After a few years of turning batons, making reed cases and baton cases, and building furniture for our home, I ran across the promotional pen making material that came with my Jet Mini-Lathe. Curious about the possibilities, I made a few pens and pencils and, much to my surprise, I found that it was fun, relaxing, and resulted in some magnificent writing tools. Every pen or pencil was a unique piece of art that could be used on a daily basis. Friends and family commented on the attractive quality of the pens, and I became hooked on the hobby! Thus - I am happy to create pens and pencils at a substantially lower price than can be found elsewhere. Above all else, I want to have fun with the hobby.

 

A wide variety of pens made of various rare pieces of wood may be ordered at any time. From Rollerball and Fountain Pens to Cigar, Slim-line (pencils also), Euro (pencils also), Churchill, Sierra, El Grande and many other styles of pens - in flat top and round top configurations - you can purchase these elegant writing instruments quite reasonably. Wood choices might include burls from maple, cherry, and oak. Birds-eye maple, spalted maple, and exotic woods such as olive, bacote, rosewood, ebony, cocobolo, curly koa, spalted buckeye, and a host of other beautiful international woods can be ordered in most styles.

 

Additional pens and pencils made from unusual wood combinations such as checkerboard pens (maple, paduk, and ebony combination), multi-colored pens (stained and pressure treated birches in various color combinations), or Acrylics may be ordered. See pictures below for examples of pens and pencils created from these materials

 

Other turned wooden objects such as keychains, wine bottle stoppers, and yo-yos are available upon request. E-mail for pictures and prices.

 

Pencils are available in Cigar Style, Slim-line style, and European style.  The very Sketcher Pencil will also be available soon.  

 

Other pens to be shown soon will include Flat Top Fountain and Roller-ball, Sierra Pens, Baron Pens, and Panache-style pens.

Prices for Wood turnings:

 

 

 

 

 

Money Order or Cashiers Check will be the only acceptable form of payment.

All orders must be pre-paid before they are shipped.

 

Please send payment to the following address:

 

Roger Garrett

17 Cashel Drive

Bloomington, IL 61704

 

I can be reached at Illinois Wesleyan University:

Phone: (309) 556-3268

Email:  rgarrett@iwu.edu

 

These ornaments measure between three and four inches tall and are made from maple, aromatic cedar, mahogany, poplar, oak, and cherry. Others are available in exotic woods that include holly, ebony, rosewood, zebra wood, paduk, redheart, purple heart, and more.

 

The nicest looking pens and ornaments come from carefully selected woods and/or combination of woods.  Almost every wood turner will tell you that they have been bitten by the bug that requires them to constantly be on the prowl for the most interesting or unusual piece of wood they can find.  We are always looking for the mother lode of woods to end all woods!  Some of the species that I like to use are discussed below.

 

Exotic woods - these are woods that come from other countries and are extremely beautiful when pieces with high figure or knotty sections are found.  Examples of such wood might include Cocobolo, Macassar Ebony, Ebony, Honduras Rosewood, Red and Brown Mallee, African Blackwood, Amboyna, Box Elder, Kingwood, Canarywood, and Tulipwood.  Olivewood - both from Mexico and Bethlehem is also difficult to find.  Many of these woods are rare and difficult to find in any quantity, and some are endangered species which require special permits to harvest.  In the case of Bethlehem Olivewood for example, the trees are not harmed, but, through annual trimmings of these 2000 year old trees, wood is harvested and sold for turning.  The results of scarce and rare woods are obvious - they cost more.

 

More common exotic woods might include Paduk, Bloodwood, Redheart, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Bubinga, and Zebrawood.

 

North American woods that grow in the United States but are difficult to find include spalted wood and burls.  Spalted woods are woods that contained wood fungus and some rot prior to dying.  Examples of especially nice spalted woods include Maple, Buckeye, White Oak, Box Elder, Beech, and Birch.  Burls are growths on the sides of trees and branches that grow into a large, ball-like structure in which the wood grain is curved and randomly figured.  Some burls are extremely beautiful and can include Red Maple, Hard Maple, Red and White Oak, Cherry, Redwood, and many other species.

 

Highly figured woods such as birdseye maple, fiddleback maple, tiger maple, curly maple, curly oak, curly cherry, and curly ash are all examples of highly sought after woods for turning.

 

Combinations of woods often look very nice in both pens and ornaments.  I like to mix dark and light woods such as Hickory or Birch with Ebony, Rosewood, or Cocobolo.

 

Finally segmented pens, such as the checkerboard pens shown in the pictures can be created.  These require carefully selected woods, exact precision cuts, extra glue-up steps, and slow, steady turning techniques.  The results are obvious, but, because of the time involved in creating the blanks for turning pens and ornaments, products made from these segmented blanks cost more.

 

 

When I was about five years old, my grandparents traveled to Mexico and, upon their return, they brought me a toy from the country to play with --the top pictured above.  I remember being fascinated with pulling the cord and watching the top spin for two or three minutes.  I kept the top with all of my belongings from those years and recently came across it again.  Now that I’m turning wood, I decided to try to make some similar tops so that others might enjoy a simple but elegant piece of wood art.

 

Above are some of the toys that I am currently making:

 

(left to right)

Small size (aromatic cedar and maple) - $12

Medium size (walnut and maple) - $15

Large size (walnut and poplar) - $22