Mesquite Pens

[John Hart]

Howdy,

Well, I've had an itch to do something in Mesquite and I had an idea today. Home Depot sells bags of Mesquite chunks for the grill so I wandered over there and peeked in one of the broken bags. Sure 'nuf, the chunks looked big enough to make pen blanks so I bought a bag ($10). Took it home and sorted through and managed to cut 48 blanks of varying colors and figure and made these two pens tonight. One has pretty nice figure and really glimmers. The other is dark and pretty, showing some fairly nondescript grain. Didn't use any oil or anything.....Just polished the wood and put carnuba on one and beeswax on the other.

Thanks for lookin'

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Good idea John. Those are really nice looking pens.

[Bill Stevener]

Well Howdy to you John,

Nice looking pens. It's great to see that someone respects and honors
the saying "Turn it, don't burn it.

Bill.>>>>>>

[Charlie Stein]

Hi John,
Real nice looking pens, a nice job, and you told me you did not know how to turn pens.
By the way your Pear pens are still in the shop all done.
Just Charlie & Betsy

[John Hart]

Thanks everyone. Yep Bill, it's funny what goes up in smoke. My brother burns all his mesquite and it drives me crazy!

Now now Charlie....When I told you that, I had never even seen a pen kit...These two are only my 8th and 9th and I'm still learning...but thanks for the flattery! That's right!! I have to get out to your house again. My schedule is the pits!!

[Adam Howard]

Nice pens, John.

I never knew Lowe's sold pen blanks. Good thinkin'.

[Michael Stafford]

I was able to get my mesquite wood in a similar fashion. Restaurant supply houses catering to steak houses quite frequently carry boxes of small mesquite logs, some as large as 4 inches in diameter and about 24 inches long or so. The boxes are about the size of banana boxes. Anyway I have a friend that works there and when they burst a box he saves me the wood. I have turned some nice pens from it and some weedpots as well... Nice pens!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Well John, you are coming along real nice your pens. They look great. I haven't tried that yet so what exactly did you buy to get started. I look in a mag and see a ton of kits and wonder where you start.

On the mesquite... My brother hasn't gone to his lease out west yet even with my prodding. It will happen before the season opens though. He also told me there are gobs of antlers piled up to be thrown away. I told him "Don't do that and I will clean them up for free ."

Ernie

[John Hart]

Hi Ernie,

I really enjoy doing the pens. They don't take much time and when you hand them to people, their eyes just light up. It is very gratifying. I waited until Blake McCulley came to Cleveland for a visit and we met at Berea Hardwoods. They sold me the "beginners kit" which is comprised of all the hardware for the lathe and the guts for 5 pens and 5 pencils. I think it was $35. The pen kits don't cost much...I think these are $2.50 a piece but they are beginner level stuff and 24K gold plate. My next buy is the same style only I'll go with the more durable platinum gold and those are $3.50. The nicer, cooler pen kits (that I'm not ready for) go for anywhere from $5 up.

What I'd suggest is that you look at the website http://www.bereahardwoods.com and give them a call and just tell them that you are a Creeker and you want to get started. They'll give you lots of guidance.

One thing that I'm very impressed with, is something that Blake told me...You don't need to use finishes that you have to wait on. Just give the wood a good polish and then use wax and buff. Talk about instant gratification!

Keep me in mind when you get your truckload of antlers!!

[John Shuk]

Awesome John. You are a pretty resourceful guy. Great idea.