1806 wood!

[edman2]

These pens are made from wood taken from a church restoration project. Bethel Church was founded in 1806 near Jackson, Missouri and is the oldest non-catholic house of worship west of the Mississippi River. The church building has been restored by the Missouri Baptist Historical Commission and these pens are commemorative pens for the volunteers that worked on the project. Most of the wood appears to be poplar from the original building.
Fun project! For info on the restoration see this link: www.baptistparchments.org/ .

 

[GaryMGg]

I peeked at these just after they appeared in the new photos. Nice work, very nice preservation.

 

[leehljp]

Freddie,

Good looking pens and I am sure that many people are going to want them for their sentimental value also!

 

[edman2]

Thanks Gary and Hank. I have assumed that these will not be daily users but put up on a shelf somewhere for show and tell! I left in the nail holes and all the imperfections. Used a gallon (well, it seemed like that much) of ca to hold the old wood together on some of the pens. Got enough out of it to pay for the parts and supplies and donated my labor as my contribution to the project. All in all, a lot of fun.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Great project. And good on you for doing it. I'm finding that offering to make 'heritage pens' is a nice adjunct to the small income I make from selling pens.

 

[ahoiberg]

they look great! i love seeing projects like this, my focus lately has been on pens offering some kind of nostalgia.

why do you reckon the wood was so popular? []

 

[huntersilver]

Good looking set of pens!

 

[edman2]

Thanks Frank, Michael and Andrew.
Andrew, are you trying to subtly tell me I spelled the name of the wood wrong? LOL That's what I get for posting at 1:30 in the morning. I have edited the goof. Thanks.

 

[bob393]

Nice work!

 

[edman2]

Thank you Bob. Thanks for looking at them. I learned a lot in the process. I'm thinking new wood is going to be a lot easier now that I've wrestled with that 200 year old stuff.[]