budnder
Member
I volunteer for a local not-for-profit and have gotten into the habit of gifting a nice pen for anyone who makes a VIP level donation. That's typically 5 or 6 individuals each year. This year, however, we got a large donation from the local chamber of commerce which has an eight member governing board. While nobody would probably hold me to having to gift eight pens, I kinda was intrigued by how to make it work without being a ton of labor and $'s.
For blanks, I was lucky to come across an old stump that had just been removed from the municipal parking lot, so that was appropriate. For a pen kit, I wanted something that was single body, but that would impress while also being economical. In searching through pen kits, I was surprised to find a capped, single body kit (the Oxford $7.15 each), that actually comes with a completed metal cap – you turn the body. It's a nice feeling pen and actually weighs more than a Jr. Gent when finished. I also put G2 Gel Refills in them, so that was probably another dollar or so per pen.
I stabilized the wood orange, then red. I'm still trying to figure out what the wood is… I believe it's Elm. Oh, you might count more than 8 pens… to make sure I got a yield of at least 8 pens, I did more than needed as I went along (cut 12 blanks, picked the best 10 to drill and tube, had one blow up on me, so ended up with 9). I'll keep the extra for myself.
One of the challenges was because the stump was from a gravel parking lot, it actually had rock embedded within it occasionally. Rock is hard to saw and turn
(Per comments after I posted, I added a couple of pictures of the original "stump" I used. The bark looks like it's long peeled off, revealing some distinctive "stalagmite like" pointy bumps. They're sharp - kinda hard to pick the thing up without gloves.)
For blanks, I was lucky to come across an old stump that had just been removed from the municipal parking lot, so that was appropriate. For a pen kit, I wanted something that was single body, but that would impress while also being economical. In searching through pen kits, I was surprised to find a capped, single body kit (the Oxford $7.15 each), that actually comes with a completed metal cap – you turn the body. It's a nice feeling pen and actually weighs more than a Jr. Gent when finished. I also put G2 Gel Refills in them, so that was probably another dollar or so per pen.
I stabilized the wood orange, then red. I'm still trying to figure out what the wood is… I believe it's Elm. Oh, you might count more than 8 pens… to make sure I got a yield of at least 8 pens, I did more than needed as I went along (cut 12 blanks, picked the best 10 to drill and tube, had one blow up on me, so ended up with 9). I'll keep the extra for myself.
One of the challenges was because the stump was from a gravel parking lot, it actually had rock embedded within it occasionally. Rock is hard to saw and turn
(Per comments after I posted, I added a couple of pictures of the original "stump" I used. The bark looks like it's long peeled off, revealing some distinctive "stalagmite like" pointy bumps. They're sharp - kinda hard to pick the thing up without gloves.)
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