Stick turned into a pen - for a gift

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jewellmd

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Jan 22, 2015
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Grand Rapids, MI
This is one of my earlier works but has a cool story behind it. Our local boy scout troop had a weekend campout this last September. The place where we were camping was one of the scout's grandmother's property that they owned. It's always a treat and you never know what's going to happen during a campout...

Anyhow, that particular scout asked if he found a stick, could I make him something out of it, being it was on their family's property. After showing him what roughly 3/4" round was he disappeared, for what seemed like hours. He returned with a stick that was nearly 4-foot long and had carved the bark off roughly a 12" section. I told him I would see what I could do with it...

We returned home about mid-day on Sunday and the following Monday night, I produced a nice souvenir, a piece of the stick and a short letter was included. He proudly carries his gift. (His parent's asked me how much they could give me for it. I politely said it was a gift and I didn't want anything for it.)

After the other scouts saw it, they wanted one. I told them that I would do one for them if they a) found wood I could use during a campout or b) earned their eagle. {Eagle scouts get nicer "Sierra" style with the "scout" color acrylic}

I had only been turning for about 3-weeks when this one was produced. Sealed with multiple coats of CA. I don't know what kind of wood it was. I think I identified this one as "found on ground" wood. :)

-Michael
 

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  • 20140914 - Pen #36a - 3 - Finished.jpg
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Do a good turn daily

That is outstanding. Think its great that you do that for the Scouts and really like that you have them get the wood on a campouts. By the way, the pens look great. Nice work. Here is a thought / suggestion to think about for the pens. How about addition of a decal with Troop number and/or patrol logo, etc. Again, nice work.
 
Great story! But a greater gesture! :good:

FOG wood is always fun to turn into a pen. Last spring we had a FOG wood PITH. It was one of my favorites. In fact my avatar is the pen I made for that PITH.
 
Nice job on the pen! Great that you are doing this for the scouts!

Be mindful of the moisture content of found wood. You might want to dry these first so they don't dry and crack after someone has had it for a while.
Also, the moisture can cloud up under a CA finish.
 
Not that I've had that happen (yet) with green wood, but that is something I learned to do after this one. A nice bake in the oven at ~200F for an hour is generally plenty.
 
A great story! NIce pen also! I like that there is some additional criteria for the Eagle Scouts... Quite a high standard to hurdle! But the pen will be valued for the effort given!

Nice lesson for the scouts!
 
Nice pen and a great story. The memory of him hunting for that stick and getting a pen made from it will never leave him. He is very likely to help others as an adult because of what you did.
When my grandson made eagle I made him a pen and had the Eagle Scout logo laser engraved on it.
 
After the other scouts saw it, they wanted one. I told them that I would do one for them if they a) found wood I could use during a campout or b) earned their eagle. {Eagle scouts get nicer "Sierra" style with the "scout" color acrylic}


Great story. I love the idea but it might be even better if you have the scouts turn their own pens. I did this last year with some Girl Scouts and they LOVED it!
The girls chose the blanks, I did the prep work and then the girls did the turning themselves.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/girl-scouts-their-pens-119590/
 
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