Plain Ole 150 Yr. Young Barn Oak Fat Cigar

[Bree]

A friend had some beams from an old 150 yr old Western NY barn. He wanted me to make him a pen from the wood so he gave me a big chunk of the white oak beam wood. Naturally it had some nails hidden in there and cost me a band saw blade (which needed replacement anyway). But I got some usable wood out of it... VERY DRY wood.

I turned it to what I thought he would like, Sanded to 240 grit put some sanding sealer on and continued to 600 grit. Then MM-12000 and a triple buff followed by application of a very small amount of my tung oil... just enough to moisten the wood with zero excess.. indeed barely enough to cover the wood. I heated that up with a friction rub and let it cool and dry. Then I put on 3 coats of CA/BLO and assembled it with a Black Titanium kit for a little contrast.

I gave him the pen last night and he was thrilled because he just knew that there was good wood in that beam! He talked about it and showed it off to his buddies and a good time was had by all.

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[jmiket91]

Awesome pen!

 

[papaturner]

Awesome! I love a pen with a story.

 

[Bigcountry]

good looking pen. I was wondering how oak would look turned.

 

[Oldwagon]

That is a nice pen.I just cut up some red oak from a 100+year old barn today.I hope it turns out as nice as yours. Todd

 

[jbostian]

Nice looking pen with some history.

Jamie

 

[Jgrden]

We had a farm in upstate New York. I wonder if that is one of the old beams from the first barn.

Just kidding. But we DID have a farm with a large barn. Milked over twenty Holstein Friesians.

 

[rjwolfe3]

Very nice!

 

[Bree]

We had a farm in upstate New York. I wonder if that is one of the old beams from the first barn.

Just kidding. But we DID have a farm with a large barn. Milked over twenty Holstein Friesians.

Ya never know what you will find in these old grey beams. And this one was grey as grey could be on the outside. But it was nice and white inside (except where the darn nails were).

 

[markgum]

beautiful

 

[toolcrazy]

Plain wood always looks better with a story to spruce it up. Nice pen.

 

[Karin Voorhis]

Very nice and what a great piece of Western NY

 

[hewunch]

That wood is nice. I think if you have any extra you ought to try cutting it on the bias and see what it looks like.

 

[broitblat]

That looks like a well crafted pen and should be a precious keepsake.

-Barry

 

[Bree]

That wood is nice. I think if you have any extra you ought to try cutting it on the bias and see what it looks like.

That's a good suggestion. There is a pretty good block of the barn wood. The only thing that bothers me is the chance of running into another nail and trashing a TimberWolf blade.

I have about 500 BF of white oak I picked up at a PA sawmill. I could take some of that and do the bias cut without fear.

I did this one because the guy is a friend and he was all excited about it. I really didn't expect much out of it. I was pleasantly surprised and may do some more oak pens. I sure have enough of it lying around!! LOL!
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: