Historical Wood

[keepanionme14]

I've seen some sites that say they have made pens from civil war witness wood. There's a charity event in my area that benefits Children's Miracle Network. I live pretty close to Gettysburg and think a civil war pen from PSI paired with some witness wood or something made from an old musket stock would do very well. Any historical wood I think would work.

Several weeks ago, I posted in the wanted section the above, I got 2 hits. I was asked to post pictures once completed, here they are.

First one is a civil war pen in gun metal finish that's dressed in the honey locust tree that Lincoln stood under when he gave his Gettysburg address. I chose to go with a OB shine juice as finish to keep a more natural feel.

The second one is a Water Oak blank from the Unknown Confederate section of the Stone Mountain City Cemetery and stood just to the right of unknown confederate graves. The blank was dressed in antique brass and also finished with some OB shine juice.

 

[elkhorn]

Nicely done, Jim. I hope they help out the charity. Very nice of you to do this.

 

[budnder]

Looks good. I'm curious how are you packaging these?

I've got a similar charity fundraiser and some historical wood pens I was going to use and trying to decide how I'm going to package up the authenticity certificate and the pen. I've looked around at some less expensive pen boxes, thinking about gluing the certificate into the lid and such. Or maybe making a simple "block pen stand with the certificate glued onto the top or bottom. Maybe making those a few extra dollars if they want them.

 

[mark james]

Excellent cause, as well as your participation - Kudos.

I realize that these woods are not the most "Spectacular," but I feel each has it's own beauty, and with the history behind, these are wonderful pens!

Well done.

 

[Jim15]

Those look great. I like pens with some history behind them.

 

[OZturner]

Excellent Pens Jim.
Great Choice of Blanks, with a Historic Affiliation.
Beautifully Turned, Fitted and Finished.
Congratulations,
Brian.

 

[BKelley]

Excellent job on both pens. I hope the Children's Miracle Network was able to profit by your work. Thank you for choosing my wood for the Stone Mountain Pen. Now I feel like I was a small part of your wonderful endeavor.

Ben

 

[keepanionme14]

Ben, I'm hoping both pens will bring a nice price. Whatever the pens go for, 100% of that goes to the kids. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until November when the "Pay for Play" event happens. This year will be the 11th year they've done this. Last year went over the $1 million dollar mark for raised money that 100% goes to Penn State Hershey's Medical Center. I'll put up a link to the auction once they're there, if allowed here.

Roy, I'm not sure how these will be packaged. Since it's a local radio station, I'm not sure they will be shipped as the majority of the auction items are local. I'm guessing they will be picked up. I'll be dropping them off at the radio station next week when the program director is back from vacation. In general, though, I like to individually wrap pens I ship in bubble wrap and send them off in a bubble padded envelope.

Everyone else, I thank you for the kind words.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Several thoughts on your 'historical' pen suggestion.
I offer a service based on just that concept. Great idea, but it can come with them caveats. I did some pens for a family using cherry wood that was from the old homestead. Well over 100 years old. Nearly didn't get it done. Old cherry can easily dry out and crumble into dust. This was before I began stabilizing. I just soaked and soaked the blanks with CA as I worked. Saved them but it was stressful.
Now, that honey locust "Lincoln tree". If it was on Federal property you could get into trouble big time removing from the park. Worth keeping in mind.
And, I no longer donate to auctions. Pens seldom bring much money . Dunno why but selling a $60.00 pen for $5.00 is insulting to me.