NGLJ
Member
I was at lunch yesterday with some retired ex-colleagues, when one of them said to me, "I hear that you make pens. I have a piece of LV. Would you like it?'. Can a duck quack 
. It turns out that his German grandfather was a ship's engineer in the merchant navy. He gave me what turned out to be part of a bearing from a ships driveshaft. It looked well used and I bet that piece of wood could tell some stories. I don't know how old it is but it could be over 100 years old. Judging by the shape and size the shaft was something like 18" in diameter. So, today I carved it up on the bandsaw. Should have taken a picture first, duh! I made a modified slimline pen from one of the pieces. I have enough for a couple more other style pens. The curved shape was such that I had to cut across the grain. Please see the attached. Unfortunately it has a small crack that I could not fix.
. It turns out that his German grandfather was a ship's engineer in the merchant navy. He gave me what turned out to be part of a bearing from a ships driveshaft. It looked well used and I bet that piece of wood could tell some stories. I don't know how old it is but it could be over 100 years old. Judging by the shape and size the shaft was something like 18" in diameter. So, today I carved it up on the bandsaw. Should have taken a picture first, duh! I made a modified slimline pen from one of the pieces. I have enough for a couple more other style pens. The curved shape was such that I had to cut across the grain. Please see the attached. Unfortunately it has a small crack that I could not fix.
