Wood types for pens

[Jim Baker]

Just wondering which native woods you pen turners like most. I've just started making pens in the last couple of weeks. I've only used cherry and walnut so far. (that's what I have scraps of laying around) I like the walnut more than the cherry, especially where the heartwood meets the sapwood. Those pens look especially nice.

Does anyone use red oak to make pens? I throw away enough scraps to make hundreds of pens on a regular basis. I'm thinking that oak may not get smooth enough to make nice pens, but I think I may try a few in the next round.

My wife brought home a little Lacewood and Honduran Rosewood last night. I'm anxious to try them too.

So what woods do you guys prefer?

[Julie Wright]

I've done one lacewood pen. I prefer the exotics. The natural oils in them make them shine very nicely. Cocobola is probably my favorite. But, I do enjoy turning the colored stablized blanks. I have not tried oak yet. I really like mesquite too.

[Gilbert Vega]

I've just started turning pens but so far I've used Mesquite, maple and my current favorite is claro walnut. It has a very intricate wood pattern that makes for a fine pen.

[Dale Thompson]

Jim,
I agree with Julie. Cocobola is hard to beat for a great pen. I also like Kingwood, Padauk, Bloodwood, Purpleheart, Rosewood and, occasionally, Ebony. Deer and Elk antlers make GREAT pens but the "material" is hard to come by if you are not a hunter (I'm not).

As far as "domestic" woods are concerned, I prefer Oak. Walnut is also very nice. Cherry is a bit "soft" but it sure is a pleasure to work with - especially the aroma. Maple is boring (in my opinion).

Don't worry about "smoothness" with pens made from Oak. The fact is (in my humble opinion) that ANY finish will hold up if a pen is used only for display purposes. NO - I repeat NO - finish will hold up if a pen is actually USED. Actually, that is GOOD! When a writing tool is used, the finish WILL wear off but the natural skin oils from the fingers will bring out the "natural patina" of the wood. There is no artificial finish which will ever come close to this "patina" thing. I don't know of ANY wood where this is not true. On the other hand, there are a LOT of things that I don't know. In fact, I know nothing about ANYTHING!!

Dale T.

[Scott Greaves]

Hi Jim,

Everybody has their favorites. My favorite wood is FREE! Just kidding! I actually prefer the stabilized wood blanks I buy from Bill Baumbeck at Arizonasilhouette.com. But I turn all kinds of wood.

My theory is that pens are small items. Wood that looks good on furniture projects may not look like much on a small little pen. It takes a pretty intricate grain pattern to make a pen look interesting. So burls are popular. Spalting is also popular.

But even boring woods can be made to look nice. I've been turning some curly maple lately for some Freedom Pens, and decided they needed some spice. Here's a picture of two of them.

Have fun turning!

Scott.

[Stanley Campbell]

I have made 2 Red Oak pens for a co-worker who is making his son a bed out of Red Oak. It was easy to turn and finished rather well. I also prefer the stabilized wood blanks from Bill Baumbeck at Arizonasilhouette.com. Don't forget that you can glue scraps together and make some beautiful and unusual pens. I recently made a pen out of walnut and popular, I call it my Oreo Pen. I glued 2 peices of walnut with popular in between. A friend of mine recently gave me some Hedge Apple (Osage Orange) and I turned a pen for him and it turned out a Beautiful Golden color.

Stan

[Mark Patoka]

I've made a couple of pens out of Oak and have used Bill Baumbeck's method of penfinishing. Once you sand to 400 grit, I put on a coat of CA glue, sand some more and then wax/finish. That helps fill in the grain and make it smoother. Even if you leave the grain open I don't think it really detracts from the feel of the pen.

I received a bunch of oak scrap from a co-worker that I've cut into blanks and will be used for my next set of Freedom Pens. There seems to be quite a bit of variation in the grain and can make some decent looking pens.