"We Can Rebuild Him" ~Oscar Goldman

Hello, I am pretty new here and began making pens a little over two years ago. This is the first time I am sharing my work here and am interested in any comments/feedback/criticism offered.

This one is a rebuild, hence the subject line quote from "The Six Million Dollar Man" (showing my age here).

This was/and is now again one of my favorite daily use kit pens. It is a Dayacom, Jr. Morgan Fountain Pen in Black Titanium. Since day one the Jowo #6 Medium nib has had a great smooth feel and it flows very nicely. I originally made it with Snakewood, but that cracked several months after I finished the pen. I told myself, that only I noticed the crack, and for a while, maybe that was true. I kept thinking, I'll disassemble the pen, fill the crack with CA and refinish it, but over time (about a year) the crack got significantly worse. I have a few more Snakewood blanks but am a little gun shy to try it again after this.

So, I finally disassembled and rebuilt it. This time, I used stabilized exhibition grade Redwood Burl (Thanks to Ed and Dawn at ExoticBlanks), and as much as I liked it in Snakewood, I think I like this one even more. You tell me.

First build with Snakewood (feel free to ignore the 24K Gold Cameron in Gabon Ebony):


The disassembled Snakewood parts with the badly cracked cap:


The rebuilt pen in Stabilized Exhibition Redwood Burl:

Snakewood is 'fussy.' The Redwood Burl is... Awesome! No comparison in my opinion. Humidity did you a favor .

I agree with Mark!

Well (re)done! I like it much better in the redwood burl. Very nice job on the finish, too!
I avoid both snakewood and ebony. They are both too prone to cracking.

The redwood burl is definitely an improvement. Very well done!

I was not aware of how easily snakewood cracks. I have some for myself but haven't sold or given any away, so I think I'll just keep them for myself. Horrible crack that resulted in an even more beautiful pen. And why ignore the Ebony pen: also beautiful.

sorcerertd said:

Well (re)done! I like it much better in the redwood burl. Very nice job on the finish, too!
I avoid both snakewood and ebony. They are both too prone to cracking.

Click to expand...

That's been my experience with them, also.

That redwood burl is gorgeous!

The redwood is very elegant.
Thanks to all for the info on ebony and snakewood.

Wow - the burl is gorgeous! - Dave

beautiful work! I have a rollerball that I need to get started and have been debating between redwood and red mallee. This is starting to sway me

Thank you all for the generous comments everyone.

I think I saw this quote somewhere here on IAP a while a go...

"There are only two kinds of Ebony, Ebony that has cracked and Ebony that will crack."

Perhaps it applies to Snakewood as well. Interestingly enough, the Gabon Ebony Cameron in the first picture has no cracks (yet). So far so good.

I do really like this Stabilized Redwood Burl. I have turned a couple of them. Truly beautiful material.