieces of art for your desks. Wonderful and inspirational!

 

Thanks, I appreciate you compliments,but don't look too closely, the mistakes are many.

 

I don't think I mentioned it but this project is woodworking 'practice' for me. I was into hobby wood working years ago but moved around a fair bit so sold off all my tools and equipment and left the hobby. But I'm settled now, have a shop and recently decided I'd like to make a nice desk top box as a gift for my son who will be receiving his PhD in the spring. So I am combing Craig's list for equipment and trying to fine tune my skills. Cutting straight and square is not like riding a bicycle. I may still remember how to di it, but with less than top grade equipment (the saw I have gives me fits!) practice does help. You can read more about my project box in another thread here.

Edited November 9, 2014 by DrCodfish

[rberg6868]

Thanks, I am pretty happy with it, but now I think I will need to get a bigger desk, or more likely I'll take this my office at work.

 

All three walnut pieces came from the same board , an 8/4 piece about three feet long. The knot was near one end, so I cut that off with this project in mind. The lighter clear grain piece was the next cut off that same end so it is obvious that the grain cleared up very quickly which I find is fairly common in heart wood. There was no sap wood on this board.

 

I thought about coating the knot with epoxy but assumed that it would mess with the final finish It did not occur to me to inject epoxy into the punky food, that's a good tip.

 

If I had it to do over:

 

I would have used a lighter (medium) walnut stain, at least on the knotty wood. It has much more figure which I cleverly obliterated with the darker colored finish. I would probably also have put in fewer holes for pens. As it is, it looks a little too busy, ansd seeing all the pens detracts form seeing any of the pens individually.

 

I agree, mine needs fewer holes as well. I made another, smaller one for at school, I'm a teacher, and I jammed too many holes into the block. Visually the thing needs space to breathe.

 

By the way, did you attach the shelf on the front of your piece with a mortise and tenon?

 

I considered it, but since I knew that it was just going to be holding very little weight I just used glue and clamps. So far, so good

 

Thanks, I appreciate you compliments,but don't look too closely, the mistakes are many.

 

Don't worry about it. Woodworking isn't about avoiding mistakes, it's more about learning how to hide them.

 

I don't think I mentioned it but this project is woodworking 'practice' for me. I was into hobby wood working years ago but moved around a fair bit so sold off all my tools and equipment and left the hobby. But I'm settled now, have a shop and recently decided I'd like to make a nice desk top box as a gift for my son who will be receiving his PhD in the spring. So I am combing Craig's list for equipment and trying to fine tune my skills. Cutting straight and square is not like riding a bicycle. I may still remember how to di it, but with less than top grade equipment (the saw I have gives me fits!) practice does help. You can read more about my project box in another thread here.

 

Keep at it, there's nothing like turning nothing into something.

[siopaopei]

very good work! i wish i had the talent to do this.

[Ronnie Aloha]

Very nice. I like that it isn't symmetrical. Lots of ways to draw the eye with the various levels you created.

[Consulting_Detective]

Great result. Well done. I am completely useless with anything hand made. I envy your skills.

 

+1 To that statement

 

Anyway, I really wish I would become of those really lucky people that goes to a Thrift Store and find a like an desk-chest that is priced cheap (like less than 100 dollars), and be perfect pens... or be filled with classic pens..

 

-C.D

[Sky Fountain Pens]

I do a little woodworking of my own and I really liked the work that Mike Dudek at clickypost.com does so I decided to try making a block of my own and this is what I came up with.

 

2014-05-04 at 11-59-19.jpg

 

I started with two pieces of walnut, one longer than the other that I glued together, then planed down. I made a couple of mistakes with keeping the holes in line but, c'est la vie.

 

2014-05-04 at 11-58-08.jpg

 

I overestimated the size of holes that I would need for my bigger pens so I wouldn't include the larger holes again. I realized that I had included too many of the largest holes so I cut the last row of them in half to make a kind of an architectural detail. I loved Mike's idea of a slot for my journal but I also wanted a narrower slot for correspondence or cards, that was why I made the whole piece longer.

 

2014-05-04 at 11-56-58.jpg

 

Mine doesn't have the kind of architectural bauhaus simplicity that Mike has designed into his but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. If you are interested you really should check his out at http://clickypost.com/the-store-1/ (No affiliation, just inspiration)

 

2014-05-04 at 11-55-56.jpg

In the Third and Fourth picture are dose glass pens? Where do you get them, last time in Venice I didn't see any.(Their form Venice right)

Edited December 11, 2014 by Sky Fountain Pens

[rberg6868]

In the Third and Fourth picture are dose glass pens? Where do you get them, last time in Venice I didn't see any.(Their form Venice right)

Yes, it's a glass pen but it's a Rohrer & Klingnerer glass pen that I got from Goblet Pens. Very handy for checking out multiple inks.